Summary
Robert Evans and comedian Billy Wayne Davis explore the bizarre origins of chiropractic medicine, founded by D.D. Palmer in the 1890s. Palmer, a magnetic healer in Davenport, Iowa, claimed he received the principles of chiropractic from the ghost of a doctor named Jim Atkinson during a seance at the Mississippi Valley Spiritualist Camp. His first adjustment was performed on Harvey Lillard, a man with hearing loss and a visible spinal hump, though Palmer's account and Lillard's daughter's version of events differ significantly. The episode traces Palmer's trajectory from beekeeper and grocery store owner to self-proclaimed religious leader. A 1911 letter reveals Palmer explicitly compared himself to Jesus, Muhammad, and Mary Baker Eddy, arguing chiropractic should become a religion with himself as its head to circumvent medical licensing laws. He founded the Palmer School of Chiropractic before passing it to his son B.J. Palmer, with whom he had a bitter rivalry. D.D. Palmer died in 1913, two months after B.J. allegedly drove a car into him during a homecoming parade. The episode also discusses the ongoing tension in chiropractic between evidence-based practitioners who focus on musculoskeletal issues and those who make broader health claims rooted in the profession's pseudoscientific origins.
Key Points
- D.D. Palmer claimed to receive chiropractic principles from a ghost during a seance in the 1890s
- The first chiropractic adjustment allegedly restored hearing to Harvey Lillard by addressing a spinal hump
- Palmer explicitly wanted to make chiropractic a religion with himself as its head, comparing himself to Jesus and Muhammad
- Palmer was jailed in 1906 for practicing medicine without a license and served 17 days
- B.J. Palmer allegedly drove a car into his father D.D. at a 1913 homecoming parade; D.D. died two months later
- Modern chiropractic is split between evidence-based practitioners and those adhering to the pseudoscientific founding philosophy
- Palmer's core theory was that misaligned vertebrae affect nerve flow, causing all disease
