1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey you, welcome to Stuff to Blow 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: and welcome back for Part two of the Vampire Clinic. 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,239 Speaker 1: We are going to be spending today exploring the second 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: part of our investigation into the link between medical conditions 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: and the inspiration of vampire legends and vampire lore. If 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: you haven't heard part one yet, you should go back 9 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 1: and listen to that first. We lay a lot of 10 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: groundwork there. We explore some interesting conditions in cases that 11 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: may or may not apply to varying degrees to the 12 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: vampire legend. But we wanted to continue our exploration today, 13 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: so let's open the clinic and allow the waiting room 14 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: to fill up with potential vampires. All right, let's let's 15 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: get these patients sorted out. Last time, who do we talk? 16 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: We talked about rabies, we talked about syphilis, We talk 17 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: talked about porphyria, conditions which we ultimately concluded were not 18 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,679 Speaker 1: a good inspiration for the vampire legend. It was actually 19 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: kind of a case of the media running with something 20 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: that was actually a pretty tenuous link So so who 21 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: do we have to kick off the episode with today? What? What? 22 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: What is our next patient consist of? Well, I think 23 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: today we should start with a condition that has extremely 24 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: clear links to folk vampire beliefs, something that's way less 25 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: iffy than the conditions we've talked about before, and that 26 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: is going to be tuberculosis. So this is going to 27 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: be one that may not account for all cases or 28 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: for the ultimate origins of vampire beliefs, but it quite 29 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: clearly accounts for some of them. There's very good evidence 30 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: that at least in some cases, vampire beliefs were linked 31 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 1: to tuberculosis and not just inspired by tuberculosis, like they 32 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: saw somebody who had tuberculosis and thought that's a vampire, 33 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: but they were consciously associated with the disease, if that 34 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: makes sense. So tuberculosis is, first of all, a bacterial 35 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: infection that primarily infects the lungs, and it's spread by 36 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: way of airsolized droplets that get dispersed through the air 37 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,519 Speaker 1: when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Tuberculosis or t 38 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: B is contagious, but it's known primarily for spreading among 39 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: people who are sharing close living conditions. And though TB 40 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:21,919 Speaker 1: usually attacks the lungs, it can also infect other parts 41 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: of the body, including everything from the kidneys to the 42 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: spine to the brain. The bacterium that causes it is 43 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: micro Bacterium tuberculosis. And one of the crucial things is 44 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: that not everybody who has TV shows symptoms. There's what's 45 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:39,920 Speaker 1: known as latent TV, in which you are infected with 46 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: the bacterium, but symptoms haven't appeared yet. And we mentioned 47 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: in the last episode how diseases that have latency periods, 48 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: one of which can be some types of syphilis, infection 49 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:56,359 Speaker 1: um get that can very easily lend itself to supernatural interpretations, right, 50 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: because it becomes even less clear what the link between 51 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: you getting the disease and having the symptoms is, right, 52 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 1: it becomes this this hidden force. And so I want 53 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: to look at a paper from the American Journal of 54 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 1: Physical Anthropology that documents one specific case showing a link 55 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: between tuberculosis and vampire beliefs. And the papers by Paul S. 56 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: Sled Zick and Nicholas Belotoni called Bioarchaeological and Biocultural Evidence 57 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: for the New England Vampire folk belief from nineteen ninety 58 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,799 Speaker 1: four So the modern pop culture vampire is, as we've 59 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: been talking about, somewhat different from the eighteenth century euro 60 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: American folk belief in vampires. One thing is that eighteenth 61 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: century European peasants often thought they could look at an 62 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: unearthed corpse and tell whether or not it was a vampire. 63 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: So a vampire would have maybe a bloated chest, long fingernails, 64 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: and and what looked like fresh blood draining away from 65 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: the mouth. And if people exhumed a corpse and they 66 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: they found a quote vampire in this state, it was 67 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: assumed that this was because it had it had been 68 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: leaving its grave to drain life from the living. Now, 69 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: vampires were associated with and blamed for all kinds of 70 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: epidemic diseases. Uh, And if people in an area became 71 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: sick and started wasting away and dying, it was because 72 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: there was a vampire preying on them. And you know, 73 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: so when we're thinking about where to locate these these 74 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: sort of folk villager beliefs and vampires, we very often 75 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,840 Speaker 1: turned to like eighteenth and nineteenth century Eastern Europe, as 76 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:31,000 Speaker 1: we talked about in the last episode, that was a 77 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: time and place where vampire beliefs were rampant, but they 78 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: were also pretty common in nineteenth century New England. You 79 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 1: could go to parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island 80 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: in the eighteen hundreds and find people with diseases who 81 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:48,919 Speaker 1: believed they were being preyed on by vampires. And a 82 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: lot of those beliefs are deeply bound up with tuberculosis infection. 83 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: So the author's right quote, following the death of a 84 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: family member from consumption and that's another word for tuberculosis, 85 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: other family members began to show signs of tuberculosis infection. 86 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 1: According to the New England folk belief, the wasting away 87 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: of these family members was attributed to the recently deceased 88 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: consumptive who returned from the dead as a vampire to 89 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,799 Speaker 1: drain the life from the surviving relatives. The apotropaic remedy, 90 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: and that means apotropaic magic. It means like warding off evil, 91 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: you know, to repel evil magic. The apotropaic remedy used 92 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: to kill the vampire was to exhume the body of 93 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: the supposed vampire and if the body was undecomposed, remove 94 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: and burn the blood filled heart or the entire body. 95 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: So in this case we're looking at an illness that 96 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,839 Speaker 1: is um it's basically providing a script for the victim 97 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: more so than the the monster itself. Yeah, exactly. I 98 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: mean it is an illness that creates conditions for people 99 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: to think I am being preyed on by a vampire, 100 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: or my family members are being preyed on by a vampire, 101 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: and we've got to do something. We've got to you know, 102 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: Jeff died last week. We're pretty sure it's him. We 103 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,280 Speaker 1: got to dig up his corpse and do something about it. 104 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: Got to apply the apotropaic remedy, which would mean take 105 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: out the heart, check and see if it's full of blood. 