Five rounds. Two strange stories each. Only one made the paper. Choose, then see the proof.
Eating, floating, sneezing: inventors had elaborate answers.
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The five historical items from this edition, with their newspaper proof. Play first if you want to guess.
This illustrated report described a taste organ that sent flavored liquids through tubes to its listeners’ mouths. Its keyboard was meant to combine tastes as a musician combines notes. The elaborate organ shown is an artist’s conception, not a photograph of a finished machine.
The Decatur Herald · 1926-09-14
Open the original newspaper ↗Captain Sidney Hinman demonstrated his life-saving suit with a meal. The caption showed the Coney Island lifeguard eating at a small raft table while supported in deep water by the suit. His demonstration turned staying afloat into an unusually leisurely lunch break.
![Capt Hinmans New Idea Floating [photograph caption]](/assets/weeks/2026-10-26/2026-10-27-r2.jpg)
The Standard Union · 1921-04-20
Open the original newspaper ↗Edward Boersteler promoted an ultraviolet-light applicator as a cold cure. His idea was to carry the light through a quartz rod to the affected passages. The newspaper repeated his optimistic claims about a future without sneezes; it did not demonstrate that the treatment worked.
The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune · 1925-10-16
Open the original newspaper ↗A 1927 illustrated feature described Dr. Bordier’s attempt to treat a cold by applying electric heat inside the nose. The apparatus looks as elaborate as the problem was familiar. This is evidence of a proposed historical treatment, not evidence that it cured colds.
The Montgomery Advertiser · 1927-09-11
Open the original newspaper ↗The illustrated asthma mask was connected by a rubber tube to a box containing a fan, motor, and dust filter. Its purpose was to deliver cleaner air to the wearer. The paper presented it as a possible source of relief, rather than reporting a successful clinical test.
Allentown Morning Call · 1929-09-01
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