1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: back to the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. I am Ben. That's our 4 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: one and only super producer, Mr Max Williams joined as 5 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: always with my Ride or Died, the one and only 6 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: Mr Noel Brown. Yeah. Today it's a little more Die 7 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:45,560 Speaker 1: than Ride, just putting it out there. I got my 8 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: COVID booster yesterday, and I'm a little worse for the 9 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: wear today, but I'm powering through for the Ridiculous Historians 10 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: and for you Ben, and for you Max. Taking one 11 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:57,160 Speaker 1: for the team here. I'm wrapped in a blanket like 12 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: a little little lady who lives in the shoe, and 13 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: hopefully you're blanket is bug free. Today's episode is about 14 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: bed bugs. Now, like many people growing up, I did 15 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: not have a ton of personal experiences with bed bugs. 16 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: I ran into them like there was this very strange, 17 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: somewhat ruthless mattress program at my boy Scout camps because 18 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: of the fear of bed bugs. I never actually saw 19 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: bed bugs, and I thought they might even be kind 20 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: of like a snipe and a snipe hunt. Until yeah, 21 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: until I lived in Central America, And in a couple 22 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,679 Speaker 1: of the houses I stayed in, someone would take me 23 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: to the side, you know, some sometime during my first 24 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: day there, and they would say, hey, when you sleep, 25 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: make sure you sleep with your pants on tucked into 26 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: your socks. And I said why, and they just said, 27 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: just do it. It turns out it's because of bed bugs, 28 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: which were Yeah, bed bugs are in fact real. Um, 29 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: it's something if anyone you knows, grow grew up living 30 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: in New York City or spending time, you know, living 31 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: in apartments in New York City, might be aware of 32 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: as certainly something to look out for. These things that 33 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: they hop around to right like they can hop off 34 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: the bed onto you and vice versa. Um, they're almost 35 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,639 Speaker 1: like lice. I don't know, how do we describe the 36 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: common American bedbug. Well, it's a insect. It's it's a 37 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: common pest. They're very small. They're on the order of 38 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: millimeters in size. It's like if they were a band 39 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: instead of being and you will know us by the 40 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: trail of the dead, they would be like and you 41 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: shall know us by the trail of the bites. Most 42 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: people don't see bed bugs easily unless they're definitely looking 43 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: for them, or unless they're a lot in one place, 44 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: But when you get the bites, it's hard to mistake 45 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: them for anything else. We're talking skin rashes, some people 46 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 1: have allergic symptoms, blisters. It's just overall unpleasant and it 47 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: can be really difficult to get rid of them. From 48 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 1: my understanding, that's right. The bed bug no officially as 49 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: Cimex lectularius. They're tiny, flat, parasitic blood sucking insects. They 50 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: feed on humans and animals while they sleep. They're the 51 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 1: opportunistic little buggers, aren't they. They're reddish brown, they don't 52 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: have any wings, and they roughly according to the c 53 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: D c UH they are the size of Lincoln's head 54 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: on a penny, and they can live with for several 55 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: months without any sustenance at all. So they like to 56 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: feed on bear skin typically, not like a bear skin rug, 57 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: like bare human skin where there's no hair, because it's 58 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: easier for them to get to. But like unlike ticks 59 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: and you know, lights and stuff, they are a little 60 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: easier to spot because they don't burrow into areas covered 61 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: in hair where you have a hard time seeing them 62 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: right exactly. They spend a lot of their lives in dark, 63 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: hidden locations. Think like cracks in the wall, think mattress. 64 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: Seems uh, there's something really interesting too. I don't know 65 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: how far we'll get with it today, but infestations are 66 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: pretty common. Man. There's another species that's found primarily in 67 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: the tropics, but that vampiric grifft, is the same all 68 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: the world over. For some reason, bedbug infestations have increased 69 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: since the nineteen nineties. Scientists still aren't sure why. All 70 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: we know is that the global bedbug population has reached 71 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: a record high, and everybody in the world today has 72 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 1: managed to agree on one thing in these our divisive times. 