S7 E2: 100 Seconds to Midnight: Demons and Disease

For hundreds of years before Germ Theory was discovered, people were trying to find an explanation for the plagues and pestilence that followed them.

As millions succumbed to the Black Plague, leprosy, rabies, and tuberculosis, there was no rhyme or reason for the death and destruction. They didn’t understand bacteria, viruses or parasites.

Even through the 1800s, people thought that disease was caused by the wrath of some vengeful god, or a curse from an evil foe. Not only that, but they believed that the people who contracted these diseases were possessed of some demon. They turned into vampires or werewolves.

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Show Notes for Demons and Disease:

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.11.10.908

https://www.getty.edu/news/meet-the-mesopotamian-demons/

https://www.academia.edu/34656971/Demons_and_Illness_from_Antiquity_to_the_Early_Modern_Period

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/belief-in-evil-spirits-evolved-as-way-to-control-disease-outbreaks-study-1.4665164?cache=

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350895109_Demons_and_Disease

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520928770-007/pdf

https://www.history.com/news/how-infectious-diseases-spread-myth-superstition-theories

https://greekreporter.com/2021/02/21/apollo-vs-agamemnon-the-plague-in-ancient-greece-was-divine-wrath/

https://www.history.com/news/mysterious-illnesses-mass-hysteria

https://www.harvestbiblechurch.net/content.cfm?page_content=blogs_include.cfm&friendly_name=leprosy-a-picture-of-sin

https://www.britannica.com/science/history-of-medicine/Japan

https://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1657&context=essai

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000068634

https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1507&context=jams

https://owlcation.com/humanities/plague-gods-demons

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/07/12/the-demon-in-the-freezer

https://www.passporthealthusa.com/2018/03/japans-history-with-the-smallpox-demon/

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/belief-in-evil-spirits-evolved-as-way-to-control-disease-outbreaks-study-1.4665164?cache=

My undying thanks to all who participated in this episode:

DJ from Mythical True Crime (my partner who has to deal with vampires)

CJ from Beyond the Rainbow (my fellow scholar who has to deal with the King)

Courtney from A Nefarious Nightmare (my mom who convinces me that my husband is a schmuck)

Jessica from Diving into Unsolved History (the nurse at my doctor’s office who tries to schedule a “procedure”)

My dear friend, Claire, who always bails me out (my friend who is so calm about werewolves)

And a special appearance by Chris Chacon (the Pale Rider)

Darkcast Network – Promo by Yours Truly

Podcast Promos:

Wicked Week

Diving Into Unsolved History

Technically a Conversation

Music:

Time Off by Damma Beatz

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