S7 E2: 100 Seconds to Midnight: Demons and Disease

0:00 Boom, Did I scare you? No? Well, dark Cast Network has a Wicked Week of stories coming your way soon that should. I may sound familiar to some of you. I'm Cody from Over the Fence true crime podcast, and while my neighbor Molly and I are on an indefinite hiatus from our show, you may still hear from me from time to time. I kind of linger. I've really been looking forward to this season's dark Cast Network Halloween special and it's just around the corner. No tricks only audio treats for our listeners. Oh did you hear that? It sounds like the ghouls? I mean the hosts are coming in to record their stories. Be sure to clear some time. October twenty seven through October thirty first for dark Cast Networks, Wicked Week coming to a podcast app near you. I am Jackie and I'm Jessica, and together we're a mom daughters exploring the strangest mysteries that history has to offer. On diving into unsolved history, we'll talk about shipwrecks, people who have disappeared, strange deaths, and even buried treasure. We probably won't get answers to any of these things, but we'll have fun talking about it.

1:19 There's no true crime and no paranormal, just some great historical mysteries. We'll do some deep dives into things like Thomas Beale's, Cipher's, the Diet Love Incident, the Mary Celeste mystery, and the Alien Moore disappearance. Every month we'll bring you one story from the pages of history that will leave you scratching your head. Come join us as we take some really deep dives into unsolved history. Diving into Unsolved History will be available beginning in October twenty twenty three wherever you get your podcasts dark Cast Network. Come on over to the dark Side. We're really nice people once you get past the true crime and scary science. Oh the scriptures sucks. I always do something fun for Halloween and this is sounding like just another lecture. Yep, trash this. I need to change it. But I only have a week. I could do an audio drama. I wonder who I could get to help me with that.

2:32 I have friends. I'll ask DJ from Mythical True Crime, and my friend Claire CJ from Beyond the Rainbow is always up for voice acting, and Courtney from Nefarious Nightmare. Now we're getting somewhere. Jessica might be up for it. She's new to podcasting, but this will be fun for her. Oh and Chris, he's got a really good voice to play a demon. All right, now we can bring some old superstitions into twenty twenty three. Oh, this is going to be so much fun. Hello, and welcome to Cause of Death one hundred seconds to midnight. I'm your host, Jackie Moranti. For hundreds of years before germ theory was discovered, people were trying to find an explanation for 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 eighteen hundreds, people thought that disease was caused by the wrath of some vengeful god or a curse from some evil foe.

4:08 Not only that, but they believed that the people who contracted these diseases were possessed of some evil demon. Those people turned into vampires or were wolves. Of course, in twenty twenty three, we don't believe these things anymore. Right, It's ninety seconds to midnight, and all over the world, demons, vampires, and were wolves are taking over, and vengeful gods are showering us with disease and death. Homer wrote of the plague of Athens in the Iliad. He described an angry Apollo throwing down invisible arrows from the heavens. Apollo first only killed animals, but as his anger grew, he began to throw the arrows at people as well. This plague killed roughly one hundred thousand people, and to this day we don't know what it was. Hi, mom, how are you? You're not sick right? No, honey, I'm fine. I'm just tired. I've been trying to help the sick in the village all day. You should stay home and stay away from people.

5:30 This will be over soon. You sound depressed. What happened? I know what caused the plague, mom, My husband caused the plague. Homer is journaling about it for his book. My husband is going to be known as the guy who caused the plague of Athens. Agamemnon, how did he cause a plague that's killing everyone? I mean, he's allous, and he certainly doesn't deserve you. But how could he cause a plague? Well remember that raid he went on with the Greeks, the one where they plundered all those villages outside of Troy. Yeah that one. Well, in that raid, they kidnapped Chris's daughter. Oh no, So Crisis goes to Agamemnon and asks him to send her back home. He begged for her to be sent home. Do you know what my no good husband said. I can just imagine he told Crises that he should get out of his sight before he lost his temper. Just so I know who we're talking about. Crisis Apollo's priest, the one who built the temple and preaches every Sunday, Oh, the very same. Well, Chrisis goes to Apollo, and you know how tight those two are. He tells Apollo to rain down hell on the Greeks.

