40 Pics Of The Greatest Dangers In ’70s Households That Look Nostalgic And Terrifying At The Same Time
We don’t really notice how fast time goes by. But this time, we are taking you on a trip to the past that shows how our households have changed beyond recognition since the '70s.
And trust me, in most cases, it’s for the better. Take a chip pan, for example—these crazy fire agents that produced the best chips on the planet your mom can probably still taste in her mouth would keep homes on the brink of tragedy, and yet people adored them.
Thanks to the Memorial Device Twitter page that shared this illuminating guide, we now have the full list of the 40 greatest '70s household dangers all posted in order. Both nostalgic and utterly terrifying, they make you wonder whether people back then had less of a sense of health and safety. Or if it’s us who live in an overly protective mindset. Anyhow, I prefer the latter one.
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My mum set the kitchen on fire using one of these- we first saw the flames through the serving hatch into the dining room. Luckily the local Fire Chief and his son, a fireman lived next door to us.
Making the opening smaller results in a quicker draw on the coals which gives a quicker hot fire.
Bored Panda reached out to the authors behind the Memorial Device Twitter page who shared this viral thread which listed 40 dangerous things that were casually used in ’70s households. Introducing themselves as “a band from Airdrie,” a town in Scotland, the creators said that their account was inspired “100% by the book ‘This is Memorial Device’ by the genius Scottish author, David Keenan.” They added that “You will have to read the book to really understand the account.”
Here's the bizarre video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQcGIZioqQE&t=4s&ab_channel=FunFinder
When asked how they came up with an idea to create the guide to all the miscellaneous stuff from the past, the creators said that it’s just one of many countdown lists on the “Memorial Device” account. “But it’s the one that most people seem to identify with,” they said and added that it may be because it’s “Proper working-class history.”
I nicked the red bulbs out of our and used then in my bedroom light fitting. The whole street thought my parents had started a brothel.
We also asked if they can imagine anyone living with some of these crazy household objects these days, the authors said that they in fact experienced “the bathroom ceiling heater in Whitby last week. Switched it on—nothing happened. Came back later and it was glowing hotter than the sun. And it was fitted above the bath.”
The band added that they’re “Big fans of the coal effect fire and the immersion heater, along with the working-class shower,” and found “drawing the fire as total madness.” “As is buying a full-size crossbow from the Kays catalogue on HP,” the Memorial Device concluded.
they gave out fantastic heat but the gas bottles when full were so heavy and it gradually went up in price to a ridiculous level
My Mum's one blew it's top stewing apples, made a surprisingly even covering on the ceiling - "We should fill it with paint and try again" said my Dad.
My SIL's blew desimated peas to the ceiling! A dripping green disaster.
Load More Replies...The new ones are a lot safer and great time savers if you know how to use them!
Says a nation of 1.4 billion people These are the standard equipment in most Indian kitchens.
Load More Replies...There was a burn mark on our kitchen ceiling where the pressure valve failed and steam shot out. No one was hurt, but it scared the crud out of me as a kid.
There is a burn mark on my girlfriend from one of these. :(
Load More Replies...I remember ours exploding, luckily my mum was at the sink and not using it at the time. It coated the ceiling and the lid missed her. She said it was like a volcano spewing out boiling hot lava.
A more accurate description than "bomb, I'd say. The overpressure of pressure cookers wouldn't be nearly as dangerous if their failure didn't result in the sudden expulsion of HOT water.
Load More Replies...They had, and have a safety valve on them. Again, users without any sense, common or otherwise, should not be the cause of a product being deemed dangerous
I love my pressure cooker! I have the one my mom got in the 1980s. :-)
My grandmother made the most amazing food with one of these. I miss her cooking all the time.
We cook 90% of our meals (rice, lentils, meats, hard vegetables) etc on it. Found in every indian/asian household.
Those are used to kill more people than little black rifles are every day world wide. Most popular thing to build an IED in.
These are still in use and for sale in different versions. They were a staple in most kitchens back in the sixties and even now, there are bound to be some still being used by dedicated old fashioned cooks.