106 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,479 Speaker 1: If it is, it's obviously because he's a vampire and 107 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 1: he's been drinking my blood, and you've got to burn 108 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: the heart. Yeah, maybe just go and burn the heart anyway, 109 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: because you've come this far. Well. As we mentioned in 110 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: the last episode, it seems that it was very common 111 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: to dig up a corpse wondering if the corpse was 112 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: a vampire and discover yes, it was a vampire. Yeah. Yeah, 113 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: you don't want to be the one to have to 114 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 1: go back and say, look, Jeff was okay, he was fine. 115 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: After we violated his grave and removed his heart. We 116 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: just we just stuffed it right back in there. I 117 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 1: think it's it's basically basically, we reinstalled it. His corps 118 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,039 Speaker 1: is good to go, no harm, no foul. It's a 119 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: factory REFERB REFERB corpse. Uh So the paper, this paper, 120 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: in particular, it explores the impact of this set of 121 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,799 Speaker 1: beliefs I just described on the bio archical logical record, 122 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: which means the study of skeletal remains through one fascinating 123 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: example in particular, so in November nineteen in the town 124 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: of Grizzwald, Connecticut, which I just have to report every 125 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: time I typed when making notes for this episode, I 126 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: typed Grizzworld. I'm just unable to type grizz Wald, and 127 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: I don't know why. But in in grizz World, a 128 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 1: privately owned sand and gravel business discovered an abandoned eighteenth 129 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: to nineteenth century cemetery was eroding into their work site, right, 130 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: So their quarrying out sand and gravel, and then there's 131 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:40,040 Speaker 1: this old abandoned cemetery just sort of eroding into their workspaces. 132 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: That's kind of putting the blame on the cemetery. It's 133 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: just like that like this, this uh, this sacred burial 134 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: ground is really infringing on our business here, when I 135 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: think it's more arguably the other way around. Well, I 136 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: don't know for sure, but from the way it was 137 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: written about, I tend to assume that the people operating 138 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: the quarry did not know that they were digging into cemetery. Yeah, 139 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: still the ghost don't care well. So the original cemetery, 140 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: because it was a roading, could not be salvaged where 141 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 1: it was, so the skeletons had to be removed and 142 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: relocated elsewhere. So all in all, the Forgotten Graveyard contained 143 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: the skeletal remains of twenty nine people. There were six 144 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: adult men, aid adult women in fifteen subadults, and the 145 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: researchers were able to determine through land deeds that the 146 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: area had been used as a family graveyard since the 147 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: middle of the eighteenth century by the Walton family, who 148 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:37,439 Speaker 1: had moved to Grizz World from Rhode Island in sixteen nine. 149 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: Hence it was known as the Walton Cemetery. So when 150 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: they looked at the skeletons, one of the first things 151 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: they saw is okay, the remains clearly indicated that the 152 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: people buried here led lives of hard physical labor. These 153 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: were hard working people. One skeleton in particular caught the 154 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: attention of the archaeologists, the remains of a fifty to 155 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,320 Speaker 1: fifty five year old male in a coffin within a 156 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:03,080 Speaker 1: stone line grave. They were on the lid of the coffin. 157 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: There was a pattern of tacks shoved into the lid 158 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:12,439 Speaker 1: that spelled JB. Presumably this was the man's initials and 159 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: the age at which he died. Now inside the coffin, 160 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 1: things got weirder. Instead of the bones lying in the 161 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: normal arrangement you would see of a dead body, you know, 162 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: like you know, flat with like skull connecting to neck 163 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 1: and everything JB's skull and his fhemera meaning it's you know, 164 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: his thigh bones, uh, his femurs. They were on top 165 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: of everything else in a skull and crossbones pattern. And 166 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: then underneath the ribs in the vertebrae were also scattered 167 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 1: out of their natural positions. Beyond that, there were periostitic 168 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: lesions on the left, second, third, and fourth ribs, and 169 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: these would be lesions consistent with what could be caused 170 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 1: by pulmonary tuberculosis or at the very least a condition 171 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 1: that people in the nineteenth century probably would have confused 172 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 1: with tuberculosis. Something uh consisting of violent coughing fits powerful 173 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: enough to cause lesions on the membrane surrounding the rib bones. 174 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: So we have evidence of death by pulmonary tuberculosis or 175 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: some other pulmonary disease that would have looked like tuberculosis, 176 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:19,079 Speaker 1: and the crazy rearrangement of the bones and the coffin. 177 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: So what's going on. At the time of this paper, 178 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: there were twelve known historical accounts of vampire belief based 179 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: activities in the eighteenth and nineteenth century New England. I've 180 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: included a chart that we can look at, but in 181 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:37,960 Speaker 1: at least eleven of the twelve cases, the cause of 182 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: death for the supposed vampire was consumption, meaning tuberculosis. So 183 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: there's a clear link between this one particular disease and 184 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:51,680 Speaker 1: vampire attacks. Now, the authors indicated that the New England 185 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 1: vampire myth is strongly based in the physical realities of tuberculosis, 186 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: both in how tuberculosis symptoms appear and and how the 187 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: disease is transmitted. So tuberculosis was known as consumption because 188 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: it gave the the appearance of a person wasting away, 189 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: essentially being slowly drained of life and vitality, while at 190 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: the same time remaining conscious and retaining this desire to 191 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,439 Speaker 1: survive and the author's right quote. This dichotomy of desire 192 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: and wasting away is reflected in the vampire folk belief 193 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:28,560 Speaker 1: the vampire's desire for quote food forces it to feed 194 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: off of living relatives who suffer a similar wasting away 195 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: a lot, and in vampire legends you often see a 196 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 1: lot of these kind of intentional ironies and uh and juxtapositions, 197 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:45,079 Speaker 1: you know, the contradictions of like having this otherworldly appetite 198 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: while at the same time appearing gaunt or to to 199 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,960 Speaker 1: waste away in the body. You Know, this does bring 200 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,440 Speaker 1: me back to brown Stoker's Dracula, because I feel like 201 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,559 Speaker 1: this is an aspect of the vampire legend that is 202 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 1: well represented in that. You know, It's like someone is 203 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: wasting way and what is the cause? Clearly something is 204 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: coming uh into their room in the night, and is 205 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,959 Speaker 1: the the supernatural cause of this consumption? Right with's it's 206 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: there in Dracula when for example, Lucy has to keep 207 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 1: receiving blood transfusions, right, they all these people keep giving 208 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:18,640 Speaker 1: her blood because it's like something is making her anemic 209 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: and draining her life away and they don't see what 210 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: it is. But anyway, so in these historical accounts of 211 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: New England vampires, what generally happens is you've got family 212 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: members all living huddled together in close quarters. One member 213 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: of the family gets infected with tuberculosis and dies. Then 214 00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: just before or soon after that family member dies, another 215 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:43,559 Speaker 1: becomes infected with tuberculosis, which is interpreted as the one 216 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: who just died draining the second patient's life in order 217 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: to survive. And of course tuberculosis is well known for 218 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: the ease with which it's transmitted between people living in closer, 219 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 1: crowded quarters, which would have been common for farmers in 220 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,559 Speaker 1: rural nineteenth century New England. Uh. The author's note also 221 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: that there there would be seasonal lulls and nutrition and 222 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: constant unsanitary conditions, which would of course just make things worse. Yeah, 223 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:11,680 Speaker 1: I can only imagine. And