Video - Medieval Mandrake Madness: The Scream That Could Kill!

Did you know that in the 15th century, people used to believe that a certain tree, the mandrake, would scream when uprooted and anybody who heard it would die? This led to some truly bizarre harvesting methods. One method involved tying a dog to the plant and then running away to avoid the deadly scream. The dog would pull out the root and, well, unfortunately, it didn’t end well for the dog. The belief was so strong that even Shakespeare mentioned it in his plays. Imagine being so scared of a plant that you'd bring your pet along to do the dirty work! Crazy, right? If you think that's nuts, wait until you hear what people did to ward off witches.