Corpse Medicine — How Human Flesh Used To Be a Cure

If you think modern medicine can get a little weird sometimes, wait until you hear about corpse medicine—yes, medicine made from human remains. For centuries, people in Europe (and elsewhere) believed that human bones, blood, and even flesh could cure everything from headaches to epilepsy. It sounds like something straight out of a horror movie, but back in the day, it was just… science? I guess. So, why were people drinking blood and grinding up skulls like it was no big deal? Here’s the bloody tea.

The Origins of Corpse Medicine

The idea of using human remains as medicine goes way back. It has roots in ancient practices, where consuming parts of the dead was thought to transfer their strength or vitality to the living. The ancient Egyptians believed mummies had healing properties, and their ground-up remains were used in everything from ointments to tonics.

Fast-forward to medieval Europe, and this idea hadn’t gone away—in fact, it had evolved. By the Renaissance, corpse medicine had become a booming business, backed by some of the era’s brightest minds. Physicians would prescribe powdered skull for migraines, moss grown on a human skull for nosebleeds, and even fresh blood as a treatment for epilepsy. Yes, fresh blood. Gross, but if it worked for them I guess.

What Exactly Were People Using?

When we say “corpse medicine,” we’re not just talking about one specific remedy. There were all kinds of ways human remains were used to “heal.”

• Mummy Powder: Made by grinding up ancient mummies (often imported from Egypt), this was a common remedy for a range of ailments. If you had a cough, some powdered pharaoh might’ve been your cure.
• Skull Moss: Moss that grew on human skulls was believed to have magical properties. It was often harvested from skulls in battlefields and graveyards.
• Blood: The fresher, the better. In some cases, patients would drink the blood of executed criminals because it was thought to contain life-giving energy. This led to some pretty gruesome scenes at public executions.
• Human Fat: Known as “poor man’s mummy,” this was often collected from cadavers and used in salves for wounds and arthritis.

The logic behind corpse medicine was rooted in two ideas: sympathetic magic and vitalism. Sympathetic magic is the belief that you can treat something by using a material that resembles it (like curing a headache with powdered skull). Vitalism, on the other hand, is the idea that life force or energy could be passed from one body to another. To people at the time, this made perfect sense. Today? Not so much.

The Role of Social Class

Here’s where things get even darker: corpse medicine wasn’t exactly an equal-opportunity treatment. The poor and marginalized were often the source of these remedies, while the wealthy and powerful were the ones using them. Executed criminals were a common source of fresh blood and body parts. This is also when grave robbing became a booming business to keep up with demand. Meanwhile, royalty and aristocrats were some of the biggest fans of corpse medicine. King Charles II of England, for example, allegedly sipped on a concoction called “King’s Drops,” made from alcohol and human skull.

Luckily, as science advanced in the 18th and 19th centuries, corpse medicine started to fall out of favor. The rise of germ theory and more effective medical treatments made the idea of consuming human remains seem unnecessary—and, frankly, gross. There was also a growing moral and ethical backlash. The idea of desecrating corpses for medicine began to feel deeply wrong. Especially as respect for human dignity became more widespread. By the time the modern medical era began, corpse medicine had faded into history.