the author's right quote. Although 224 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: there is no evidence of tuberculosis in the remaining Walton 225 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:19,079 Speaker 1: Cemetery skeletons, and eighteen o one narrative of Griswold History 226 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: indicates that during the twenty five years preceding the account, 227 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:26,559 Speaker 1: consumptions had proved to be mortal to a number. So, okay, 228 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:29,800 Speaker 1: let's say half your family they've got consumption, and you 229 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,360 Speaker 1: think it's because the one of you who just died 230 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: is a vampire. What do you do to stop it? Well, 231 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: you have to go out and kill the vampire. So 232 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: in eighteenth and nineteenth century New England, the contemporaneous accounts 233 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 1: indicate you would do this as follows. First you've got 234 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: to dig up the body. Then you check and see 235 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 1: is their blood in the heart, And if there's blood 236 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: in the heart, you've got to burn the heart. Many 237 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: accounts of the time seemed to indicate that when people 238 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: dug up bodies for this reason, they just generally found 239 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,680 Speaker 1: the body undecomposed with blood in the heart, so they'd 240 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: find what they were looking for. And the reason dead 241 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 1: bodies often had these appearances is normal, and it's due 242 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 1: to post mortem decomposition. There's a book called Vampires, Burial 243 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,959 Speaker 1: and Death, Folklore and Reality by an author named Barbera 244 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: that gets cited a lot on this account about how 245 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: people would mistake and naturally uh the natural effects of 246 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 1: post mortem decomposition for stuff that indicated a dead body 247 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: was still alive and feeding, like the you know, the 248 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: bloating and the blood running from the mouth and all that, 249 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: or that prominent genitalia. Oh yeah, from the from the 250 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: rabies case. Right, Okay, So what about JB. Back to 251 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: j B who had his his bones arranged in the 252 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: Skull and Crossbones, Well, the evidence indicates that when his 253 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: family members dug him up, he was already decomposed. There 254 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: was not any soft tissue left on his bones. So 255 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:52,359 Speaker 1: what do you do You think JB is the vampire 256 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: that's draining your family members of life. You dig him up, 257 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:58,160 Speaker 1: there's no soft tissue, there's no heart to burn. So 258 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: the authors have a hypothesis of apparently the alternative to 259 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: burning the heart if there's no heart left is to 260 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: rearrange the bones and to place the skull in an 261 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: apotropaic symbol. The skull and crossbones and the author's right quote. 262 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: In support of this hypothesis, we note that decapitation was 263 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 1: a common European method of dispatching a dead vampire, and 264 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: that the Celts and the Neolithic Egyptians were known to 265 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 1: separate the head from the body supposedly to prevent the 266 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,480 Speaker 1: dead from doing harm. And on top of that, the 267 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: authors provide some documentary evidence in the form of newspaper 268 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: articles showing that vampire beliefs were to be found in 269 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: the vicinity of Griswold, Connecticut in the middle of the 270 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. There's a story from an eighteen fifty four 271 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: issue of the Norwich Courier about an incident near in 272 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: nearby Jewitt City in which consumption had killed a man 273 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: named Horace Ray and three of his sons, and then 274 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: several of their dead bodies were exhumed and burned in 275 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:56,480 Speaker 1: order to stop them from feeding on other members of 276 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: the living family. So this is a somewhat different kind 277 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: of case than the things we looked at in the 278 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: last episode. Uh, this is a case where sort of 279 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: where the local epidemiology of tuberculosis included beliefs about vampireism. Yeah, 280 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: this one really surprised me. I was not I was 281 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: not expecting it, partially, I think because when when I 282 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: went into it, I really was more focused. I was 283 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: thinking about what are the diseases that line up with 284 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: the monster. I wasn't thinking about the Uh, the traumatic 285 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: scenario of people wasting away uh in a family and 286 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: then looking for what is the supernatural cause of this, 287 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: what is the source of the curse? Well, it seems 288 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: to be like it's extending the symptoms of the disease 289 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: to beyond death. Right, So it combines this idea that 290 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: people who had consumption were wasting away, they needed some 291 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: kind of nourishment or they needed some kind of vitality 292 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: to come back to them, and they strongly wanted to survive. 293 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: They remained lucid, and they like had their will to live. 294 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: And it's almost like saying, Okay, even after they die 295 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: in they're buried, those coptoms continue like they're still wasting away. 296 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: They still need life and they still must return to 297 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:08,879 Speaker 1: get it somehow. I mean, the nefarious thing about this 298 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: is that it is a predictive legend, like it is 299 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: predicting how the how the the illness will likely spread 300 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: within a given family and what will happen to those individuals. Um. 301 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,720 Speaker 1: It just has this uh supernatural explanation for what's occurring 302 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: and a remedy that is ultimately going to be rather 303 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:31,920 Speaker 1: indifferent to the actual spread of the disease. I think 304 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,480 Speaker 1: that that would be the ultimate horror, wouldn't it that 305 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: you you dig up the grave, you violate the corpse 306 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,160 Speaker 1: of a family member, and then it doesn't stop the illness, 307 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:46,399 Speaker 1: which I guess probably forces one to think, well, what 308 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: it must We must have got the wrong grave, we 309 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 1: didn't get the vampire. There's a second vampire, and maybe 310 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 1: the madness continues UM, as opposed to just realizing, oh, 311 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,879 Speaker 1: this line of thinking is UM is incorrect. You know 312 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: one thing I often think about with UM stuff like 313 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:06,359 Speaker 1: this that's not clearly self limiting, Like the disease is 314 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:08,400 Speaker 1: going to do what it's gonna do either way. It's 315 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:13,720 Speaker 1: not like a an easily placebo effect controlled condition where 316 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,920 Speaker 1: you can you know, you're experiencing pain and maybe doing 317 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: some kind of magic spell or apotropaic remedy might make 318 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:23,439 Speaker 1: you think you feel better. Right, you still have a 319 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 1: TV infection and thinking that you've fixed it with apotropaic 320 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:30,400 Speaker 1: magic is not going to make the bacteria bacterial infection 321 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: go away, right. Um, So you have to wonder, like, 322 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: how did people react to the clear failure of their interventions? Well, yeah, 323 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:40,640 Speaker 1: I mean part of it I think probably goes back 324 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: to our episode on Curses, is that either would be 325 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,119 Speaker 1: this period where you feel a little better, perhaps due 326 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:49,679 Speaker 1: to the placebo effect, the placebo effect of of of 327 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 1: graveyard desecration, uh, you know, by the placebo effect. Nonetheless, 328 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:55,879 Speaker 1: so I could they could, I could see where that 329 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 1: might make. That may be a factor. It's like, well, 330 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 1: we killed the vampire and she got a little better, 331 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 1: but it was really too late. Oh yeah, it had 332 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:06,919 Speaker 1: already gotten the fangs in it. Yeah. I mean. Fortunately, 333 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,200 Speaker 1: one thing about tuberculosis is also today there are real 334 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: treatments for tuberculosis. I mean, you can get courses of antibiotics. 