73 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: We hate bedbugs, right, It's true. I think we can 74 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: reckon unite on that front. Um. That didn't used to 75 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: be the case. Bed Bugs actually used to be considered 76 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:42,840 Speaker 1: a potent form of medicine. That's right, medicine, and not 77 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: just from their bites, specifically from like collecting them, grinding 78 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: them up into some sort of powder or like a poultice, 79 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: and then consuming it to treat things ranging from flu 80 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: two fevers. Uh. It was even mixed with salt and 81 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: breast milk in order to create a topical substance to 82 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: treat things like pink i eye infections. Really really bizarre. 83 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: It was hugely popular and used for almost fifteen hundred years. Exactly, yeah, 84 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: we know. One of the earliest texts describing the medical 85 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: application of bedbugs comes from a collection called d Materia medica. 86 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,160 Speaker 1: They were ground up the bed bugs, I mean not 87 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:29,600 Speaker 1: this collection of texts and consumed as medicine for millennia. 88 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 1: During the fifteen hundreds, for instance, people would eat beans 89 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: that have been stuffed with bed bugs as a way 90 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: to cure malaria. Uh, spoiler, it's not the best malaria cure. 91 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: And then they would mix bedbugs with tortoise blood to 92 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: heels snake bites. People even thought the smell of bed 93 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:53,239 Speaker 1: bugs could have a curative effect. It could reverse cataracts, 94 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: eliminate lethargy, cure earaches, and even get rid of kidney stones. 95 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: Experts today believe that this weird chapter of medicine peaked 96 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: in the seventeen hundreds when women were fed bedbugs in 97 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:15,839 Speaker 1: order to ease their quote unquote symptoms of hysteria. And honestly, 98 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: we found that little tidbit through an unexpected source, Johnny B. 99 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: Pest Control dot Com. So thanks so much, use information 100 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: or specifically John Bozargan who wrote the article. But then why, 101 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,039 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, why where where do they get this idea? 102 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: Where do they get this wild notion? Why bedbugs and 103 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: specifically some of the materials they mixed it with. It 104 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,800 Speaker 1: just seems like a real stretch. Yeah, it's weird to 105 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: understand it. We have to understand the ancient enmity between 106 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:53,280 Speaker 1: human civilization and these little critters. Uh, it looks like 107 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: according to some research from scientists at Charles University in 108 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: the Czech Republic, they did a genetic annals of the 109 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: bed bug and from their findings they estimate its origins 110 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: maybe date back two and forty five thousand years. If 111 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: that number holds up, then that means that bed bugs 112 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: could be older than modern humans are. And there's a 113 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: ton of evidence from other parts of the world that 114 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: shows us just how old this battle has been. Archaeologists 115 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: in the nine nineties found fossilized bedbugs at a three thousand, 116 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: five fifty year old site in Egypt. Their name checked 117 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: in ancient Greek plays. They're even mentioned in the Talmud. 118 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: It's nuts people have been like bed bugs have been 119 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: an irritating topic of conversation for a long long time. 120 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: Even like people try to cast spells against bed bugs, 121 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: which I think is cool. There's there's this interesting thing though, 122 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: because you know, um, there's this this trope in a 123 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 1: lot of ancient medicine where where the assumption is one 124 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: can take something that is harmful and through certain rituals 125 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: or through certain you know, treatments, you can turn it 126 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: into something helpful. And I believe that's what happened with 127 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: bed bugs. There's a really great article on mental floss 128 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: by Brooke Borel called seven Infested Facts about bed bugs, 129 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: and on that we learned about the spells that the 130 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: ancient Egyptian pharaohs would try to have cast on the 131 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:31,239 Speaker 1: little guys. We learned that the ancient Greeks would actually 132 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:35,559 Speaker 1: try to lure the bugs out to um other flesh 133 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: by actually tempting them with a hair or a stag 134 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 1: feet in their beds, so essentially tying severed animal parts 135 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 1: to their bed frames and the hopes of the bed 136 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: bugs would jump onto them instead. In the eighteen hundreds 137 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: and nineteen hundreds, as we know, the problematic era for 138 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: using you know, carcinogenic chemicals to solve problems. We used 139 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: really really nasty sprays made of arsenic and mercury um 140 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: and um super toxic fume against like cyanide gas. So 141 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: we were really you know, meant business like, I don't 142 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: care if we kill ourselves in the process, as long 143 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: as we got rid of the bed bugs. Even baseball 144 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: bats was a thing like that's like taking it a 145 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: step further than the fly swatter. Uh. They were blowtorched, 146 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: drenched with gasoline, set on fire. Um. And according to 147 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: a recommendation from a book from the late eighteenth century 148 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: called The Complete Vermin Killer, washing bed frames with wormwood 149 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: and hella bore boiled in a quote, proper quantity of 150 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 1: urine was the way to go. Yep, boiling and urine. Uh, 151 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:42,000 Speaker 1: that was considered a legitimate approach. And it feels kind 152 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: of scorched earth honestly. But let's get back to that question. 153 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: The medicine here, what made people believe bedbugs, whether their 154 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: odor or their corps, has had medicinal uses. Well, we 155 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: have to understand that for a long time, the world 156 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:06,679 Speaker 1: of medicine was a guessing game that came out of 157 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 1: long standing natural traditions and also came out of spiritual beliefs. Right, 158 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:18,079 Speaker 1: medicine and magic or spirituality were inextricably intertwined for a 159 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:24,199 Speaker 1: very long time, and because people were trying new solutions, 160 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: almost everything was at one point or another and non 161 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: orthodox or out of the box solution. And well, yeah, 162 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 1: we've got a list of things that don't that you 163 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 1: wouldn't hear a doctor say today, But I assure you, 164 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: ridiculous historians, these were common real things. People used to think. 165 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:46,440 Speaker 1: Yogurt would prevent you from becoming old. People used to think, 166 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: you know, a good a good dose a heroine would 167 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: help with your cough, opium with your asthma. Um, you 168 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:56,840 Speaker 1: could wear a belt that would if you were impotent, 169 00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: you could wear a belt that would give you electric shocks. 170 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: And if you're throat was sore, why not snarf down 171 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:07,600 Speaker 1: some dog poop. True story. Oh no, thank you. Um, 172 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 1: you know, unless it definitely works and I'm totally game. Uh. 173 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:11,959 Speaker 1: This was also wasn't this kind of the era of 174 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: John Harvey Kellogg. Um, you know, the founder of the 175 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: Kellogg Company, serial company. But he was known for his 176 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,080 Speaker 1: unorthodox treatments, like I think he would give people yogurt enemas, 177 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,240 Speaker 1: presumably because he thought it would do something good for 178 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: their you know, their health, and that that would have 179 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: been a later use of this kind of stuff. But 180 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,439 Speaker 1: these remedies have been around, uh for a long time, 181 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:36,640 Speaker 1: and even today if people use holistic remedies that some 182 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 1: from more traditional medical backgrounds might you know, look askance at. 183 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,320 Speaker 1: But it's the power of belief is as a hell 184 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:46,839 Speaker 1: of a thing, right, yeah, yeah, just like when my 185 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 1: GP told me that I could cure my malaise by 186 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: walking wider shins around a you tree during solstice, you know, 187 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:58,160 Speaker 1: and I was like, Okay, I'll try asper In first, 188 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: but I appreciate the hustle. Yeah, you go to do 189 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: you go to? You go to Dr Merlin as well? I? 190 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:07,760 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I actually go to dr Acula. Um he sucks, 191 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: so if I love the way he holds his hand though, yes, yes, 192 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. Max more of it so we 193 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: we know that if you got sick in the actual 194 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: first century, like first century CE, you needed to be 195 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: less of a picky eater than normal because one cure 196 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: for the flu or what we would call the flu 197 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 1: now generally any bad fever. According to the physicians of 198 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: the time was this idea of mixing bed bugs was 199 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: STU seven if you're an adult, for if you're a child. 200 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: The quote is actually instructions for preparing kimisses of ye 201 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: bed which is what they called bed bugs yea, put 202 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,839 Speaker 1: them in meat with beanies and what we did down 203 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: before the feat as a remedy for sweating sickness. That's again, 204 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:06,719 Speaker 1: that's from that book we mentioned earlier. D Materia. Medicup 205 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 1: isn't sweating sickness malaria basically. I believe that's correct. Yeah, 206 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: I believe that's at least one term for malaria. For sure. 207 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: I feel like I've got sweating sickness right now, but 208 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: unfortunate don't have any bed buck lan. I'm just gonna 209 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,200 Speaker 1: have to sleep it off. But it's true. I mean, 210 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,439 Speaker 1: if you were not