They are save here even the one I inheritated from my mother, which is 40 years old. and looks much much better than the ones on the picture. Mine has a safety ventil.
On his show Tony Bourdain would still run into another room when someone brought out a pressure cooker. He said he had nightmares from childhood of them shooting stuff sky high.
I have looked for one for a long time. I finally found one! It is the best for tender fall apart meats!!
I sold mine, I had used it for years. used to make tough meat really tender, when I became veggie I got rid of it.
Using mine for 30 years now. Works fine and is perfectly safe if you follow instructions and do not forget about it )
I was terrified by ours. Wouldn't even go near the kitchen most of the time. Good food though.
True story, in the early 70’s my mom was making Salisbury Steak and went downstairs to iron. Forgot about the pressure cooker. It blew up, imbedded the lid in the kitchen ceiling and did $7000 worth of damage, which was a lot at that time.
My mother-in-law had a hole in her kitchen ceiling from her pressure cooker!
Yeah, I still use mine for cooking artichokes, otherwi6it takes forever!
Modern versions are very safe. They are awesome! All the benefits of a slow cooker in a fraction of the time. Cook a curry from scratch in 15 mins! Cook cheap cuts of beef in an hour and the meat slides off the bone. Love it!
I had an electric stand-alone one for years and never had a problem. It had an automatic vent on top that spun like a top when the steam came out. I actually still have it but can't find the cord to it after we moved.
The new ones are safe and you can release the pressure slowly or quickly depending on what you're cooking. I wouldn't use an old one for fear of my life. My mom still has hers from the 70s. I don't think she uses it anymore.
I heard of someone who had just redone their kitchen in pristine white then decided to cook beetroot in the pressure cooker. They ended up with a pink kitchen. At least these days the electric ones are much safer with pressure cutoffs.
they only blow up if an idiot puts a weight on the pressure relief device....
And everyone's learned that from driving 1850s trains.
Load More Replies...Can't use these. Got a headache every time my mum used one to cook. Took too long to make a connection. Once she stopped using it those particular headaches stopped. 🤕
That makes no sense. There is no way a pressure cooker sitting in stove could project headaches
Load More Replies...nicely mixed into a tune by the Prodigy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSTBFZ-To2E
OMG I miss these shoes. I want a pair right now!! I remember having a pair in every color they offered (tan, white, navy and black). I loved these!!!
your younger brother's urine at best. A brown submarine discovered at worst.
Only in dysfunctional families would these be used a lethal weapon. The rest of the world used them to throw them at dartboards.
Leaving a battery on an unregulated charger is something a moron would do. 1970s or otherwise.
I have an electric blanket. Try to take it and I'll attack you with my deadly manual egg beater. I didn't realize I was living on the edge.
Don't get why people feel the urge to declare a lot of these items deadly or lethal. Yes, they might not be up with our modern safety regulations, but in those days people had common sense and they knew how to handle equipment that could pose a danger. Today you even have to warn that ingesting bleach doesn't cure Covid-19.
That's a pretty naïve thing to say. People did not have more common sense just because things were more dangerous. People didn't drive slower when seatbelts weren't mandatory and they drove drunk more frequently when it wasn't illegal. My parents had a gasoline heater in they student flat. It regularly blew the lid off in a small explosion when you didn't follow the exact way to fill it. Of course people died from things like that!
Load More Replies...I never seen or heard about several products named in the article. And I am OK with that :))))
OK, will someone do a US version, now? I'll start: metal roller skates that you buckled onto your shoes. My knees looked like raw hamburger after hitting the pavement.
We had those but the UK too. And it's nice to take a trip down memory lane..
Load More Replies...More than half of the staff are still in use and there is exaggeration that they are so deadly dangerous! If that's so let's put on the list knives, ladders or even cars!
This was a whole post detailing the contents of my mothers kitchen in the late 80's!
