Cayenne Pepper as a Weapon

Trigger Warning: This post contains content about child abuse.

Last year, infamous youtuber, Ruby Franke of 8 Passengers and her cohort, Jodi Hildebrandt, were sent to prison in Utah after pleading guilty to multiple counts of felony child abuse. As a mom, I was horrified at the condition the two children were found in. Both were emaciated, dehydrated, battered, and emotionally traumatized.

In court documents it was reported that one of the victims had horrific open wounds on their wrists and ankles. According to the victim, the wounds were, “from the rope that was used to tie them to the ground.” The victim stating that “Jodi put the ropes on their ankles and wrists,” and that “they used cayenne pepper and honey to dress the wounds.”

The herbalist in me was dumbfounded by the senselessness of it. One could assume that cruelty has no limit regarding stupidity, but I think the truth is that cruel people have no limits, period.

Considering that no wise or ethical herbalist would recommend cayenne pepper for an open wound, how could a “treatment” like this come to be?

As Hildebrandt was stockpiling food and supplies in her home, it’s no surprise she would have stores of honey. Honey is probably second only to salt as an O.G. preservation product. It is often used for herbal infusions, but it also has many medicinal properties as well.

Honey naturally contains hydrogen peroxide and other antibacterial and antimicrobial compounds that can inhibit the growth of bacteria and viruses. It also has anti-inflammatory properties and is used regularly to hasten the healing of wounds and reduce scaring.

However, Hildebrandt will receive no credit from me. The fact that, according to her victim, she added cayenne pepper to the mix means, to me, that this mixture was used more as a dual-purpose punishment than any kind of herbal medicine.

So, what about the medicinal properties of cayenne pepper? Cayenne is often added to oils and creams to warm up aching muscles or joints. Think of products like Icy Hot. Personally, I can’t use those type of products because it burns my skin, so I would never even think to put something like that on a child! Nor would I apply it to an open wound on anyone, period!

Internally, cayenne pepper can also clear sinus congestion. The chemical compound capsaicin found in hot peppers is the reason a person’s nose will run when they eat spicy food. Cayenne also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and a study done in 2015 suggested that it may have antibacterial properties as well. So, if I had a cold or sinus congestion, a spoonful of honey and cayenne pepper could really hit the spot and provide a nice warming sensation to fight off the chills.

Another studied benefit of cayenne pepper, and one that really needs to be addressed here, is capsaicin’s work as a pain reliever. Substance P is a type of chemical messenger found in the nervous and immune systems and is involved in transmitting pain signals to the brain. Studies have found that capsaicin can reduce the amount of Substance P and thereby alleviate pain to some degree.

Capsaicin does this by binding to a receptor called TRPV1, which is found on the surface of sensory neurons that transmit pain signals. When that happens, it creates an initial release of substance P, causing a harsh burning sensation. With repeated exposure, capsaicin can deplete the nerve endings of their substance P stores, making them less sensitive to pain signals.

When I was a little girl and I would stub my toe, my dad would say, “here, let me cut it off, that’ll make it feel better.” That’s what this reminds me of. If a person has a toothache and hits their hand with a sledgehammer, the toothache doesn’t go away, the injured person just can’t feel it anymore. The burn that would flash through a small child with an open wound slathered with cayenne pepper would be tantamount to that sledgehammer.

Here’s what leads me to believe this type of mixture could only serve an abuser as a dual-purpose punishment. Herbal information is readily available. I did a quick google search of herbs that fight germs and 15 came up without having to open a single website, none of them would burn like the pits of hell. The question then, is why use something that will create pain when there’s any number of pain free options?

All this starts to form a hateful picture. I imagine that an abuser, to avoid detection, would try to avoid any outside help. That type of person wouldn’t necessarily care about healing their victim but would still try to prevent a serious infection as a mode of self-preservation. Also, a treatment like this would allow the abuser to still be causing pain, even in the act of “treating wounds,” hence, a dual-purpose punishment.

This was an emotionally hard subject for me, but I was inspired to write it because of all the questions I’ve seen about it on social media. This is one of the most twisted things I’ve ever heard of, but I hope I’ve provided some educational context to the situation.

Also, if you get a cut, don’t rub cayenne pepper on it, just wash it and put on a band-aid.