able to, you know, suck this 211 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 1: stuff down, you could be shamed by the local apothecary 212 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 1: um and that would be no good. He'd be ostracized 213 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:31,680 Speaker 1: in the community for not taking your medicine. Um. Let's 214 00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: say that you had something known as scabs of the 215 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 1: privy c the priv t s a k A. You know, 216 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 1: uh sensitive area uh scabs. Bed bugs were apparently quite effective. Also, 217 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,080 Speaker 1: like we said, they were used for eye infections when 218 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:50,080 Speaker 1: mixed with salt and uh and and quote women's milk. 219 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:53,800 Speaker 1: For about thirty years, bedbugs have been like the mortal 220 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 1: enemies of of humans. If they were to be found 221 00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: in a home today, it could absolutely cause some serious panicking. 222 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,680 Speaker 1: Like you know, it's gross. It's like when you kid 223 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: comes home from school with lights it makes you feel 224 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: like you're dirty or something like that. It's got a 225 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: stigma around it in our society, paranoia, you know, like 226 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: like calling up what was that bugman's name, Uh, I'm 227 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 1: gonna call him Johnny, called Johnny B. Because this is 228 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: serious business. But you know, if you look back further 229 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 1: to ancient history, you really do see these physicians believed 230 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: in the power of these parasites, even while simultaneously, you know, 231 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,640 Speaker 1: being fearing them in some way. They were considered this 232 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:38,280 Speaker 1: kind of cure. All until in the last years of 233 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: BC that concept started to wayne. I guess my question is, like, 234 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: what odd choice just out of nowhere? Like it was 235 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: there there's no truth to any of this, So how 236 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: do they all of a sudden like, yeah, that's the one. 237 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: There's a there's tons of other bugs they could have used. 238 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 1: Why the bed bugs. Well, again, there is this there's 239 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: this trope you see in ancient medicine, this belief that 240 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 1: the one can take something that would ordinarily be dangerous 241 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:10,040 Speaker 1: and with the proper preparations or rituals in the world 242 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: of ancient medicine, you could make it curative. The idea 243 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: that some variety of the poison, uh to put it 244 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:22,400 Speaker 1: one way, could contain the antidote. Sure, it's like if 245 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: you take just a little bit of snake venom over 246 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: a period of time, it could potentially defend you against 247 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: snake bites. Or you can take a little bit of 248 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: like a virus into your body and you might feel 249 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: a little ill, especially while you're recording a podcast. And 250 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 1: it's a really good it's really good point backs. Yes, 251 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: we're not we're not so different, you and I. And 252 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: then I'm speaking to the ancient the ancient Greeks. Some 253 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: of these preparations that border on the insane. The series 254 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: one from a medical advice um poem in fact, called 255 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: the by the by the physician Quintus Serenus Saminikus, and 256 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: he said, shame not to drink the wall lice mixed 257 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: with wine wall lice. That's the first. I like that. 258 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: And garlic bruised together at noonday a specific time again 259 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: yeah uh huh. Moreover, a bruised wall louse with an egg. 260 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: Ee repine not for it to take this loathsome yet 261 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: full good I say, alright, yoda, Yeah, repine. Repine means 262 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:34,479 Speaker 1: to feel, means to worry, to feel or express discontent. 263 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: So it's like fretting. So don't repine, which is weird 264 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: because it might sound a little close to recline. Lay back, 265 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: so it can be confirmed, which is to express an opinion, right, 266 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: or supine or lupine. Yeah, so we know that according 267 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: to plenty of the elder, who, by the way, was 268 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: a huge proponent a bedbug as medicine, your preparation would 269 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: depend upon the sickness you were trying to treat. Uh. 270 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: And we don't have to get too into the nitty 271 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: gritty grossness of this, but we do need to note 272 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: that pharmacopeia we mentioned, damn materia medica in a very 273 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 1: real way, became a precursor to Western pharmacology. It would 274 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:20,920 Speaker 1: go on to influence medicine for like the next one thousand, 275 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: five hundred years, and that's why some of these kind 276 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: of whacky do bedbug medicine ideas continued to be practiced 277 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,879 Speaker 1: in Europe for centuries. They even get mentioned in later 278 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,400 Speaker 1: pharmacopeias like Treasury of Health. You would think that as 279 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:43,720 Speaker 1: the centuries progressed, people would