In Episode 390 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the story of Dr. Horace Wells of Hartford, Connecticut, a dentist who attended a nitrous oxide expedition in 1844. Though the performance was a laughing matter, Dr. Wells took what he saw seriously. He was inspired to try using the gas in his dental practice. Though he sought fame and fortune, Wells spiraled downward into darkness.
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Produced and hosted by: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger
Edited by: Ray Auger
Theme Music by: John Judd
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
*A note on the text: Please forgive punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes. Like us, the transcripts ain’t perfect.
[DRIVING]
JEFF: You doing okay there. Ray? You keep picking at your teeth.
RAY: Yeah, I think I have a cavity or something. I need to get to a dentist soon, but I’m dreading it.
JEFF: I get that. Tooth problems are no joke.
RAY: No they’re not.
JEFF: Okay, pull into here.
RAY: So we’re driving into Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut. This cemetery is HUGE!
JEFF: It is! And there’s some famous people buried here too. J.P. Morgan, the famous financier and investment banker is here.
RAY: I bet he didn’t take his money with him.
JEFF: Probably not. You know who else is buried here?
RAY: Who?
JEFF: Katharine Hepburn.
RAY: She’s a movie icon! I forgot, she was actually born in Hartford, wasn’t she?
JEFF: She was. Let’s pull over right over here.
RAY: Okay.
[CAR STOPS]
RAY: Are we here to visit the grave of some other American icon?
JEFF: Sort of. Though you wouldn’t remember his name, I guarantee you know what he’s associated with. There’s his grave right up ahead.
RAY: Wow. You can’t miss that marker, can you?
JEFF: No.
RAY: There’s a dark embossed sculpture on each side. On the broad side is the sculpture of an angel hovering over a man lying on his side with an upturned face. At the bottom the words read: There shall be no pain. And three small stone name markers on the ground in front of it.
JEFF: That one there is who we’re here to see.
RAY: It says Dr. Horace Wells, January 21, 1815 to January 24, 1848. (BEAT) Okay, I admit it, I have no idea who he is.
JEFF: We’ve come to the grave of Dr. Horace Wells to pay our respects to the father of laughing gas.
[INTRO]
JEFF: I’m Jeff Belanger.
RAY: And I’m Ray Auger. Welcome to Episode 390 of the New England Legends podcast where we’re always on the hunt for all the wicked strange things that make our part of the world unlike any other. From ghosts, monsters, aliens, roadside oddities, and weird history, we love it all.
JEFF: We’ll explore this odd story that is most definitely a laughing matter right after this word from our sponsor.
SPONSOR
RAY: “There shall be no pain.” That makes sense now if he’s the father of laughing gas. On the skinny side of the grave marker is the sculpture of a woman’s head tilted skyward with eyes closed. The words under her read: I sleep to awaken. (BEAT) This is all making sense now.
JEFF: Right. Dentistry just wouldn’t be the same without Dr. Horace Wells.
RAY: Okay… I’m looking up a little more information on Dr. Wells. He was born back in 1815 in Hartford, Vermont—NOT the Hartford in Connecticut where we’re standing right now. He came from an affluent family and got the opportunity to study dentistry in Boston. When he was only 23 years old, he published a booklet called “An Essay on Teeth,” where he advocated for preventative dentistry. Especially the use of a toothbrush.
JEFF: Dr. Wells opened his own dentist office here in Hartford, Connecticut, back in 1836. His business did well, too! Among his patients were none other than William Ellsworth, the governor of Connecticut.
RAY: Not bad at all. Clearly Wells was passionate about his work and career choice. You gotta respect that.
JEFF: You do. Okay, to see a great moment in dentistry history, let’s head back to the year 1844.
[TRANSITION]
RAY: It’s December 10th 1844, here in Hartford, Connecticut. Presidential elections were held from November first through December 4th this year, and Democratic nominee James Polk narrowly defeated Whig party candidate Henry Clay. So some changes are coming to Washington. Here in Hartford, though, it’s a time for innovation.
JEFF: It is! There are exhibitions coming through town all the time. And for 29 year-old go-getter dentist Horace Wells, he’s a person interested in all kinds of innovations. This morning, Wells is looking through the latest copy of the Hartford Courant newspaper. That’s when an announcement catches his eye. Go ahead and read this, Ray.
