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Chainsaws, all by themselves, are pretty scary. They are loud, destructive, and they even just look menacing.
Throw in a bunch of horror movies where they are used to slice and dice a bunch of unsuspecting and/or stupid people and chainsaws become completely terrifying.
Unfortunately, there is also a whole different reason to be horrified by chainsaws.
It turns out that the original purpose of chainsaws has nothing to do with cutting wood and a whole lot more to do with all of those horror movies we have watched where the power tool was used by maniacs for murderous purposes.
The whole conversation reportedly began when TikTok user @bootstheorangecat posted a TikTok video of herself with the caption, “POV: You record yourself before and after finding out why chainsaws were invented.”
(Warning: the song used in the TikTok videos has a swear word in it.)
@bootstheorangecatGUATTTT♬ original sound – Janx_Littlefoot
Almost a million views later, that one video spawned dozens of similar TikTok reaction videos to why chainsaws were actually invented.
@katylouxo that can’t be real #breakroom #fyp ♬ original sound – Janx_Littlefoot
So what exactly was the original reason why chainsaws were invented?
Well, it sure wasn’t for cutting wood and the actual reason the chainsaw was invented is far more shocking than you can imagine.
According to the Scottish Medical Journal, “The prototype of the chain saw familiar today in the timber industry was pioneered in the late 18th Century by two Scottish doctors, John Airken and James Jeffray, for symphysiotomy and excision of diseased bone respectively. The chain hand saw, a fine serrated link chain which cut on the concave side, was invented around 1783–1785. It was illustrated in Aitken’s Principles of Midwifery or Puerperal Medicine (1785) and used by him in his dissecting room.”
It was used as a surgical instrument for much of the 19th century, especially during the Civil War.
The small handheld chainsaw was also widely used in hospitals for something called a pelviotomy, or symphysiotomy.
Let me break that down for you.
Symphysiotomy is an outdated surgical procedure that, according to MedicineNet, “has been used to effect an immediate dramatic increase in the size of the pelvic outlet to permit delivery of a baby. The cartilage of the area where the pubic bones come together (symphysis pubis) is surgically divided.”
That’s right. Doctors would use the small chainsaw to cut the joint holding a woman’s pelvis together. Which is why this news generated so many horrified TikTok reaction videos.
@giii_marie #stitch with @sarahgirl98_ when I first learned about this I couldn’t stop researching it and now I know too much 🫠 #chainsaws #pregnancy #birth ♬ original sound – GiGi Marie
And now you know. Even if you really wish you didn’t.