10 Incredibly Dangerous Jobs That No Longer Exist

The dangerous jobs of the past often feel like works of fiction. Improved technology, better regulations, and widespread information have removed many of the greatest dangers from the average profession. Once upon a time, though, people would regularly risk dying just to make a living.

And while some of those dangerous jobs were awful necessities during different times, others should have simply never existed. So, while things may be tough out there in the modern job market, you can always be thankful you don’t have to work one of these incredibly dangerous jobs that no longer exist.

Related: Ten Harsh Realities of Common Jobs in the Old West

10 Lime Burner

In the Middle Ages, lime became an increasingly valuable material for those looking to build the kinds of walls that could withstand cannon fire and military assaults. Making the lime powder used to form the plaster for those walls required using a stove known as a lime kiln. Manning a lime kiln was an unbelievably hot and physically exhausting duty. However, grueling physical labor was often a requirement of many jobs at that time.

What made lime burning especially dangerous was the lime itself. If the fumes that material generated didn’t cause operators to pass out in often isolated areas (or into the fire), it most certainly caused long-term lung damage. Then again, few lime burners saw the results of that long-term damage, given the likelihood that the process would leave them blind, burned, or even paralyzed. Thankfully, modern production methods do not require operators to get quite so close to the superheated toxic material.^[1]

9 Pétardier

Do you know the phrase “Hoisted by his own petard?” It’s a Shakespearean saying that thematically refers to someone who has fallen victim to their own plan or device. However, it also refers to a petard, an explosive device used by the French army as early as the 1500s.

Well, pétardiers, the soldiers responsible for planting and lighting those devices, were indeed often hoisted by their own petards. It turns out that filling a giant metal ball with about 5 pounds (2.3 kg) of gunpowder and having soldiers light it in a highly guarded area before running away was as likely to kill those soldiers as the intended target.

While explosives of that size were gradually designed to be deployed from a distance rather than manually planted by the unluckiest soldiers in military history, the basic petard concept lives on in modern firecrackers.^[2]

8 Coal Trapper

Working in a coal mine has long been one of the most accepted ways to quickly convey the idea of a dangerous, demanding job. Even still, few coal miners have ever had it worse than the poor souls who were asked to be coal trappers.

Coal trappers were responsible for sitting in tight underground spaces and opening and closing a series of small doors spread throughout the mine. Along with allowing carts to pass through, mine operators believed these doors could help prevent the buildup of dangerous gases that could trigger massive explosions.

In reality, these doors were more likely to spread those gases, typically around the areas where the coal trappers were stationed. The “best” part? Coal trapper duties were often given to children (specifically young girls) due to their small frames.^[3]

7 Leech Collector

By now, we can all (hopefully) agree that the practice of using leeches to address medical maladies is, at best, outdated. While it’s easy to dread living in a time when getting sick often meant being covered in leeches, spare a thought for those tasked with gathering those leeches.

Leech collectors were responsible for gathering the leeches that were increasingly in demand by medical practitioners across the world in the 19th century. And if you think the act of using a leech on a patient sounds barbaric, consider that these leech catchers often “caught” leeches by wading into leech-infected areas and letting the leeches catch a ride on their bare legs. Along with being incredibly painful and indescribably filthy, this practice often resulted in significant blood loss and disease.^[4]

6 Gong Farmer

Gong farmers were responsible for removing the human waste left behind by the latrines, chamber pots, and cesspits that once offered grateful European citizens a more civilized way to relieve themselves. As you may imagine, a gong farmer’s work was disgusting, humiliating, and often isolating. Few wanted to spend their days with those who spent their nights shoveling out medieval sewers.

But the life of a gong farmer was also absurdly dangerous. Even if you look past the fumes and… materials they had to regularly breathe at a time when hygiene was more of a theory than practice, you have to consider the primordial nature of early sewage systems. They offered little (if any) ventilation. They were also prone to collapsing under the weight of the material gong farmers were tasked with gathering. There was never really a good day to be a gong farmer.^[5]

5 Powder Monkey

“Powder monkey” was the term used to describe a crewmember aboard a ship tasked with moving varying quantities of gunpowder between parts of the vessel. Along with allowing the cannon crews to utilize that gunpowder, powder monkeys ensured that gunpowder regularly moved throughout the ship rather than stayed in an area where it could potentially trigger a massive explosion.

Perhaps you see the problem. Generally speaking, you don’t want to be caught carrying gunpowder during a naval battle. Worse, this job was often assigned to children due to their ability to navigate tight spaces and the idea that they needed to pay their dues if they were going to be on a ship’s crew. Even when they weren’t carrying gunpowder, powder monkeys were typically responsible for performing grueling physical tasks for many hours.^[6]

4 Matchgirls

In the grand scheme of dangerous historical jobs, manufacturing igniting matches probably doesn’t sound that bad. You can probably imagine how the idea of such a factory job would appeal to the many young women who flocked to become “Matchgirls” in England during the 1800s.

Soon, though, those workers discovered a horrifying secret. The white phosphorous that made those matches so popular was an incredibly toxic material. Combined with the long hours and poor working conditions that went along with that job, working with that white phosphorous could quickly cause bone and brain rot.

While matchstick factory workers at that time launched a successful strike that led to better pay and working conditions, white phosphorous wasn’t banned in match manufacturing until the early 1900s.^[7]

3 Ice Cutters

Refrigeration is one of those incredible modern luxuries that has long existed as a concept but took centuries to refine. For quite some time, having an icebox meant having a box with a giant block of ice. Without mechanical refrigeration, those blocks of ice had to be retrieved the hard way.

Ice cutters were responsible for going out on frozen lakes and cutting away the pieces of ice that made their way into early refrigerators. Working in the kind of environments cold enough to produce such ice blocks was often bad enough, but you have to remember that the carving process was, at best, a slowly evolving technique. Quite a few things could—and did—go wrong when groups of semi-coordinated people were standing on frozen water while trying to cut pieces off their fragile footholds.^[8]

2 Mule Scavengers

Mule scavengers were responsible for crawling under giant spinning mules and retrieving the cotton that fell through the machines and onto the floor. Why? Well, it’s because the factory owners couldn’t stand the thought of any of that cotton going to waste. Worse, the machines were often still running while the mule scavengers were under there. Why? Because the factory owners wanted to maximize productivity, of course.

This is another one of those absurdly dangerous jobs often given to children due to their small frames (some as young as five years old) who were hired at low wages. What makes this particular child labor job so horrifying—beyond the clearly awful idea of sending a child under machinery—was the fact that they were sent under there largely out of greed rather than absolute necessity.^[9]

1 Radium Dial Artists

Many of the most ridiculously dangerous jobs in history come from a different time when lacking technology encouraged crude solutions. Yet about 100 years ago, some were tasked with one of the most dangerous, most unnecessary jobs in human history: radium dial artists.

Radium dial artists were responsible for painting watch dials with self-luminous paint that contained radium. These “glow-in-the-dark” watches quickly became incredibly popular, which was bad news for the often female radium dial artists (known as “Radium Girls) who worked in those factories.

Despite their bosses seemingly having sufficient knowledge about the dangers of radium, these workers were forced to use that material with shockingly few (if any) safeguards. Radium dial artists soon succumbed to a wide variety of unspeakable ailments. Worse, these illnesses were often covered up until they became too widespread and awful to ignore.^[10]