The oddest jobs that existed in the past but are now obsolete

Link-boys guided people through dark streets with torches for a fee, a job that disappeared with the introduction of streetlights in the 18th century.

Log drivers, or river pigs, steered logs down rivers until the 1970s, when trucks and mechanized transport made the job obsolete.

Phrenologists, popular in the 19th century, believed head shapes indicated traits, but the practice was debunked by neuroscience, making it obsolete.

Gong farmers or night soil men emptied privy vaults, a job replaced by modern sewer systems and sanitation by the early 20th century.

Lamplighters used long poles to manage gas street lamps in the 19th century, a role that largely vanished with electric streetlights by the early 20th century.

Pinsetters, often young boys, reset bowling pins by hand until Gottfried Schmidt’s mechanical pinsetter in 1936 made the job obsolete.

Leech collectors used their legs or animal limbs to attract leeches for medical use, a job that became obsolete as bloodletting was discredited by modern medicine.

Lectors, common in Cuban cigar factories from the 1860s, read to workers to break monotony, but the role faded with radios and automation by the 1930s.

Toshers searched London’s sewers for items to sell, a job outlawed in 1840 due to health risks and sewer system regulations, replaced by modern sanitation roles.

Knocker-uppers, common in 19th-century Britain and Ireland, used long poles or pea shooters to wake workers, becoming obsolete with affordable mechanical alarm clocks by the 1970s.