[PAPER SHUFFLING]
RAY: Okay. It says, Quote, “A grand exhibition of the effect produced by inhaling nitrous oxide, exhilaration or laughing gas will be given at Union Hall this evening. Forty gallons of gas will be prepared and administered to all in the audience who desire to inhale it. Twelve young men have volunteered to inhale the gas to commence the entertainment. Tickets 25 cents. (BEAT) That sounds like a… well… a laugh.
JEFF: Ha! The article goes on to explain that the effect of the gas is to make those who inhale it either laugh, sing, dance, speak, or fight according to the lead trait of their character. The person providing the entertainment and administering the nitrous oxide is showman Gardner Quincy Colton. He was born in Vermont, but makes his home New York City right now. The article claims Colton gave two shows of this same nature last spring in New York with over 4,000 people in attendance.
[PAPER SHUFFLING AGAIN]
RAY: Horace Wells is sold. So he and his wife, Elizabeth make their plans for the evening.
[HORSE CLOP ON STREET FADES IN THEN STOPS]
RAY: The couple arrive at Union Hall and pay their 25 cents each to see the show.
COLTON: Ladies and gentlemen! I present, for your entertainment, the effects of Nitrous Oxide on your fellow denizens of Hartford. You’ll gaze in wonder as the personality of those who inhale the gas completely change in an instant. Watch them speak, sing, and laugh uncontrollably on this stage before you tonight!
RAY: Okay, I see one, two, three, four… (mumbling/counting) yup… twelve men are on stage with Mr. Colton. Hey, isn’t one of those men that shop keeper, Mr. Cooley?
JEFF: I believe you’re right. Okay, the 12 men are inhaling the nitrous oxide out of this metal contraption that has a mask for your mouth, then a tube sticking out from that maybe eight inches or so, and another smaller tube sticking down from there where Mr. Colton poured in some of the chemical mixture.
RAY: Boy, that doesn’t take long, does it? Two of the men are starting to giggle.
[GROUP LAUGHTER SLOWLY BUILDING UP]
JEFF: That guy on the far end has a big smile on his face. He doesn’t have a care in the world, does he?
RAY: No he doesn’t. It looks like none of the men on stage care about anything.
[LAUGHTER BUILDS]
JEFF: It’s infectious, isn’t it?
RAY: It is! It’s pretty funny watching grown men uncontrollably laughing.
JEFF: And there’s Horace Wells and his wife Elizabeth in the front row. They seem to be having a good laugh too.
COLTON: You sir, Mr. Cooley, why not stand up and dance for us?
JEFF: Ha! Colton is inviting Mr. Cooley to stand up and dance. Like a drunk, Cooley is stumbling to his feet. And now he’s pretending to waltz around the stage without a partner.
RAY: This is really funny. Cooley seems drunk. He’s laughing and twirling… and… (YELLING AWAY FROM MIC) ohhh watch out for that table!
[THUMP]
JEFF/RAY: Ohhhh! That’s gotta hurt.
RAY: Mr. Cooley just whacked his shin on a low table on the side of the stage.
JEFF: But he didn’t miss a beat, did he?
RAY: No. He’s just dancing and laughing.
JEFF: Dr. Horace Wells is no longer laughing, though. Look at him. He’s leaning forward watching every detail of what’s happening.
[CROWD SOUNDS FADE]
JEFF: The show has just ended and now Wells is approaching Mr. Cooley who was just on stage dancing. Wells asks him to lift his pantleg to show him his shin.
RAY: Ouch!
JEFF: Yeah, that’s a pretty good bruise.
RAY: Cooley just explained that he has no memory of getting that bruise and said it didn’t hurt at all at the time.
JEFF: Dr. Wells is now marching over to Gardner Colton. The men are shaking hands. Wells looks positively electric right now. He’s clearly very excited. Mr. Colton agrees to meet him the following day to further discuss nitrous oxide.
[DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES WALKING ON FLOOR]
JEFF: At their meeting, Colton agrees to sell Wells some nitrous oxide to try on his patients. Being a good medical professional, Dr. Wells declares he’ll be the first patient to use it. Wells has a tooth that needs pulling, so he arranges for one of his associate dentists to do the job.
[BREATHING GAS]
JEFF: Wells, is inhaling the nitrous oxide now…
[HUH HUH HUH]
JEFF: He’s starting to laugh.
[SOUND OF TOOTH PULLED]
JEFF: And Wells’s dental associate pulls his sore tooth.
[CLINK SOUND OF TOOTH INTO METAL TRAY]
RAY: After the gas wears off, Wells declares he felt no paid from the procedure. A new era of pain-free dentistry has begun thanks to his foresight… his genius! In the coming weeks, Wells would use nitrous oxide on twelve of his patients. Each one claims their procedures were free from pain.
