It always amazes me how many people today actually think that baths may actually be detrimental to your health. Apparently, this misconception has some early roots. The New York Evening Mail published a completely erroneous “history of the bath” in 1917 by the journalist HL Mencken. The article went on to state that after the bathtub was “invented” in 1842 in Cincinnati, the medical community came down hard on it stating it was the reason for a host of illneses.

From there, the article came to be quoted as fact for quite a number of years until Mencken admitted the content of it was pretty much made up. But despite his detraction, the public and even medical professionals continued to view the bathtub with suspicion.

This is rather sad, because I believe that the bath has a whole host of restorative properties and is a great way to relax. Just goes to show how ingrained urban legends can become when left unchecked.

Sources: ULRP (Snopes), Wikipedia