eventually say, hey, bedbugs can't 280 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: cure cataracts just due to their smell. But medicine did 281 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,680 Speaker 1: not progress as steadily as some other human pursuits, so 282 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:54,560 Speaker 1: these bedbug cures for things like vomiting, ear infections, even 283 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:59,400 Speaker 1: snake bites would still be mentioned in later medical text 284 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: And we mentioned that trumped up pseudo medical condition quote 285 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: unquote female hysteria, which yeah, medicine held onto for far 286 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:15,480 Speaker 1: too long. And so there was a religious aspect to 287 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: this in the Middle Ages. And we get this from 288 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:22,080 Speaker 1: Lisa Sarahson, who was an Oregon State University historian who 289 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: was at the time of this interview writing a book 290 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:28,239 Speaker 1: about the history of vermin and she said that in 291 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:33,560 Speaker 1: earlier days, having bedbugs was seen as a sign of dirtiness, fine, 292 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,400 Speaker 1: get it, but she says it was also seen sometimes 293 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 1: as a sign of holiness because the mortification of the 294 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: flesh was like an imitation of Christ, and people thought 295 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,480 Speaker 1: that was kind of a good thing. Okay, all right, 296 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: I know it feels like a stretch, but this is 297 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 1: also the heyday of flagelence. So yeah, with the like 298 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:55,159 Speaker 1: you're talking about where you like beat yourself over the 299 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,960 Speaker 1: back that like hair shirt that was just like irritate 300 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,920 Speaker 1: the wounds for the rest of the day. So we've seen, 301 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:05,640 Speaker 1: you know, physicians talk about this being an effective way 302 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:09,639 Speaker 1: of curing everything from the flu to bed wedding. In fact, 303 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 1: there was one particular physician that actually described it like this. 304 00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:18,920 Speaker 1: His name was Conrad gessner Um, and he said that 305 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:24,919 Speaker 1: bedbugs bites and stings will quote provoke urine as a 306 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,639 Speaker 1: diuretic and stop children's water that goes from them against 307 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: their wills. So it's another miracle cure for for bed 308 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:34,399 Speaker 1: wedding because nobody wants to nobody wants to wake up 309 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,359 Speaker 1: in a in a in a wetted bed. But we 310 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:41,440 Speaker 1: do start to see the tide turn a little bit 311 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:45,680 Speaker 1: against bed bugs as a cure because the focus began 312 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:49,680 Speaker 1: to shift more to them as a sign of you know, uncleanliness, right, yeah, 313 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: a sign of being lower class. So back to back 314 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:56,360 Speaker 1: to our story and uh Dr Sarason, who says that 315 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: nobody wanted bed bugs in their bedroom and common attitudes 316 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 1: towards parasites bedbugs in particular, began to change in the 317 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:10,200 Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds as Europeans came into contact with people from 318 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: other parts of the world. They said, you know what, 319 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:16,720 Speaker 1: we don't want to be around parasites, and so they 320 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:21,240 Speaker 1: began using parasites as a way to dunk on any 321 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:24,680 Speaker 1: people they didn't like. She points out that the English 322 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: of the time thought the Scots were riddled with lice, 323 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:33,919 Speaker 1: and they started calling Scotland Liceland, which which is petty. 324 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: It's petty enough that it gives me a chuckle, though, 325 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,280 Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? The English were just taking a 326 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:42,919 Speaker 1: big old on Scotland. I've never seen that before in history. 327 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 1: I know, it's an unprecedented time and I feel like 328 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 1: we now we officially owe the people of Scotland an 329 00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:55,800 Speaker 1: episode all their own. We're with you, folks, and the 330 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:59,480 Speaker 1: first exterminators that said they could explicitly get rid of 331 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:02,399 Speaker 1: bedbug actually do come about in this time period in 332 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: the seventeen hundreds, and their recipes for how to get 333 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: rid of bedbugs were to be fair just as strange 334 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:16,160 Speaker 1: sounding as the recipes people used in bed bug medicine. 