JEFF: To Wells, this is nothing short of a medical breakthrough. Hartford doesn’t have a hospital yet, so Dr. Wells takes his nitrous oxide to Boston where he can give a proper demonstration to the medical community. He meets up with his former student, William Morton who is currently enrolled at Harvard Medical School. Though Morton is skeptical of nitrous oxide, it’s difficult to argue with the results. Morton helps arrange the demonstration.
RAY: The thing about Wells is he gets sick a lot. Though doctors can find nothing wrong with him. As time passes, Wells continues to spiral. He opens and closes his dental practice repeatedly. Then, in October of 1846, Wells’s former student, William Morton, gives a successful demonstration of using ether as anesthesia in Boston. With patients unconscious, surgeries could be performed with ease and far less complications. The medical community is thrilled.
JEFF: Yeah, but Horace Wells isn’t happy at all. He publishes a letter claiming HE is truly the father of anesthesia considering he showed doctor Morton nitrous oxide. Wells is furious he isn’t getting the accolades he feels he deserves.
RAY: In the coming months, Wells continues to spiral. He can’t seem to find direction. He closes his dentist business, he leaves his wife and young son in Hartford, and sails to Paris to try and buy art he can resell in America.
JEFF: It’s January of 1848. Horace Wells is now living alone in an apartment in lower Manhattan New York. He’s become addicted to sniffing ether and chloroform to get high. After a sniffing bender on his birthday, Wells runs into the streets of New York and throws sulfuric acid onto the clothes of two sex workers standing on the street. Wells is soon arrested and taken to New York’s Tombs Prison.
RAY: After a few days in lock up, the drugs wear off, and Wells is left with the horror of what he’d done. Wells asks the guard to escort him to his home where he can get his shaving kit and clean himself up. Once back in prison, Wells sniffs a lethal dose of chloroform he’d smuggled in with his shaving kit, then slices his own throat with a straight razor. (PAUSE FOR DRAMA) His wife Elizabeth comes to collect his body and bring it back to Hartford for burial. Wells was 33 years old. And that brings us back to today.
[TRANSITION]
JEFF: Dr. Wells had just turned 33 years old too. He had his whole life ahead of him. Though he never found the fame and glory he searched for, he’s considered the father of nitrous oxide use in dentistry.
RAY: And it’s still used today. Which is good because my tooth still hurts.
JEFF: It is! Ever go in for a regular tooth cleaning and ask for a hit?
RAY: Of course!
JEFF: Did your dentist say yes?
RAY: No.
JEFF: Mine neither. So today Horace Wells has this epic family grave marker here in Cedar Hill Cemetery. And though the man was horribly broken, there was a time when he paid 25 cents to watch some unique and funny entertainment where he got the spark of an idea that changed the field of dentistry forever.
[OUTTRO]
RAY: That he did. And that takes us to After the Legend where we dive deeper into this week’s story and sometimes veer off course.
JEFF: After the Legend is brought to you by our patreon patrons, a group we hope you’ll join. These are our insiders, they help us make this podcast happen because we have no corporate backing, it’s just us and you. Our patrons help with our hosting and production costs, travel, marketing, and everything else it takes to bring you two episodes each week. All we’re asking for is $3 bucks per month, and for that you get early ad-free access to new episodes, you can access our entire archive of shows, and you get bonus episodes and content that no one else gets to hear. Just head over to patreon.com/newenglandlegends to sign up.
To see some pictures related to this week’s story, click on the link in our episode description, or go to our web site and click on Episode 390.
A few more fun facts about nitrous oxide. Joseph Priestley discovered nitrous oxide in 1772. In the late 1790s, Humphry Davy experimented with the psychotropic properties of nitrous oxide, but it was Horace Wells that took it into dentistry.
Imagine entertainment back in 1844 was paying to go watch people get high on stage? Good times.
If you’ve got something weird in New England you think we should check out, please reach out to us anytime through our website. Don’t assume we’ve heard before. We love hearing from you. Also, check out the latest issue of Shadow Zine from Jeff, and tune into Raydio with me each morning. You can find links to both in our episode description.
We’d like to thank Marv Anderson for lending his voice acting talents this week, thank you to our sponsors, thanks so much to our patreon patrons, and our theme music is by John Judd.
Until next time remember… the bizarre is closer than you think.
