May 11, 2026
Hiss-tery repeats itself
The rise and fall of snake oil
How a pain cure became the original scam — and commenters say it may be back
TLDR: Snake oil began as a real folk remedy made from snake fat, then became a famous fake as modern medicine and regulation took over. Commenters are split between laughing at old-time scams and warning that today’s wellness, AI, and self-help hypes may be the same trick in shinier packaging.
Snake oil didn’t start as a punchline — and that’s exactly why the comments got spicy. The article traces how it went from old folk remedy to mass-marketed miracle cure, with real snake hunters like Laura Masall cashing in by selling rattlesnakes, venom, and rendered fat in early 1900s Oklahoma. Then came the downfall: modern medicine, regulation, and a growing public taste for calling fake cures exactly what they were. That’s how “snake oil” became shorthand for smooth-talking nonsense in a bottle.
But the real fun is in the crowd reaction, where readers instantly turned this history lesson into a full-blown argument about whether snake oil was totally fake, unfairly smeared, or simply the ancestor of every overhyped wellness pitch alive today. One commenter barged in with nutrition facts, insisting some snake oils actually contain Omega-3 fats and are “better than nothing,” which is about as close as the internet gets to defending reptile goo with a straight face. Another went full conspiracy-comedy, joking that maybe the takedown of snake oil was an early win for Big Medicine crushing a real cure.
And then the modern parallels poured in. People compared today’s AI hype, sleep gadgets, brain tech, and even influencer self-help grifts to the same old formula: sell hope, add fancy claims, wait for desperate buyers. The darkest zinger? Snake oil never died — it just got rebranded.
Key Points
- •The article traces snake oil’s evolution during the 19th century from folk remedy to commercial patent medicine and later to a symbol of fraudulent cures.
- •Laura Masall operated a snake-based business in Oklahoma around 1901, selling snakes, venom, and snake oil, with snake oil described as one of her most profitable products.
- •Snake oil was made by rendering fat from butchered snakes and had long been used in Britain and America for rheumatism, strains, and other aches.
- •Mainstream medical publications such as *The Lancet* and the *American Journal of Pharmacy* treated snake oil as an outdated and unscientific remedy.
- •Patent medicine brands including Schuh’s Rattlesnake Oil and Clark Stanley’s Snake Oil Liniment marketed snake oil with sweeping claims for pain relief and disease treatment.