The Glow That Killed — The Radium Girls, and the Men Who Watched It Happen

Send us Fan Mail CONTENT NOTE: This episode contains graphic descriptions of serious illness, physical deterioration, and death, and strong language. It concerns the real, documented poisoning of the "Radium Girls" — young women knowingly harmed by their employers. We’ve given this episode an explicit rating. Told with respect for the women; Grim's anger and profanity are aimed squarely at the company and the men who covered it up. They were the luckiest girls in town. Clean work, good money, painting glowing numbers onto watch dials for the war effort. The paint shimmered so beautifully they painted their nails with it, their teeth, their buttons — and glowed faintly on the walk home, until the local boys called them "the ghost girls." They thought it was magic. It was radium. And the men who employed them knew exactly what it did. Tonight, our darkest and most detailed episode yet. Mark and Grim tell the true, documented story of the Radium Girls — through the women themselves. Mollie Maggia, dead at 24, her jaw lifting away in her dentist's hand, her death falsely recorded as syphilis to protect the company. Grace Fryer, who couldn't raise her arm to be sworn in, and sued anyway. Catherine Donohue, who testified from her deathbed at sixty pounds and won from beyond the grave. And the proof that it was no accident: the scientists who handled radium behind lead screens, with ivory tongs, in lead aprons — while telling the girls at the table to point their brushes with their lips. Lip, dip, paint. Hundreds of times a day. They knew. They protected themselves. They lied. And when the women began to rot from the inside, the company denied, stonewalled, and smeared the dead. This is a hard one — graphic, and true. But it's also a story of almost unimaginable courage, and of the women whose deaths built the workers' rights that protect you today. Their bones still glow in their graves. They will for a thousand years. Ask who's wearing the lead apron. From the shadows. Stay curious, stay skeptical, and always ask who's wearing the lead apron. And we will see you again, somewhere in time. If you have time, please leave us a review. 🎧 The Evident Conspiracy Files · TheECF.co.uk · Follow us on X and Facebook Support the show Our new show - GRIM STORIES - is now available... https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/grim-stories/id6794635228