Radium Town, USA. Come For The Glow, Stay For The Smell

Send us Fan MailWhat if your entire town was built on something that wasn’t real?Claremore, Oklahoma once rebranded itself as “Radium Town.” Hotels. Parades. Bathhouses. Souvenir jugs. Steam rooms packed with believers.One problem.The water didn’t contain radium.It smelled like sulfur. It burned your nose. And it sold like a miracle.This episode dives into the radium craze that swept America after the Curies made the element famous. We talk about the Radium Girls, radioactive tonics, glowing promises, and how one Oklahoma town rode that wave hard enough to turn prairie into profit.There were publicity stunts. Legal fights. City officials declaring the wells a nuisance. And yes — a promoter who was reportedly dead… until he wasn’t.Then medicine catches up. The glow fades. The wells get capped.But the town survives.We break down how Claremore pivoted when the miracle stopped working — and why the story still matters today, because radium wasn’t the last cure people bought without asking questions.It just glowed louder than most.If you like odd Americana, marketing gone wild, and history that smells like rotten eggs, this one’s for you. “Thank you for listening to Things I Want to Know. You want these stories, and we want to bring them to you — so hit the support link and keep this circus, and the mics, alive. Then do us a favor and rate and subscribe; it helps the show find more people like you — the ones who like their mysteries real and their storytellers unfiltered. And if you want to wear a little of this madness, grab some Andrea-approved gear at paulgnewton.com. We make tSupport the showThings I Want To Know If you enjoy the show, or you just like supporting people who refuse to shut up, grab some merch at PaulGNewton.com. It keeps the lights on and the caffeine flowing.