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. You can reach me on the website at www.causeofdeath100secs.net or you can email me at [e-mail]. My Link Tree can be found at: https://linktr.ee/CauseofDeathpod 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 (