Unless you’re one of those sad younger folks who’s done away with all forms of scripted media, we’ve all seen some form of this trope: an innocent, attractive young woman is tied to a train track by a dastardly villain sporting a ‘stache. Then, just in the nick of time, she is rescued by the dashing hero. 

But why is this odd image such a cinematic classic? When did it first appear? Were railroads and rope actually popular murder weapons in olden times?

From classic theatre to Victorian stage plays

As media personality Simon Whistler explains, this scene predates film. In ancient Greece, stories depicted female victims tied to rocks to lure mythical monsters. One example is Andromeda, who was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the sea monster Cetus. Just like the railroad scene, our hero Perseus showed up just in time to kill the monster and save Andromeda from her demise. 

By the 1800s, stage plays seemingly........

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