The advent of the steam-powered locomotive 🚂 allowed people to travel farther and faster than ever before, and quickly became popular with the public. However, the freedom which came with this form of transport was also seen as a moral and physical threat, especially to women. 😲

Some believed that “vulnerable” women’s bodies wouldn’t handle the high-speed (80 km/h or 50 mph) travels, resulting in faintings, madness, or … uteruses falling out. ☠️ Therefore women were sometimes discouraged from traveling.

This myth, like many other myths at the time, reflected the fear of women becoming more independent, mobile, and not as fragile as the Victorian society wanted them to be. 🦸‍♀️

Find out more about this strange belief in this Mental Floss article.