7:03 So now we have a plague. Achilles and Kelchis are trying to negotiate crises daughter's return, but Agamemnon has so far told them to go pound sand. Well, I think you should just leave them. Come back home. Your old room is waiting just the way you left it. Pack your things and get over here. I think it's time Achilles and Kelchis will get the girl back to her father, but Hades only knows what Agamemnon will do to piss the gods off next. In the eighteen hundreds, Louisiana was experiencing a rabies epidemic. Rabies has an extraordinarily long incubation period. It can lie dormant in the body for up to twelve weeks before the patient shows symptoms. It begins with agitation and restlessness, then the patient can't sleep. People were being struck down with fevers. Then they would complain of headaches. Then they would start frothing at the mouth. As the disease progressed, the animals and the people who had contracted it would roam the towns, growling, saliva dripping from their mouths. If some poor soul got close enough, they would bite them and then give them rabies. They would die soon after exhibiting the worst of the neurologic symptoms, but often not before they bid a new victim. This is

8:35 how the werewolf came into being. Claire's so good to see you. How have you been? Oh, I've been fantastic. Hey, do you want to sit on a cafe patio? Oh? Yes, it's a beautiful evening. So I hear you're moving again, but I feel like you just got here. Yeah, we've only been here a year, but the rabid werewolves are really bad for my anxiety. Summers here are just miserable because I think they're going to come after me. I can't walk my dog at night because I'm so afraid. Oh yeah, this summer has been especially bad for them.

9:22 They seem to be everywhere. I had to get some anti werewolf repellent at the store and I soaked the outside of my house. At least they only come out at night. Can't your dog just hold it until morning? Most of the time she has to. They're all over my neighborhood, frothing at the mouth and howling at the moon. I feel bad for them since they die so quickly, but there's nothing you can do. Oh, I know. It's just terrible. And there doesn't seem to be a cure for it either, No, none that I know of. It's a shame. I knew some of those people before they turned into were wolves, and they were really nice. Wait you knew them, Yeah, two of them were my neighbors. They let their dog out in the yard one night and it got bit by something that it got sick, and it bit them. Now they're wear wolves. I believe that the man is going to die soon, but the woman is just as grally as ever. So where are you going to move to? Oh, we're moving to Juwett City, Massachusetts. I've heard that Massachusetts is nice. It's cold there, but the autumn is pretty.

10:41 My Facebook friends say that the area we're moving to is free of tuberculosis vampires, so I think it's safe. Tuberculosis vampires those sound worse than rabid wear wolves. Are you sure the area is okay? Yeah, that's what my friends tell me. Well, we might want to go inside. It sounds like the were wolves are coming out early today. The sun barely went down. Yeah, let's go. Hopefully we can get home before they get really thick. We're going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsors.

11:33 Then we'll be back with more demons and disease. Jewett City, Massachusetts, was decimated by tuberculosis in the seventeen hundreds. More than half of the population of the town died of the disease. The townspeople, in desperation, it began to associate tuberculosis with vampirism. Since the disease causes the body to waste away and people spit up blood in the very end stages, the people of Jewett City came to believe that the dead weren't dead at all, They were vampires and they were feeding on those who remained healthy. They chose to fight the vampires with the only weapon they had, superstition. A committee would go to the graves of those who had died of the disease and dig them up. Then they would inspect the bodies. If the body hadn't decomposed and there were organs left, they would take the heart and the liver and burn it so that the person couldn't rise from the dead. If only skeletal remains were left, they would inspect the body for signs of vampirism. If the person was voted clean by the committee, they would bury them again, but this time they would bury them face down, just in case. If the person were deemed to be one of the undead, the committee would decapitate the