335 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: I don't I don't think it's the easiest thing to treat. 336 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: I think I've read that you have to get like 337 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: long courses of antibiotics to treat tuberculosis today. But there 338 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,119 Speaker 1: do exist treatments. So for this one, I think I 339 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: keep coming back to Dracula as being a good, um, 340 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: a good cinematic literary vampire to consider, as as the 341 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,920 Speaker 1: TV vampire. The way it's causing say Lucy to slowly 342 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,359 Speaker 1: waste away over days and they don't know how to 343 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:43,879 Speaker 1: stop it. Yeah, And then I mean, and that was 344 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: a very influential work. So I think he's the shades 345 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: of that another vampire fiction, Salem's Lot, comes to mind. 346 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 1: You know, that's that's definitely one that plays with the 347 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:54,680 Speaker 1: idea of the vampire essentially slipping in in the night 348 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 1: and doing it's uh, it's uh, it's it's um, it's 349 00:19:58,000 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: work on you. All right, On that note, we're gonna 350 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: tell a quick break, and when we come back, we 351 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: will diagnose some more blood drinkers. Thank thank Alright, we're back. 352 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: The vampire clinic is open, and we're going to see 353 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,919 Speaker 1: the next patient apparently presenting with vampirism. And now, the 354 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: last case we looked at, it turned out what was 355 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: really inspiring this belief in vampirism was tuberculosis. And I 356 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:24,720 Speaker 1: would say in that last case, we've been offering verdicts 357 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: on how clear we think the link is between certain 358 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 1: diseases and vampire lore. Clearly there is some link with tuberculosis. 359 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,919 Speaker 1: That's pretty much undisputable. This next one, I think is 360 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:39,000 Speaker 1: more disputable, but it's also very historically interesting. So I 361 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,679 Speaker 1: want to look at a paper by Jeffrey S. Hample 362 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,720 Speaker 1: and William S. Hample. I assume they're probably related called 363 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,360 Speaker 1: Pelagra in the Origin of a myth. Evidence from European 364 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,120 Speaker 1: Literature and Folklore from the Journal of the Royal Society 365 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: of Medicine from so. The authors write that in eighteenth 366 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 1: and nineteenth century Europe, villagers often mixed edicine and magic, 367 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: with many diseases assumed to have supernatural causes, and when 368 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 1: a disease lingered in a village, villagers often assumed that 369 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: the first person to come down with the disease was 370 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 1: a vampire. And the vampire legend can be seen as 371 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: an early attempt to try to understand contagion. I think 372 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: that's been coming through and a lot of what we've 373 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,679 Speaker 1: talked about already. It's almost like vamporism is a folk 374 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 1: logic way of trying to understand the mechanics of contagion 375 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:28,919 Speaker 1: and infection. And one of the things, actually the authors 376 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: of this paper point out that's kind of interesting, the 377 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: term nos ferrato. You know where that comes from, Robert 378 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 1: uh No, not well, so, it was popularized by Bram 379 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,800 Speaker 1: Stoker in the novel Dracula. It most probably comes from 380 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,919 Speaker 1: a Romanian word used for like satan or devil, but 381 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: maybe kind of a generic term for some sort of 382 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: embodied evil, like that's a nos feratu or the nos 383 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: ferato will come in. I think it, yeah, I mean, 384 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:56,680 Speaker 1: I think it means something like that, you know, the 385 00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:59,159 Speaker 1: the unwanted one or something like that. But it's a 386 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,359 Speaker 1: term that Romanian speaking people would have used for the 387 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: devil or for satan. But the authors of the paper 388 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,679 Speaker 1: also note a possible, just possible connection to the Greek 389 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: word no suffer us, meaning disease carrier counts. I want 390 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: to see that show up somewhere, and it could be 391 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,359 Speaker 1: a false cognate, but but I like the idea of 392 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 1: that link that, and it certainly makes sense given all 393 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: the historical accounts we've been talking about and that, you know, 394 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,480 Speaker 1: they mentioned that other diseases have been proposed as the 395 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: possible link to as the possible inspiration or genesis of 396 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: the vampire legend, rabies, tuberculosis, orthropoietic porphyria, which in the 397 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:37,439 Speaker 1: last episode we talked about how we think is not 398 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,560 Speaker 1: a good explanation actually, but the authors here believe that 399 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 1: that none of the proposed diseases is adequate to explain 400 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: widespread belief in vampires in Europe during this period, and 401 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:52,640 Speaker 1: they propose an alternative that's pretty interesting. A vitamin deficiency. 402 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: So they propose pelagro, which is quote a dietary deficiency 403 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,359 Speaker 1: of niacin, which is also known is vitamin B three 404 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: and UH, and a deficiency of trip to fan which 405 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: is something that the body converts in denias and kind 406 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:09,920 Speaker 1: of the same way the body converts beta caroteen into 407 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,399 Speaker 1: vitamin A. This is interesting. I go to health food 408 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,159 Speaker 1: stores so with with a fair amount of frequency, I 409 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: never see a vampire there. So I'm already liking this 410 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 1: theory a lot. Right, Vitamin supplements keep the vampires away? Yeah, 411 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,440 Speaker 1: what is it? A vitamin B three a day keeps 412 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,920 Speaker 1: the van helsing away. Yeah, A perfect ring of B 413 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:33,640 Speaker 1: three uh. Tablets or or even lozenges or um will 414 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: will surround If you surround your bed with that, it'll 415 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 1: keep the nosferatus from creeping in. So how could a 416 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 1: vitamin deficiency explain vamporism. Well, plagro was first recognized in 417 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: seventeen thirty five, and it affected lots of people throughout 418 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,480 Speaker 1: Europe in the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 419 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,440 Speaker 1: And we we've been talking in the past couple episodes 420 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 1: about how common vampire beliefs seem to be in especially 421 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,560 Speaker 1: like eighteenth and nineteenth century Eastern Europe. So why then, 422 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,400 Speaker 1: why they're and the authors write about how before this 423 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: many bulk food crops in Europe would have been rye 424 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:13,200 Speaker 1: or wheat, but in the eighteenth century, European farmers begins 425 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: substituting corn or corn you know, maize, the crop from America, 426 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,439 Speaker 1: because it actually yielded more food calories per acre of 427 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: crop land. So you might think, okay, yeah, that's easy. 428 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 1: You've got the same amount of farmland, but you get 429 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:27,959 Speaker 1: more food out of it. It's a no brainer, right. 430 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,119 Speaker 1: So corn became a staple crop, spreading slowly from the 431 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: Iberian Peninsula to the east and eventually becoming common in 432 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,080 Speaker 1: eastern Europe. But there's a downside to switching over from 433 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,920 Speaker 1: wheat and ride a corn meal based to a corn 434 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,879 Speaker 1: meal based diet. Corn Meal contains niacin and tripped to 435 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: fan in a chemically bound state with low bioavailability, meaning 436 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: that though your body can get lots of usable calories 437 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: of energy out of corn meal, it can't get much 438 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: nicacin or tripped to fan to turn into nice and 439 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:03,520 Speaker 1: so poor people throughout Europe who had switched over to 440 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,879 Speaker 1: a corn meal based diet began to suffer from a 441 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: deficiency of niacin or vitamin B three, a deficiency known 442 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,680 Speaker 1: as pelagra. Okay, I see where this is heading then, 443 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: uh so so so I guess now we have to 444 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: really get into the symptoms of pellagra, right, So, doctors 445 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,200 Speaker 1: in Spain and Italy were quicker to recognize the disease 446 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: and its cause, and in Eastern Europe, apparently poverty and 447 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: the lack of medical expertise sort of kept the disease 448 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,680 Speaker 1: from being diagnosed very much until well into the eighteen hundreds. 