The Story of Ralstonism, One of History's More Bizarre Health Movements

When Webster Edgerly appeared on stage in a late 19th-century play about Christopher Columbus, he performed while balancing on the balls of his feet. Critics were confused, but Edgerly—a part-time actor, author, and soon to be leader of a wildly successful health movement known as Ralstonism—believed that strolling like a centaur, his body weight on his toes, would avoid leakage of what he labeled “vital forces” of the body.

The critics might have thought it was a character choice. For Edgerly, it was a lifestyle choice.

In time, Edgerly would write over 80 books, count Queen Victoria among his readers, and offer his pseudoscientific advice on everything from sex (once every eight days, and no more) to walking (avoid straight lines at all costs). He envisioned a sprawling city full of his acolytes, and bought up real estate in New Jersey for exactly that purpose. He believed Ralstonism was the key not only to health but to telepathy and other spectacular powers. Nearly a million people followed his views, and he even had a hand in originating the Ralston cereal brand. But if history seems to have forgotten such a peculiar man, there's a very good reason for that. Read More

Also See:
The Secrets of Hopewell’s Castle Revealed
Life Building Method of the Ralston Health Club: "All Nature" Course
Book of General Membership of the Ralston Health Club
Cultivation OF Personal Magnetism in Seven Progressive Steps