13:05 skeleton and remove the legs so that they couldn't rise from the grave. Often, they would arrange the bones in a skull and crossbones pattern to confuse the vampires and make sure that they wouldn't put themselves back together again. Oh honey, honey, the vampires are on the porch again. Damn it. Stuff butt Low's was supposed to make them stay away. I sprayed the crap all over the yard, I know, but they're back. Maybe we need something stronger. Well, I can't do anything about that tonight. We have to wait until morning. Then I can call that pest control guy. Do they deal with tuberculos as vampires? And damn well better? Massachusetts is full of them. Why did we move here from nor New Orleans? Anyway? Well, we moved here because they didn't have rabid were wolves. My Facebook friends told me that this part of Massachusetts was vampire free. Your Facebook friends are all probably tuberculosis vampires. You may be right. I asked Mandy to go to lunch with me one day, and she said she doesn't go out when the sun's up. She says it's bad for her skin. Are we moving again? Yes? And this time I pick where. So far you've gotten us rabid were wolves and tuberculosis vampires. Okay, you should probably do it.

14:39 Anyway, I haven't been making very good choices. Trepanning was practiced in the UK, Europe, and Peru. It was based on the belief that when someone became ill, it didn't matter what they had, they were possessed by a demon. The doctor would drill a whole in the patient's skull roughly two centimeters in diameter to let the evil spirit out. Then they would try to coax the patient's spirit back in. This was a last resort for treatment. First, the doctor would try counterspells and incantations and ritual prayers to drive the demon out, but if that didn't work, trippanning was on the schedule.

15:24 Several schools with evidence of tripanning have been found in various grave sites. Many of the injuries were healed over, giving rise to the thought that the patients lived many years after the procedure was done. Who knows what their quality of life was, but they did live. Hello, miss Mariante, this is doctor Kellman's office. I wanted to update you on the findings from your last visit. Oh, I'm feeling much better. I think it was just a head could well. Doctor Kelman ran some tests and checked your numerology chart and he believes that you're possessed by a demon? Wait, what do you mean that I'm possessed by a demon? I just have a snotty nose and a low grade fever. Your test results are coming back with possession. You are a Capricorn? Correct? Yeah, some I'm a Capricorn. But what does this stuff to do with anything? What do you mean you're scheduling a procedure? What kind of procedure we'd like to schedule you for Tripanning next Tuesday?

16:49 Trip? What Trip Panning? Trippanning? What the woe of it is that? Did he do some kind of expensive sort of spell or incantation or something? My insurance didn't even cover that. Why do I need this trip? Thing? We drill a small hole in the top of your skull to let the demons out, then we entice your soul to come back in through the hole. And yes, he did a counter spell and performed the normal prayers and incantations, but he doesn't believe that they were effective enough to expel the demon. How does he know the spells didn't work? I feel much better. I just have a little runny nose. You may feel better, but demons do work like that. They trick you into thinking that everything's fine, and then you fall into full blown possession. So explain this again.

17:48 You're going to drill a hole in the top of my head to let the evil spirit out. Then you're going to try and get my spirit back in. Can I get a second opinion before we schedule this? Of course, every patient is entitled to his second opinion, but your insurance won't cover it. You'll have to go out of network. I will gladly go out of network and pay extra to get a second opinion on this. In thirteen forty eight, King Philip the fourth of France was desperate to find the cause of the black plague. It had spread across France, causing the deaths of more than twenty million people. He brought together forty nine of the greatest medical minds that he could find at the University of Paris, and they got together to write the Paris Concilium. The document stated that man may never know the cause of the plague, since it was beyond his comprehension. The king didn't leave that lying for a minute, so they got together and offered a few more suggestions. They of course, blamed the wrath of God first. Then they moved on to a celestial cause, the conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, with a little lunar eclipse thrown in for good measure. Add this

19:21 to torrential winds and earthquakes, and you have a noxious mass of gases in the air that killed people across Europe. The Concilium was one of the greatest medical works of the time and quoted several other scholars, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Albertus Magnus, But in the end they didn't know what caused the plague. It came and it went so CJ. The king once the report on the Black Death, and I have no idea what's causing it? Do you?