449 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: So the symptoms you mentioned, pelagra is characterized by what's 450 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: known as the four d s. You've got dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia, 451 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,240 Speaker 1: and death. And those are some dastardly ds. I want 452 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,160 Speaker 1: no part of any of those. Yeah, death is especially dastardly, 453 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: as we all know. So pellagra causes first of all, dermatitis, 454 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: which is inflammation of the skin. One easy thing to 455 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,160 Speaker 1: remember is that pretty much any time you see itis 456 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 1: in a word, it means something about inflamation or swelling. Uh, 457 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: dermatitis inflammation of the skin. Now, there are many types 458 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,679 Speaker 1: of dermatitis. Any rash is a form of dermatitis, but 459 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,680 Speaker 1: the severe dermatitis brought on by PELAGRAAH can include rashes 460 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,199 Speaker 1: on the face, rashes on the mouth, the hands and feet, 461 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,359 Speaker 1: or around the neck in a formation that's known as 462 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 1: a castle collar casle necklace. If you look it up, 463 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 1: it's very creepy looking. It looks like a it's it's 464 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: this rash around the base of the neck. It's it's 465 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,679 Speaker 1: super Does it look like something that's been like gnawing 466 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 1: at your neck, well, yeah, or it looks like something 467 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: somebody's put a noose around your neck or something interesting. Now, 468 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,680 Speaker 1: these rashes can be discolored with reference to the rest 469 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:44,800 Speaker 1: of the skin. They can be red and flaky, they 470 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:49,080 Speaker 1: can crust over, be scaly or thick, dry and cracked, 471 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: and there can also be sores on the mouth, tongue, gums, 472 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: and lips. And what's more, the author's point out that 473 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,399 Speaker 1: these areas of the skin with dermatitis can be hyper 474 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:04,119 Speaker 1: sensitive to light quote sun Exposed areas at first become 475 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:08,560 Speaker 1: red and thick with hypercrotosis and scaling. This is followed 476 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:14,119 Speaker 1: by inflammation and adema, which eventually leads to depigmented, shiny skin, 477 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:19,320 Speaker 1: alternating with rough brown scally areas with repeated episodes of 478 00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: ari athema, a pelagrin's skin become becomes paper thin and 479 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: assumes a parchment like texture. And this is this is 480 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:30,360 Speaker 1: an aspect of the vampire that I don't think we've 481 00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:33,879 Speaker 1: discussed yet, the fact that the vampire almost always has 482 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,440 Speaker 1: this this pale, deathly pallor. Yeah, the vampire is often 483 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:42,520 Speaker 1: portrayed as having a depigmented look, often depicted as kind 484 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: of an alternating like pale and then rosy red like 485 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 1: in the lips or the mouth. Um. And the obvious 486 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,639 Speaker 1: comparison is that vampires displayed sensitivity to sunlight, of course, 487 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: and they must come to in the words of Count 488 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: Dracula loved the Shade and Shadow, And the authors actually 489 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,360 Speaker 1: cite the novel Draecula as a point of comparison. They 490 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: I don't know if this is the best way to 491 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: do it, but the reason that citing comparison to Dracula 492 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:10,360 Speaker 1: is reasonable because Stoker did lots of research collecting vampire 493 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 1: folklore from Eastern Europe, so they say his novel serves 494 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,200 Speaker 1: as a pretty good record of folk vampire beliefs sort 495 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:18,880 Speaker 1: of wrapped up into one character. I don't know how 496 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,239 Speaker 1: legitimate that is. Maybe, I mean, I think he did 497 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 1: do research r right, I mean, I guess this is 498 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:25,880 Speaker 1: a legitimate is wondering if he had syphilis or not. Yeah, 499 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: I mean, given the time period, a lot of people 500 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 1: had syphilis, right, so they say, you know, Count Dracula 501 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,879 Speaker 1: is also described as a man of quote extraordinary pallor, 502 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 1: with not quote a speck of color about him, and 503 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,840 Speaker 1: yet with a quote bloated face. Stoker also says that 504 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: the vampire has remarkable ruddiness of the lips, so pale face, 505 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,880 Speaker 1: pale bloated face, and then remarkably red lips, and he 506 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: describes the three vampire brides and Dracula's castle with the 507 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: words the ruddy color, the voluptuous lips. And this could 508 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: be sort of a third hand reflection of the way 509 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,959 Speaker 1: people with pelagra would have redness and swelling of the lips, 510 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,120 Speaker 1: though often leading to a cracking that you probably would 511 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: not describe as voluptuous. I guess you know. This reminds me, specifically, though, 512 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,600 Speaker 1: of some of the depictions I've seen of ghoules, which 513 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: have certain vampire qualities. And we did a whole episode 514 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: on ghouls a while back, that's running as a Vault 515 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 1: episode this month, but in particular, there was a Tales 516 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:31,400 Speaker 1: from the Crypt episode called Morning Mess. Uh. Mourning is 517 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 1: in like Mourning for the Dead? Uh that in it's 518 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:36,800 Speaker 1: a fabulous episode, my favorite Tales from the Crypt episode. 519 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: But it has some wonderful ghouls in it. And the 520 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 1: ghouls are depicted, you know as this kind of like 521 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 1: grayish pale creatures, hairless, um kind of eleven ears. And 522 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: they have these big grotesque lips though, that are cracked 523 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 1: in the manner that you're describing. Oh, I just looked 524 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,160 Speaker 1: it up. Yes, exactly, They're red. They're all cracked, parched, 525 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:04,080 Speaker 1: almost showing clear evidence of hyperkerotosis. Uh. That's that's interesting. 526 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 1: And so another thing that the authors point out here 527 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: is that vampires in folklore are often characterized as having 528 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:13,520 Speaker 1: quote a foul mouth or bad breath, and the authors 529 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: note that this maybe the origin of the use of 530 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: garlic as a remedy for vamporism through homeopathic logic, right, 531 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 1: you like cures, Like, so the villagers wanted to fight 532 00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:26,280 Speaker 1: fire with fire, you've got foul mouth, give them garlic 533 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: to cure it. I'm thinking a lot of people had 534 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: foul mouth though, that is a very good point. Now, 535 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,080 Speaker 1: I'm sure you could have fouler than average mouth, but yeah, 536 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:39,160 Speaker 1: just eating eating a lot of a lot of corn meal, 537 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: never brushing your teeth. Yeah, so you described the lips. 538 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: But but how about the tongue of the vampire. Job, Oh, 539 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: this is a good you know, this gets reference. Sometimes 540 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: you dig up a corpse and say, oh, the face 541 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,560 Speaker 1: is swollen. There's something you know, the tongue is swollen 542 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:55,959 Speaker 1: or something. And apparently a person with pelaugraa will often 543 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: have an alarming looking tongue with gloss sitis, swelling of 544 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,440 Speaker 1: the tongue, an extreme redness, sort of visually associating the 545 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,520 Speaker 1: mouth with blood, while the skin might be pale, cracked 546 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 1: and parchment like. So try to picture it. You've got shiny, depigmented, 547 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 1: parchment like skin and then like a red, blistering mouth 548 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:17,760 Speaker 1: with a swollen, red tongue. You look at that and 549 00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: he's like, that could be a vampire. Yeah. Then again, 550 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,040 Speaker 1: I wonder how much of that is just playing on 551 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,720 Speaker 1: like the vampires we've come to know through twentieth century 552 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: movies and stuff. I think about the depiction of once 553 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,960 Speaker 1: Lucy becomes a vampire and Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula. You know, 554 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:37,680 Speaker 1: the pale parchment like shiny depigmented skin and the hugely 555 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: red mouth. I don't know if that's always there in 556 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: the more traditional vampire folklore. I know, in fact, one 557 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: thing we've read is that sometimes it not always, but 558 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:51,239 Speaker 1: sometimes people believed vampires to look healthy and look, you 559 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,160 Speaker 1: know the opposite of this. Well, we get into the 560 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: swelling of the lips, right it gets confusing because like 561 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:02,960 Speaker 1: like like thick certainly had lips are generally considered alluring. 