335 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:22,119 Speaker 1: One example from Atlas Obscura is this recipe that says, okay, 336 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:23,600 Speaker 1: if you get rid of here's the way you get 337 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: rid of bedbugs. Use the smoke of cow dung and 338 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:31,400 Speaker 1: rotting cucumber and ox scale combined with vinegar droppings from 339 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:34,920 Speaker 1: a roasted cat with egg yolks and oil to form 340 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 1: an ointment that you can rub on to furniture. This 341 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: is like some double double toil and trouble kind of stuff, 342 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: like I have news, you know, wing of bats, roasted cat? 343 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: Whoever heard of that? I'm sorry, my my fever is 344 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: causing me to rhyme spontaneously. I just feel like this 345 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:53,960 Speaker 1: is like, you know, the person who would be trying 346 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: this would have just tried to like dous like you know, 347 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: like wasn't there here that involved mixing at all with 348 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 1: urine like and stuff? Surely, yeah, so the room is 349 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,719 Speaker 1: gonna have like human urine and out cow dung and 350 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:10,199 Speaker 1: then rotting cucumbers that It's like, it is it a 351 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:11,920 Speaker 1: worth what is it a worthwhile? Trade off? Is what 352 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 1: you're asking? I think, like, give me the bug bites 353 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: that a deal. Yeah, I don't want to smear myself 354 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 1: with you know, animal feces and you know, drinking ground 355 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,359 Speaker 1: up you know, insects and stuff, and it's like, you know, 356 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,440 Speaker 1: come on, yeah, but here's my question. Nowadays we talk 357 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 1: about things in terms of like staples, right, like what 358 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 1: are the staple ingredients that you would normally find in 359 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 1: the kitchen or household cleaners or whatever. And this makes 360 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 1: me wonder what the households staples of Middle Ages Europe. Were. 361 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:48,280 Speaker 1: Were they like with someone like, oh yeah, roasty cat, Okay, yeah, 362 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:51,120 Speaker 1: ox dung? How doy do are we out of ox dung? 363 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: I can't believe we just picked up some ox poop earlier. 364 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,720 Speaker 1: This is well, they likely would have had a family 365 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:00,200 Speaker 1: ox and they could have just gone and procure some 366 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,679 Speaker 1: of it's dung from from you know, the barn area. 367 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: I assume the roasted cat is disturbing though. Yeah, I 368 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:07,920 Speaker 1: don't like that. I want it at all. I think 369 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 1: I think it's three cat lovers. They don't like that. 370 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: I want it at all. I just got a six 371 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:23,200 Speaker 1: pack of roasted cat. This is perfect. So anyhow, uh, 372 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:28,639 Speaker 1: now we go across the pond when Europeans started to 373 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: traverse the Atlantic and mass they brought a bunch of 374 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 1: other stuff with them. They've been a lot of unintentionally. 375 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: They brought diseases, they brought bed bugs, they brought the rats, 376 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: the roaches that would always infest ships. And this is 377 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 1: not to say that these kinds of creatures did not 378 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,880 Speaker 1: exist in other parts of the world. It's just it's 379 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: just known that their hygiene wasn't the same kind of 380 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,720 Speaker 1: hygiene you would see how a modern cruise ship, for instance. 381 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: So the bedbug family does have a lot of species. 382 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,359 Speaker 1: Were primarily talking about those two that we mentioned at 383 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: the top. But according to Robert Snetzinger, Professor emeritus of 384 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 1: entomology at Penn State University. According to him, experts still 385 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:22,199 Speaker 1: aren't sure whether it was the infamous cimex lectilarious or 386 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:27,760 Speaker 1: one of its related cousins that came with Europeans across 387 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:32,360 Speaker 1: the Atlantic. But there's something interesting, there's a little mystery here. 388 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 1: Loose Sorkin at the American Museum of Natural History says 389 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:41,919 Speaker 1: that there's no native American word for bedbugs, no indication 390 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:47,439 Speaker 1: of it. So this to him is compelling, if not 391 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 1: full proof, argument that bedbugs are a colonial thing, or 392 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: that's how they got to North America. I love solving 393 00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: a good history mystery. It's all I can do to 394 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,399 Speaker 1: stay alive. I gotta rhyme. I gotta keep the rhyme going. So, 395 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,199 Speaker 1: as we said, these little guys are some of the 396 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:09,160 Speaker 1: biggest opportunists of the inset community. And they absolutely thrived 397 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:13,360 Speaker 1: in the New World. UM, particularly after the railroad happened, 398 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,680 Speaker 1: because you know, they were just being transported all over 399 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:18,320 Speaker 1: the place and they could find new homes in the 400 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: days before cars and planes. He had a salesman, uh 401 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: and business travelers that would you know, go door to 402 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: door selling their wares and all that, staying in these 403 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 1: uh kind of fleabag motels. That's probably where the name 404 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,280 Speaker 1: came from. Uh. They were near train stations and they 405 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:37,359 Speaker 1: essentially became these like hubs for the distribution of bed 406 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 1: bugs to people's actual homes. Yeah, it's exactly right. And 407 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,600 Speaker 1: the prevalence of bedbugs as this rose, as they became 408 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 1: more common and uh unfortunately more familiar to people across 409 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 1: the US, the popularity of bedbug cures also went into 410 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 1: a steep decline. Lice and bedbugs were still kind of 411 00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:04,159 