Quote:
Originally Posted by DAVES
An old expression. I believe it was actually done. Imagine HOT TAR poured on your bare body. Would be like hot melt glue all over your body. Then, assuming your survive, you would need to remove it from your burnt skin.
I am regularly spooked at how easy it has always been, throughout history to create a mob.
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You are right about how easy it can be to create a mob. Also, being tarred and feathered was never fun. But was the tar hot? Sometimes, but generally not. Tar that remained liquid at room temperature found a number of uses in the past, such as on boat decks, on ropes, as waterproofing, and even as lubrication for squeaky wooden covered wagon axles. The kind that we use on roofs that has to be heated in order to flow wouldn’t work for these uses. Liquid tar was black from the soot in it, stuck to skin and stained it, and was hard to remove. Feathers stuck to it, too. The Wikipedia article on the topic is an interesting read. I was disgusted to read that before the American Revolution, some “patriots” considered it a suitable punishment for Loyalists trying to follow the laws.
Tarring and feathering - Wikipedia
The tar used was Pine Tar, made by distilling it from fresh pine wood with heat. When you see reference to “naval stores” as being an important product of a colony, that was part of it. Thousands of barrels of it were produced in America, Sweden, etc. it differs from the petroleum tar used on flat roofs.
Tar - Wikipedia