Radium must have seemed like a miracle product. “Made possible by the magic of radium!” product labels read, per NPR. Its glow was its allure. Aside from appearing on clock and watch faces it was touted as an aphrodisiac, beautifier, and even medicine. By the time radium girls started dying, manufacturers were in too deep and didn’t want to lose money. Even as the women succumbed to poisoning manufacturers denied there were any problems.
Mollie Maggia was the first radium girl to die at the age of 24 in 1922. Her mouth wouldn’t stop bleeding. Her breath turned rank, and her jaw started to rot — eventually it had to be removed. Other radium girls across the U.S. suffered similar fates, including bone decay, cancer, joint problems, hemorrhaging, pregnancy issues, and much more. By 1927, over 50 such women had died.
These women were employed by several radium-based companies, including the U.S. Radium Corporation and Radium Dial Company. But because they worked at a variety of factories across the United States, such as in Ottawa, Illinois and Waterbury, Connecticut, they were buried in various cemeteries across the country. Not all of their grave locations are known, but Find a Grave has a list of 19 burial sites across 11 cemeteries in New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut.
[Featured image by Unknown author via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled]