Speaker 1: homemade folksy attempts securing things like tumors and goiters in 412 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 1: the late eighteen hundreds, but the medical experts of the 413 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,800 Speaker 1: day were less and less likely to treat this as 414 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,879 Speaker 1: solid medicine. In fact, most bedbug research at this point 415 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,200 Speaker 1: pivoted to figuring out the best ways to get rid 416 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,640 Speaker 1: of these jokers, you know, smoke them out with pete fires, 417 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: sterilized furniture with boiling water this time, not you're in 418 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:32,679 Speaker 1: and scattering plant ash, uh, fumigating with cyanide, which feels 419 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: a little extreme. Unfortunately, that type of treatment, which was 420 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:43,640 Speaker 1: prevalent in the nineteen twenties, resulted in numerous deaths of humans, 421 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 1: not just bed bucks. Not again, according to Snetzinger, and 422 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 1: he discusses all that in his book which you can 423 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: get called The rat Catcher's Child, The History of the 424 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:57,960 Speaker 1: Pest Control Industry. Once the nineteen forties came along, pesticides 425 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:02,240 Speaker 1: like DDT where used, and they could kill typhus and 426 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:05,119 Speaker 1: malaria carriers like mosquitoes. During World War Two, which is 427 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 1: very important. Um they also proved to be very useful 428 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 1: in the fight against bed bugs, and their numbers really 429 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,159 Speaker 1: took a dive for about thirty years. Then we we 430 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,120 Speaker 1: kind of came into what we would call the Golden 431 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:23,359 Speaker 1: era for America's mattresses. Yes, there was a time where 432 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: you wouldn't see two mattress firm stores right across the 433 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 1: street from each other anywhere you go. Uh. I still 434 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: don't understand why that's the thing. Um, but it is 435 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:37,439 Speaker 1: a total grifh. But the Environmental Protection Agency outlawed the 436 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:41,080 Speaker 1: use of some of these chemicals for health and environmental reasons, 437 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:45,119 Speaker 1: and other insecticides that were very useful in you know, 438 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:49,200 Speaker 1: squashing down this bug epidemic. We're also banned things like 439 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:54,240 Speaker 1: chloradine and diazignon. That happened in the nineteen eighties. So 440 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:58,479 Speaker 1: what happens. You got these little resilience bed bugs starting 441 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 1: to kind of poke their heads up. A Um. It 442 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:07,120 Speaker 1: has absolutely made a comeback. Yeah. Yeah, And people are 443 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:12,080 Speaker 1: traveling internationally way more often in this period of history. Uh, 444 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 1: you know, excluding the pandemic times. The idea that these 445 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:22,080 Speaker 1: parasites could heal people didn't completely go the way of 446 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:26,800 Speaker 1: the Dodo. However. In two thousand two, the authors of 447 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,000 Speaker 1: a book called Asked the Bugman, a pest management guide, 448 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:36,159 Speaker 1: found an unexpected repository of ancient Greek medical knowledge in 449 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: the Midwest. They found that in some parts of Ohio, 450 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:43,720 Speaker 1: even in two thousand and two, eating seven bed bugs 451 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 1: mixed with beans is was still considered a cure for 452 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,880 Speaker 1: chills and fever. That's the exact number of bugs recommended 453 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: in the ancient day Materia medica. And it's it's interesting 454 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: because again, these q wars might seem really strange at 455 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: the very least, if not laughably gross, but that human 456 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: terror of bedbugs, it was kind of what drove them 457 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: to turn to bedbugs for relief. There had to be 458 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:18,600 Speaker 1: some way in which these creatures presents and their biting 459 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:22,160 Speaker 1: and they're tormenting made sense, so they had to find 460 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: some use for them. It just turned out, and we 461 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: can't say this pretty conclusively that a lot of these 462 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,800 Speaker 1: treatments are not on trying to be diplomatic, they're not 463 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: on the level of modern medicine. This is not medical advice. 464 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 1: But what we can say for sure is go to 465 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: your doctor if you're concerned about some of these conditions. 466 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,560 Speaker 1: And you know what, if your doctor tells you that 467 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: you need to do some weird stuff with bed bugs 468 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: to get better, then tell us about it, because we 469 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 1: would love to hear it. I want to hear you 470 00:29:55,440 --> 00:30:00,720 Speaker 1: know somebody's GPS say like, well, uh, I'd say, you 471 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: need about seven bed bugs to do the job. Here. 472 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,920 Speaker 1: Grind him up with beans, I recommend Garbonzo, maybe a 473 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 1: little a little white northern being. And but really quickly 474 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: back to Thomas Muffett Um, who was a sixteenth century 475 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:18,800 Speaker 1: medical enthusiast and writer. Um also apparently the source of 476 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 1: the Little Miss Muffett nursery rhyme, or at least the 477 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 1: inspiration for it. He had a quote that I think 478 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 1: is really telling about the exact thing we were talking about, 479 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,720 Speaker 1: the attitude of how the idea of consuming something dangerous 480 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 1: you know, has its like you know, appeal right. He said, 481 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:38,320 Speaker 1: by the conduct of nature, hath produced nothing that in 482 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: some part is not good for man. And therefore that 483 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:46,280 Speaker 1: which the comedian god thought hurtful man's posterity hath found beneficial. 