In this video, a woman shows us the "Victorian death stairs" in her home. During the Victorian era, servants' stairs were often far too narrow, steep, and windy to meet people's safety needs. Walking down these stairs too quickly or while trying to balance items often led to injuries and even deaths from tumbles.
Many Victorian-era homes still contain these "death stairs," like the one in the video. The woman in the video shows just how dangerous the stairs are by measuring her foot (size 8) and then measuring the stairs (also 8 inches). The issue is that the stairs overlap, making them less than 8 inches, and causing her foot to hang a few inches over the staircase as she climbs it. Not only does this look frightening, but also super uncomfortable.
Despite this deathtrap of a staircase, this woman's house looks lovely. I understand the urge to keep the stairs for historical purposes, but I'm not sure I'd trust my clumsy self to navigate this staircase everyday. If I had these stairs, I'd probably go up and down them by walking sideways, just to be safe.
See also: Low-cost airlines save real money by making you climb stairs to board instead of using a jet bridge
