Wading waist-deep into a filthy swamp, waiting for bloodthirsty parasites to latch onto your legs—just another day in the life of a medievalleech collector. In this episode ofHistory’s Worst Paychecks, we’re diving into one of the mostgruesome, thankless, and downright disgusting jobs in history.

Why did medieval doctors believe draining blood could cure everything from fevers to bad moods? How did leech collectors survive dailyblood loss, infections, and swamp-borne diseases for pennies? And what happened when the medical worldfinally realized that maybe—just maybe—removing pints of blood wasn’t the best cure for an illness?

Join us as we trudge through medieval medical disasters, black-market leech scandals, and some of themost horrifying real-life stories from the profession. And stay tuned until the end, because next episode, we’re taking things to new (soot-covered) heights withchild chimney sweeps of the Industrial Revolution—where getting stuck meant never coming back out.

History’s Worst Paychecks uncovers the mostgrueling, underpaid, and downright miserable jobs throughout history—because no matter how bad your job is, someone in the past had it worse.

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Human Computers at NASA

Before digital computers ran the numbers that sent astronauts into space, NASA had a different kind of computer—women armed with pencils, paper, and sheer brilliance. In the high-stakes world of the 1960s Space Race, these human computers calculated rocket trajectories, re-entry angles, and life-or-death mission parameters, all while facing discrimination, relentless pressure, and paychecks that barely covered the cost of living.

John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, famously refused to launch until Katherine Johnson double-checked the machine’s math—because he trusted her more than NASA’s early computers. But for all their groundbreaking work, these women were paid a fraction of their male counterparts, treated as disposable, and ultimately replaced by the very technology they helped pioneer.

How bad was it? What did they actually do? And why did history nearly forget them?

Join History’s Worst Paychecks as we dive into one of NASA’s most underappreciated jobs—where genius met inequality, and the future of spaceflight rested in the hands of those who never got the glory.

🎧 Listen now and don’t forget to leave us a 5-star review! If you love hidden history, check out other Pastcast Studios podcasts like Heistories (the world’s greatest heists), History Fight Club (legendary warriors facing off), and Hearthside History (fascinating tales you didn’t learn in school).

Welcome to History’s Worst Paychecks, the podcast that explores the dirtiest, deadliest, and most absurd jobs throughout history. In our debut episode, we’re heading to ancient Rome, where one of the empire’s most essential industries was powered by something truly unexpected—human urine.

Before fancy detergents, the Romans relied on a powerful natural cleaning agent: ammonia. And where did they get it? That’s right—pee. But someone had to collect it, bucket by bucket, straight from public latrines and chamber pots, and haul it through the city’s bustling streets. It was a job that stank in more ways than one—humiliating, disgusting, and, thanks to Emperor Vespasian, even taxed.

Join us as we uncover the grim reality of being a Roman urine collector—a profession so foul, so thankless, that even ancient society looked down on it. We’ll dive into the daily horrors of the job, the bizarre urine economy, and the shocking scandals (yes, scandals) that erupted around it. And we’ll answer the ultimate question: how did anyone survive doing this?

So, if you’ve ever had a bad day at work, just remember—at least no one’s making you collect pee for a living. Tune in now for the first episode of History’s Worst Paychecks!