20:04 Nope? I got nothing. Well, we have to come up with something and have a report typed up before the end of the week. The crystal ball thing isn't going to work for this one. He knows that's bs. I tried to tell him that people weren't smart enough to understand the nature of the illness, but he wasn't buying that either. Wait, I have an idea astrology. The King doesn't know anything about that. Yeah, but we know enough to be dangerous. This just might work, Okay, So let's start with a conjunction of three planets. That's always bad. Yeah, yeah, let's use Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter. They're scary good. Good.

20:57 Then let's add into lunar eclipse that happened last week too. Perfect. How about something like this When we look at the works of Albertus, Magnus and Aristotle, they claim that Jupiter is wet and hot, and this phenomenon draws up evil vapors from the Earth. Since Mars is known to be hot and dry, it ignites the vapors and that causes lightning, sparks, with noxious vapors and sparks flying all around. That's what caused the lunar eclipse too. Saturn caused the wind to blow and that spread the vapors even farther, so everyone got sick and dyed. I think you need to work on that phrasing a little, but I'll bet the King will buy it. Yeah, I'll make it sound like an annual report. I'll add some stats, show him some graphs. This should work. We are only now beginning to recover from the COVID nineteen pandemic, and still, even as medical science has been able to create vaccines and cures and germ theory is well known. People are still talking about some unknown demon who plagues the earth. I live in Missouri.

22:15 Now there are no tuberculosis, vampires or rabid werewolves here. It seems so safe. I was out walking my dog this morning before the sun came up. She always has to go before the sun comes up. We were walking through the field behind my house when a man approached. He was dressed all in black, and he was riding a huge white horse. He rode very close to me. I could feel the hot breath of the horse on my face. It looked almost skeletal, and it had glowing red eyes.

22:56 I backed up, trying to create some distance between us. Sweepy started to bark, and I quieted her as quickly as I could. I stood looking at the man, not quite knowing what to do, but prepared to fight if I had to. He stared back at me, and then he spoke. The voice came more from his soul than his mouth. Oh, and the first of the horseman, the pale rider, You might call me pestilence, and the first of four. The others are war, famine, and death. It's ninety seconds to midnight, and there is nowhere that you can go to escape us. We will cover the land and follow mankind wherever he goes. Then he just disappeared. He kind of vaporized. I went back home and when I got there, I gave the peace some food. Then we sat on the couch a minute. As I was hugging my dog, I whispered, Pee, I think we have a problem. Wait did that

24:26 guy use my line? He used my line, my ninety seconds to midnight line. Is there something I can do about that? Is that my intellectual property? I need to call a lawyer. I want to thank DJ of Mythical True Crime, Courtney of Nefarious Nightmare, CJ of Beyond the Rainbow, Crimes of the LGBTQ, Jessica, my daughter and co host of Diving Into Unsolved History, Chris Chacone of the Voice of Choice, and my amazing friend Claire for lending me their voices so I could do this show. I hope you all enjoyed it. I can be found on all the socials, but the best way to contact me is through my website at www dot cause of Death one hundred, sex dot net, or at my email at Jackie at cause of Death one hundred sex dot net. The links for Mythical True Crime, Nefarious Nightmare, and Beyond the Rainbow are all in the show notes.

25:34 I encourage you to support those shows as well. The very first episode of Diving into Unsolved History will drop on Halloween. Be looking for that show. Also, if you'd like to support Cause of Death one hundred seconds to Midnight. The link to my Patreon page is Jackiemurante at patreon dot com. You can also sign up on Apple Subscription and I have a Kofi account. The links to those are in the show notes. Also check out the show notes for further reading on how disease has been demonized throughout history. And remember that unless you stay home and become a total hermit, you'll never get away from the pale writer. Happy Halloween.