484 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: So there you go, and with Muffett, Muffett, and with Muffett, 485 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: I think we will call it a day. I believe 486 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: it's safe to say all three of us were very 487 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:01,720 Speaker 1: surprised to learn that bed bugs were once considered a 488 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: go to source of medicine. But there are stories we 489 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,640 Speaker 1: didn't get to that we might get to in the future. Uh. 490 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,760 Speaker 1: The U. S. Army weaponized bed bugs, trying to use 491 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: them as bloodhounds in the field of war. It turns 492 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: out that bed bugs have uh sensitivity to certain colors, 493 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: and it is their time to shine because since the 494 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 1: nine nineties, these little guys have been on a roll. Uh. Max, 495 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,160 Speaker 1: I believe maybe we do it this way. I believe 496 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:32,640 Speaker 1: you said you had some personal experience in the trenches 497 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: of the bedbug war. Oh, oh, yes, I I see 498 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: you remembered I mentioned that. Yeah. I have never actually 499 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:42,720 Speaker 1: personally had bedbugs, but you know, in my younger and 500 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 1: maybe dirtier days, I had something similar called carpet beetles 501 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: in my bed. Carpet beatles. Yeah sounds scary, dude, that 502 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:56,040 Speaker 1: sounds bigger they are. Don't get them. Keep your stuff clean, 503 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:01,080 Speaker 1: all right, Well, that is good advice. We'll have to 504 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,560 Speaker 1: go offline maybe and learn a little bit about the 505 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: terrifying reign of carpet beatles in the meantime. Thank you 506 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 1: so much, One and only super producer, Mr Max Williams. 507 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,120 Speaker 1: Thanks to Casey pegro nol. Thank you so much for 508 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: hopping on. You know, I have good news. I hear 509 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:22,720 Speaker 1: that the uh, the the booster blues as I call them, 510 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: are relatively short lived. So hopefully it'll be like a 511 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,160 Speaker 1: twenty four hour bug, not a bed bug. Just oh 512 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: thank god. Well it started in the middle of the nights. 513 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 1: Hopefully I'm halfway there. Um, but I actually have a 514 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 1: pretty light day today, so I'm going to go cuttle 515 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:39,959 Speaker 1: up and listen to some podcasts. Yeah, there's nothing like 516 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,200 Speaker 1: listening to a good podcast. We're a little biased, but 517 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: this is the part where we thank you, fellow ridiculous historians. 518 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:51,520 Speaker 1: We can't wait to hear your bedbug stories. We hope 519 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:56,160 Speaker 1: nobody has bedbugs right now. And h please consult a 520 00:32:56,240 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: actual doctor for medical conditions. Please consult and actually germinator 521 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:04,360 Speaker 1: for tips on getting rid of bedbugs. Don't boil poop 522 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,960 Speaker 1: and you're in just yet. Thanks of please God, no, 523 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:13,040 Speaker 1: please God no. Uh. Thanks of course to our number 524 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: one favorite bed bug of the show, Jonathan Strickland ak 525 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: the Quister. We have got to get him back on 526 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:25,440 Speaker 1: the air. Indeed, indeed, um, he's our like human bedbug. No, 527 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: that's not nice. He's better than that. He's more of 528 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: a carpet beatle type figure. But thanks to him. Nonetheless, 529 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: Thanks Christo Hasciotis needs, Jeff Code here in spirit, Alex Williams, 530 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:41,480 Speaker 1: who composed our theme. H Gabelusier, the Homie, um who else? 531 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 1: So many people to think. I feel like I'm doing 532 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:46,520 Speaker 1: an acceptance speech in awards, but I'd like to thank Kanye. 533 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,960 Speaker 1: I'd like to thank myself. Um, I'd like to thank 534 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:54,280 Speaker 1: uh yeah. Also shout out to Gabe. Big announcement, we'll 535 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: have this doing Gabe Joints on the show coming up. 536 00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:01,560 Speaker 1: He is now the host of This Day in History Class, 537 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,960 Speaker 1: so do check it out. We're super excited, We're super 538 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 1: proud of him. You've heard him on the show before, 539 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: so I can't wait to hear what you think about 540 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:15,000 Speaker 1: his about his newest endeavor. Check it out. We'll see 541 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:24,759 Speaker 1: you next time. Folks. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, 542 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,440 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 543 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.