Vertus Hardyman's Hat: When Modern Medicine Burns

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In 1927, a “modern cure” for ringworm left a boy’s skull collapsed. He wore a hat for 80 years to hide the truth.

In a rural Black farming town in Indiana, 1927, a group of schoolchildren were told they’d receive a modern medical treatment for ringworm. It was free, it was fast, and it was promised safe. What followed was one of the most chilling medical betrayals of the 20th century.

This is the true story of Vertus Wellborn Hardiman — a five-year-old boy whose skull was irreparably damaged by radiation and who wore a hat for the next eighty years to hide the evidence.

What looks like progress can sometimes be poison.

This isn’t folklore. It’s a hospital record. Read the full story and hear the episode now.

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