Keeping an Onion Under the Bed Cures Colds

The Folk Remedy That Purifies Illness Through Absorption

Details

According to folk medical traditions, placing a fresh-cut onion—often a white one sliced in half—under the bed of someone suffering from a cold or flu can draw the illness from their body. The onion is believed to absorb pathogens, signaled by its darkened, softened, or slimy appearance after being left overnight. The process is repeated nightly with fresh onions until symptoms subside. The onion is never eaten after use and is always discarded due to its role as a supposed illness collector.

Variants of this remedy may include:

Positioning the onion specifically beneath the pillow or head of the bed
Using bowls or saucers to contain the onion and prevent staining
Some traditions recommend red onions or placing multiple onions throughout a sickroom
A related practice involves placing onion slices in socks worn overnight

Though the remedy is not recognized by modern medicine for airborne germ absorption, its comforting ritual, strong scent, and observed changes in the onion often reinforced belief in its effectiveness.

Historical Context

This belief stems from pre-germ theory explanations of disease, especially miasma theory, which held that sickness was spread through “bad air”:

In medieval Europe, onions were valued for their purported ability to purify the air and prevent illness.
During the 1918 influenza pandemic, households across the U.S. and Europe placed onions in rooms of the ill, believing they prevented airborne transmission.
The onion’s pungent odor and tear-inducing vapors suggested it had strong purifying qualities.
Early practitioners noted onions’ natural antibacterial properties, which lent credibility to the practice despite its flawed theoretical basis.

Similar beliefs persisted in traditional Indian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European medicine, where onions were believed to draw out toxins and repel disease spirits.

Modern Relevance

Although science has since disproven the idea that onions absorb viruses or bacteria from the air, onions do contain sulfur compounds, such as allicin, with verified antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties when ingested. The folk practice remains popular among natural health advocates, alternative medicine users, and cultural households preserving ancestral remedies.

Public health campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic noted a resurgence in this remedy, circulating through online platforms and home remedy forums. While modern medicine does not endorse the method, some practitioners suggest it has psychological comfort value, helping caregivers feel proactive and connected to healing traditions.

This superstition demonstrates how observational folk medicine often correctly identified useful plants, though misattributed their effects to misunderstood mechanisms of disease.

Sources

Bonke, D. (2010). “The Folk Uses of Onions in Traditional European Medicine.” Journal of Ethnobiology, 30(1), 120–131.
Jaimeson, J. (2015). “Onion Remedies During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Cultural Memory and Practices.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 29(2), 178–197.

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