I stopped halfway through. Most of the posts are 'waah I'm a sheltered rubber tile kid and can't handle anything without 99+ safety features and even then I'll sue if I manage to hurt myself with it'. Most of these items are perfectly fine. I mean, scared of a crossbow, but guns at Walmart are ok? A tool for cutting fries is dangerous? It doesn't jump at you... just don't try to cut your hand into fries? Choking on a coin in a pie when you know it's there? It's a wonder people even survived back then, huh?
Well, since people lost eyes or died, it might be nice to remember that we're much safer now than we were then.
Load More Replies...Who needs common sense or brains nowadays? The squealing video-posting reflex soothes and protects better.
Love this, brought up with many of those items, yes they were dangerous. People did die, falling asleep with the electric blanket on, was a real danger and happened, not nowadays though as electric blankets are safer and are designed for this,but not then. 've nearly caused several house fires 'drawing the fire' and have vivid (and regular) memories of my mum running out the back door with the chip pan ablaze. We are lucky to have survived lol
I remember all of these, and personally experienced about three quarters of them. How did I stay alive? Oh, and they missed out roller skates, which were guaranteed to cause at least one child's death annually.
I still have a "working class shower" bit messy (water goes everywhere) but works fine when needed
To hear clueless people who weren't even born yet in the '70s talk, you'd think it was a miracle that any of us who *were* there managed to survive. ;-)
Other than a few specific to the UK, I still own/like a lot of these. i survived 'em in the 70s.
I have an electric blanket. Try to take it and I'll attack you with my deadly manual egg beater. I didn't realize I was living on the edge.
Don't get why people feel the urge to declare a lot of these items deadly or lethal. Yes, they might not be up with our modern safety regulations, but in those days people had common sense and they knew how to handle equipment that could pose a danger. Today you even have to warn that ingesting bleach doesn't cure Covid-19.
That's a pretty naïve thing to say. People did not have more common sense just because things were more dangerous. People didn't drive slower when seatbelts weren't mandatory and they drove drunk more frequently when it wasn't illegal. My parents had a gasoline heater in they student flat. It regularly blew the lid off in a small explosion when you didn't follow the exact way to fill it. Of course people died from things like that!
Load More Replies...I never seen or heard about several products named in the article. And I am OK with that :))))
OK, will someone do a US version, now? I'll start: metal roller skates that you buckled onto your shoes. My knees looked like raw hamburger after hitting the pavement.
We had those but the UK too. And it's nice to take a trip down memory lane..
Load More Replies...More than half of the staff are still in use and there is exaggeration that they are so deadly dangerous! If that's so let's put on the list knives, ladders or even cars!
This was a whole post detailing the contents of my mothers kitchen in the late 80's!
I stopped halfway through. Most of the posts are 'waah I'm a sheltered rubber tile kid and can't handle anything without 99+ safety features and even then I'll sue if I manage to hurt myself with it'. Most of these items are perfectly fine. I mean, scared of a crossbow, but guns at Walmart are ok? A tool for cutting fries is dangerous? It doesn't jump at you... just don't try to cut your hand into fries? Choking on a coin in a pie when you know it's there? It's a wonder people even survived back then, huh?
Well, since people lost eyes or died, it might be nice to remember that we're much safer now than we were then.
Load More Replies...Who needs common sense or brains nowadays? The squealing video-posting reflex soothes and protects better.
Love this, brought up with many of those items, yes they were dangerous. People did die, falling asleep with the electric blanket on, was a real danger and happened, not nowadays though as electric blankets are safer and are designed for this,but not then. 've nearly caused several house fires 'drawing the fire' and have vivid (and regular) memories of my mum running out the back door with the chip pan ablaze. We are lucky to have survived lol
I remember all of these, and personally experienced about three quarters of them. How did I stay alive? Oh, and they missed out roller skates, which were guaranteed to cause at least one child's death annually.
I still have a "working class shower" bit messy (water goes everywhere) but works fine when needed
To hear clueless people who weren't even born yet in the '70s talk, you'd think it was a miracle that any of us who *were* there managed to survive. ;-)
Other than a few specific to the UK, I still own/like a lot of these. i survived 'em in the 70s.