562 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: It's one of the things about like the cracked lips, 563 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,160 Speaker 1: Like that's where you get into the idea that that 564 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: it's like almost category confusion. They're right, like the lips 565 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: are big and red, but they are also grotesque. I 566 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 1: did not know if I should be repelled or attracted 567 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: to the vampire. Well, and you know, some eighteenth century 568 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:23,120 Speaker 1: Eastern European peasants probably didn't like category confusion. Right now, another, 569 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:27,960 Speaker 1: so that's the first d dermatitis. Another symptom is diarrhea 570 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:32,680 Speaker 1: pea causes uh dysfunction of the gut and the g 571 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:35,959 Speaker 1: I tract. And I know everybody from when we when 572 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 1: you first mentioned the four ds, they've they've been waiting 573 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 1: for you to hit this and explain the link between 574 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: diarrhea and vampires. Well, this might have the least link 575 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:45,960 Speaker 1: to the vampire, but we'll see. So the authors say, 576 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: vampire legends, of course don't often mention diarrhea. Uh you know, 577 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: But they say, well, you probably wouldn't have expected the 578 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: records of the time to make a lot of about diarrhea. 579 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 1: But there are some associated ideas. A common part of 580 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 1: the vampire a gend is the idea that the vampire 581 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:06,000 Speaker 1: needs only blood and will refuse normal food, and there 582 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,520 Speaker 1: are sections in Dracula that talk about this, like the 583 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 1: Count keeps apologizing to Jonathan Harker for not dining with him. 584 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,440 Speaker 1: You know I have dined already, and that donuts up. 585 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,360 Speaker 1: Also later, when Mina Harker is turning into a vampire, 586 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: she describes how she found herself unable to eat food. 587 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,240 Speaker 1: She says, I could not eat. To even try to 588 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: do so was repulsive to me. It's convincing, but I 589 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,360 Speaker 1: would be more convinced if there were parts in Dracula 590 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: where the Count says, excuse me, I must go to 591 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,440 Speaker 1: the restroom. Again, and this occurs like every like ten minutes, 592 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:39,640 Speaker 1: and he's constantly drinking water orange juice. You know, I 593 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:41,600 Speaker 1: didn't think to do this, but I should have just 594 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:45,240 Speaker 1: searched the medical literature for the phrase diarrhea of vampire, 595 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:48,720 Speaker 1: and I didn't try it. You know, maybe something will 596 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:52,200 Speaker 1: come up. There's our there's our our, our metal band 597 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:56,320 Speaker 1: name for the for the episode the vampire diarrhea. I 598 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,600 Speaker 1: think that would be a good, good, good name. Wait, 599 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 1: what's better, diarrhea vampire or vampire diarrhea? Diarrhea of vampire? 600 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:06,240 Speaker 1: Probably almost starting to move on. So the author is 601 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 1: right that the inability or unwillingness to eat is a 602 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:13,000 Speaker 1: common feature of pelagra because of discomfort caused by the 603 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:17,240 Speaker 1: mucous membrane lesions and the esophagus, the stomach, the colon. 604 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,880 Speaker 1: So you get diarrhea, lack of appetite, and you might wonder, like, 605 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:26,040 Speaker 1: why would pelagra affect dermatitis and diarrhea. Well, niacin deficiency 606 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,800 Speaker 1: is most apparent where new cells are manufactured most frequently, 607 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:33,320 Speaker 1: and this includes the skin and the g I tract. Okay, 608 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:35,879 Speaker 1: you ready for the next day. For d number three, 609 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 1: I think three this is dementia, so people suffering from 610 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: pelagra will eventually develop neurological symptoms appearing as some form 611 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: of dementia. The lack of nyacin causes a metabolic deficiency 612 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,759 Speaker 1: that causes neurons in the brain to degenerate, manifesting as 613 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: things like insomnia, anxiety, aggression, and depression, and these symptoms, 614 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:00,359 Speaker 1: the author's note, are of the manic depressive type. So 615 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:03,520 Speaker 1: folklore often claims that the vampire does not sleep at 616 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:07,120 Speaker 1: night and becomes more rose or irritable, and the authors 617 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,839 Speaker 1: compare this set of symptoms to the character of Rinfield 618 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 1: in the novel Dracula. The Rinfields is not a vampire himself, 619 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 1: he wants to become one. He's emulating the vampire, and 620 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: he still exhibits the characteristics associated in the folklore with 621 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:25,000 Speaker 1: burgeoning vampiism and the character of Dr Seward, Rinfield's doctor 622 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:29,680 Speaker 1: in the book, describes Rnfield as follows quote sanguine temperament, 623 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:35,160 Speaker 1: morbidly excitable, periods of gloom, a possibly dangerous man, a 624 00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:38,799 Speaker 1: great character to be sure, yes. The authors point out 625 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,120 Speaker 1: that pelagrea can also sometimes be associated with pika, and 626 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,480 Speaker 1: pika of course as a disorder in which you have 627 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:47,839 Speaker 1: a pathological appetite often, you know, for substances that are 628 00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:52,920 Speaker 1: not foods, like soil or paper, hair, ice, clay, and 629 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,760 Speaker 1: stuff like that. Yeah, dirt and clay in particular often 630 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:58,960 Speaker 1: are often explored in this area. Yeah, And the authors 631 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,480 Speaker 1: speculate that this would be a part of the body's 632 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,960 Speaker 1: desperate attempt to find something to eat with niacin in it. Right, 633 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 1: people with pelagra have been reported to crave substances like 634 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:12,680 Speaker 1: vinegar and spices, and the authors draw the connection with 635 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:17,480 Speaker 1: Rinfield's obsessive appetite for living things like spiders, birds, and mice. 636 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:19,520 Speaker 1: Though I don't know, I feel like that one might 637 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:21,879 Speaker 1: be kind of a stretch because from the vampire point 638 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:24,880 Speaker 1: of view, wouldn't spiders, birds and mice contain some actual 639 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:27,919 Speaker 1: nutrition and it's sort of a form of meat. Yeah, 640 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:29,960 Speaker 1: this one feels like more of a stretch, though I 641 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:32,719 Speaker 1: love the idea of I mean, we know that there's 642 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:36,239 Speaker 1: often this this this necessity for the vampire to have 643 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:40,000 Speaker 1: access to its grave dirt from its native soil. I mean, 644 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:44,319 Speaker 1: that's indracula itself. Um, I don't think it's I've never 645 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:46,600 Speaker 1: heard of story where's where it's implied that the vampire 646 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:49,399 Speaker 1: eats the dirt. But now I kind of want that. 647 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:52,319 Speaker 1: I want a nice grave, dirt eating vampire. Well, there's 648 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,640 Speaker 1: also the idea that consecrated soil can be dangerous to 649 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,200 Speaker 1: the vampire. Is it because the vampire is tempted to 650 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:01,680 Speaker 1: ingest it? Yeah, it could be accidental, uh sort of 651 00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:06,200 Speaker 1: holy poisoning there. Yeah, Okay, so the fourth d time 652 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:09,319 Speaker 1: for death. So as opposed to the modern vampire, where 653 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:11,600 Speaker 1: we all know the modern movie vampire, I think of 654 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:13,600 Speaker 1: like when I try to think of the best modern 655 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: movie vampire, example, maybe it's Chris Srandon and Fright Night. Right, 656 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 1: that's just like that's modern movie vampire to the max 657 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:25,160 Speaker 1: for right Night. Uh So in that kind, in that case, 658 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:27,680 Speaker 1: like a single bite or encounter is enough to kill 659 00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:30,440 Speaker 1: a person and turn them into a vampire. Right. But 660 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:34,400 Speaker 1: in the vampire of eighteenth the nineteenth century Eastern European folklore, 661 00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:38,880 Speaker 1: it's generally a creature that slowly drains life, essence, and 662 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:42,360 Speaker 1: health over a long period of time, repeatedly attacking the 663 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:45,680 Speaker 1: same victims again and again in the night, and leaving 664 00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: evidence in the form of a person's wasting, illness becoming 665 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,759 Speaker 1: worse and worse over time, Robert, would you agree with 666 00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:56,360 Speaker 1: that characterization? Yeah, yeah, the idea that someone has drained 667 00:37:56,520 --> 00:38:00,719 Speaker 1: too much too often they can become the thing that 668 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,920 Speaker 1: drained them. Yeah, or at least just be killed. But 669 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:07,239 Speaker 1: it's not just like one random attack usually does it 670 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: in this lore, so the vampire was also never caught 671 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: in the attack. Instead, it was like, oof, well, you know, 672 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,880 Speaker 1: Victor looks even worse than he did yesterday. Must have 673 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: been that vampire again, right, And it helps classify the 674 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 1: vampire more as a parasitic entity as opposed to a 675 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:26,279 Speaker 1: predatory Uh. Entity. I think that's a good point. Yeah. So, 676 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:30,080 Speaker 1: as we discussed with other diseases, including things like tuberculosis, 677 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,600 Speaker 1: vampire folklore often takes what we would interpret as a 678 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:36,120 Speaker 1: bunch of people all getting the same disease and dying 679 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:39,680 Speaker 1: over time as the first person who got this disease 680 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:42,719 Speaker 1: and died from it was a vampire, and they were 681 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,920 Speaker 1: returning from the grave for revenge against their friends and 682 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:49,920 Speaker 1: family members by slowly draining their life essence. Since the 683 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,520 Speaker 1: impoverished families of Eastern Europe generally would have all had 684 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:57,000 Speaker 1: the same diet, if one person got pelagra, you would 685 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:00,279 Speaker 1: expect other members of the family to develop it as well, 686 00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:02,680 Speaker 1: And how long it takes pelagra to kill you is 687 00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:05,759 Speaker 1: not fixed. If untreated, it can take four to five 688 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,760 Speaker 1: years to kill somebody, but it can also kill suddenly 689 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:12,319 Speaker 1: in earlier stages when symptoms are less pronounced. And they 690 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 1: also note that a person with advanced pelagra who appears 691 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:19,120 Speaker 1: anemic from gastro intestinal bleeding could have been interpreted as 692 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 1: the living dead. Well in all, I think this makes 693 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: for an interesting argument. They offer a few more shorter 694 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,120 Speaker 1: lines of evidence, and I think let's look at those 695 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:31,880 Speaker 1: after we take a break. Thank alright, we're back. Okay. 696 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:34,240 Speaker 1: Other bits of evidence that the authors of this paper 697 00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:37,640 Speaker 1: we've been talking about have for pelagra being the cause 698 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:40,839 Speaker 1: of vampires. M one is historical timing. So they point 699 00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:45,280 Speaker 1: out that the word vampire, the verd vampire first entered 700 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:49,560 Speaker 1: English in seventeen thirty four, quote a year before pelagra 701 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,480 Speaker 1: was noted by a royal physician as a quote disgusting 702 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:58,520 Speaker 1: indigenous disease among Spanish peasants. Nothing like a like a 703 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:02,520 Speaker 1: condescending royal physician. Yeah, um, but yeah, so this is 704 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,120 Speaker 1: not really a piece of evidence. But the authors just 705 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:07,840 Speaker 1: note that. Even in the novel Dracula, when Jonathan Harker 706 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:11,080 Speaker 1: is on his way to count Dracula's castle, he stops 707 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:14,120 Speaker 1: somewhere and eats a local breakfast, which is a porridge 708 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:17,480 Speaker 1: of maize flower. So if people were eating corn meal 709 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:20,880 Speaker 1: products as their main staple, they may very well have 710 00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:25,600 Speaker 1: been susceptible to pelagra. A couple of other interesting things 711 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,440 Speaker 1: that might be kind of a stretch. One is the 712 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:31,160 Speaker 1: link between seeds. So you know that old legend that 713 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:34,320 Speaker 1: you can protect yourself against a vampire by scattering seeds 714 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:36,360 Speaker 1: on the ground. Oh, this is an idea. They have 715 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:38,400 Speaker 1: to count them all and the kind of similar in 716 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:40,560 Speaker 1: the idea that you have like a complex not they 717 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,759 Speaker 1: have to like analyze the string, right, Yeah, so you 718 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:46,560 Speaker 1: can you can distract a vampire by giving them something 719 00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:49,560 Speaker 1: to occupy their attention. You throw the throw rice or 720 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:51,919 Speaker 1: seeds on the ground and they'll be forced to count 721 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:53,640 Speaker 1: them all right, So like the modern vert, you can 722 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:56,719 Speaker 1: leave a magic eye book out and they would or 723 00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,719 Speaker 1: they've not some suducu and they would have to go 724 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,839 Speaker 1: through the entire booklet and in the sunlight would destroy them. 725 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:06,600 Speaker 1: It's the Sunday times here, do the crossword puzzle. So yeah, 726 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,960 Speaker 1: the the author's note that millet seeds were commonly cited 727 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,880 Speaker 1: for this usage, and they say, you know, that's ironic 728 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,480 Speaker 1: because millet actually has an excess of loosine, which is 729 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:19,319 Speaker 1: an amino acid that blocks the conversion of trip to 730 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:22,799 Speaker 1: fan in denyasin, meaning millet could make a case of 731 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:26,400 Speaker 1: pelagra even worse. I think that's an interesting coincidence, but 732 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 1: that doesn't really strike me as evidence. Still, it's basically 733 00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:32,880 Speaker 1: the joke I made earlier about taking B three tablets 734 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:35,239 Speaker 1: and spreading them all over your your bedroom, Like that's 735 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:37,319 Speaker 1: kind of what they're arguing here, is that you've done 736 00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:38,799 Speaker 1: that with the seats. Well, but it would be the 737 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:40,920 Speaker 1: exact opposite of that. Actually, it would be like it 738 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:46,320 Speaker 1: would be like spreading around B three blockers. Um. Another 739 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:48,560 Speaker 1: thing they bring up is timing during the year. So 740 00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:51,759 Speaker 1: pellagra is often referred to as a springtime disease. Why 741 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:54,720 Speaker 1: is that, Well, in the springtime, the new crops haven't 742 00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:57,200 Speaker 1: come in yet, so dried corn meal is going to 743 00:41:57,239 --> 00:41:58,960 Speaker 1: be a big part of the diet. You don't have 744 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:02,279 Speaker 1: fresh produce to eat yet. So pair this with the 745 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:05,720 Speaker 1: idea that St. George's day, which is in late April 746 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:08,560 Speaker 1: or early May, is traditionally believed to be the day 747 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,839 Speaker 1: that vampires would come together to plan their attacks for 748 00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:15,280 Speaker 1: the coming year. And in Dracula, Jonathan Harker is told 749 00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:18,919 Speaker 1: upon his arrival in Transylvania, quote, it is the eve 750 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:22,160 Speaker 1: of St. George's Day? Do you not know that tonight, 751 00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 1: when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in 752 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:28,080 Speaker 1: the world will have full sway. Wow. This reminds me 753 00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:30,080 Speaker 1: a lot of the werewolf game. Right, It's like, now 754 00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:33,399 Speaker 1: all the villagers go to sleep, the vampires wake up 755 00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:37,640 Speaker 1: and plot against the villagers. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 756 00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:41,520 Speaker 1: who do you want to kill tonight? Uh? So finally 757 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:45,880 Speaker 1: they cite disinterment and this connection seems likely coincidental to me, 758 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,440 Speaker 1: but also interesting, kind of like the millet thing. So 759 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:51,480 Speaker 1: when a vampire was suspected, villagers would often dig up 760 00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:53,920 Speaker 1: a recently buried body to inspect it for signs of 761 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,440 Speaker 1: vampiresm We've been talking about that. But one sign apparently 762 00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:00,960 Speaker 1: of the corpse being a vampire was that the face, 763 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 1: of course was read and marked with fresh blood. But 764 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:07,520 Speaker 1: another sign was a ring of corn meal around the 765 00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:10,719 Speaker 1: vampire's mouth. Oh I don't know. It seems like kind 766 00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:13,160 Speaker 1: of a stretch. But that's also interesting now that this 767 00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:15,880 Speaker 1: is a great example of something that's just too stupid 768 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,880 Speaker 1: to really make its way into any like cinematic or 769 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:21,960 Speaker 1: literary treatment of the vampire. Right, the corn meal around 770 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:23,880 Speaker 1: the mouth, Well, wouldn't that have been great if you 771 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:27,160 Speaker 1: put that into Coppola's Dracula. So Gary oldman's walking around 772 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:29,600 Speaker 1: in his dandy costume, but he's got corn meal all 773 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:33,160 Speaker 1: over his mouth. He's constantly eating corn flakes. He's a 774 00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:36,640 Speaker 1: vitamin deficiency vampire, modern day London. I've got another piece 775 00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:39,359 Speaker 1: of evidence for them. Okay, who is the bane of 776 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,680 Speaker 1: the of the vampires and Dracula? Dr Van Helsing? And 777 00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:45,960 Speaker 1: who played him so well in Francis Ford Coppola's version, 778 00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:50,600 Speaker 1: Anthony Hopkins. And what famous nutritionist figure did Anthony Hopkins 779 00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:53,840 Speaker 1: also play? I don't know Kellogg? He did? Yes, I 780 00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,680 Speaker 1: didn't know that. Yeah, the Road to Wellville? Okay, I 781 00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:59,359 Speaker 1: didn't know. Did did Kellogg give people vitamin B three? 782 00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:01,000 Speaker 1: I'm not shotting on that, but he gave a lot 783 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:04,680 Speaker 1: of people a lot of things. And uh, Anthony Hopkins's 784 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:08,440 Speaker 1: performance and that movie is so wonderful and so absurd. 785 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:11,680 Speaker 1: I want to see I want to see his Kellogg 786 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:14,600 Speaker 1: fight the vampires. I think that would have been amazing. 787 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:20,040 Speaker 1: Man Kellogg versus Dracula, somebody make that movie right now. 788 00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:23,640 Speaker 1: That would be amazing. Somebody should make a series of 789 00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: like the Greatest Quacks in the History of Medicine versus Vampires. 790 00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:32,480 Speaker 1: I want to see Dracula versus Who's that guy that 791 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:35,200 Speaker 1: that US doctor who did like the goat go nad 792 00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:38,320 Speaker 1: implants on people. Oh goodness, I feel like we've discussed 793 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:40,600 Speaker 1: him on the show before, but his name is not 794 00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:44,640 Speaker 1: coming to mind. Brinkley, John Brinkley, Yeah, yeah, or the 795 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,840 Speaker 1: the character who thought that you could treat mental ailments 796 00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:50,799 Speaker 1: by removing teeth. That one would be another one to 797 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:53,520 Speaker 1: throw up against the fan. I don't remember who that was. Yeah, 798 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:56,239 Speaker 1: his name isn't isn't coming to me either, But he's 799 00:44:56,239 --> 00:44:58,360 Speaker 1: a character that showed up on the television series The 800 00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:01,879 Speaker 1: Nick as well, played by John Hodgman. Actually, oh really, yeah, 801 00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:06,600 Speaker 1: John Hodgman's finest performance in my opinion. Okay, so we 802 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:09,799 Speaker 1: gotta wrap up Pelagres. So in conclusion, the authors note 803 00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:12,640 Speaker 1: you know they're there are actually some other vitamin deficiencies 804 00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:15,400 Speaker 1: that could cause similar symptoms, like the ones they mentioned 805 00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:19,680 Speaker 1: gloss idis, the spelling of the tongue anemia, and arexia pika. 806 00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,080 Speaker 1: But pellagra is the one that would have been historically 807 00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:26,280 Speaker 1: most likely to do so because of the historical timing 808 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,600 Speaker 1: in the spread of corn you know, corn meal as 809 00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:33,399 Speaker 1: a food staple throughout Europe. So coming down the end here, 810 00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:35,440 Speaker 1: what do we think our verdict is? I think this 811 00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:37,560 Speaker 1: is this one seems like a mixed bag to me. 812 00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:41,120 Speaker 1: Some of the evidence, like the historical timing seems very good, 813 00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:45,799 Speaker 1: and other stuff it really seems like they're reaching at 814 00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:47,640 Speaker 1: the most. I feel like any of these illnesses is 815 00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:50,520 Speaker 1: going to match up with you know, just aspects of 816 00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:54,080 Speaker 1: the vampirement would have helped contribute to the way the 817 00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:57,640 Speaker 1: myth took shape. But yeah, I feel like it's it's 818 00:45:57,680 --> 00:45:59,560 Speaker 1: ultimately kind of a fool's errand to try and just 819 00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:03,080 Speaker 1: boil it all down to one particular ailment. Now, there 820 00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:05,239 Speaker 1: are a number of different illnesses that we didn't have 821 00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:08,759 Speaker 1: time to discuss here, um, particularly in cases where that 822 00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:14,000 Speaker 1: connection is maybe less robust. For instance, uh, the work 823 00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:17,719 Speaker 1: of Juan Gomez Alonso m D that I referenced in 824 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:20,800 Speaker 1: the first episode. In passing, he mentioned that some connections 825 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:24,160 Speaker 1: have been made between the vampire myth and schizophrenia. Uh. 826 00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:27,399 Speaker 1: And I feel like, you know, based on what we've 827 00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:30,280 Speaker 1: we've we've read and discussed regarding schizophrenia in the past, 828 00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:32,680 Speaker 1: I think there there is a lot of room for 829 00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:38,879 Speaker 1: supernatural ideas to emerge from either directly from individuals who 830 00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:42,479 Speaker 1: are struggling with schizophrenia, or people who are observing or 831 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:45,800 Speaker 1: or trying to help individuals who are dealing with schizophrenia. 832 00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:49,960 Speaker 1: But oh yeah, I mean it's always you always have 833 00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:53,480 Speaker 1: to wonder if certain supernatural beliefs have some kind of 834 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:58,120 Speaker 1: origin and conditions that cause hallucination. Right, and then I 835 00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:02,000 Speaker 1: didn't see any particular studies that looked at this, but 836 00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:03,600 Speaker 1: I I can't help but think of course of our 837 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:08,200 Speaker 1: old our old friends sleep paralysis as well. Sleep paralysis 838 00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:13,200 Speaker 1: is often mentioned, uh in episodes or experiences that involve 839 00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:18,879 Speaker 1: demons or ghosts or your alien visitations. But certainly one 840 00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:21,680 Speaker 1: of the cores in the vampire myth, right, is something 841 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:23,960 Speaker 1: came to you in your bed while you were asleep 842 00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:27,319 Speaker 1: and and preyed upon you, fed upon your blood. Uh. 843 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:29,760 Speaker 1: So I think the idea of you know, of waking 844 00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:33,319 Speaker 1: in this this weird lucinogenic state, being unable to move. 845 00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:35,920 Speaker 1: I think that would lend itself well to uh, to 846 00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:39,000 Speaker 1: vampire interpretations, or at the very least as any of 847 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:42,680 Speaker 1: these things are ultimately doing, like provide fuel for the 848 00:47:42,719 --> 00:47:46,520 Speaker 1: pre existing vampire myth flame. Yeah, And I think that's 849 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,040 Speaker 1: a lot of what we need to emphasize here is 850 00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:51,120 Speaker 1: that we don't want to create the impression we think 851 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:55,560 Speaker 1: that there is any one single condition that created the 852 00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:59,399 Speaker 1: vampire legend. I mean, it's clearly something that is a 853 00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:01,200 Speaker 1: very good ad myth in its own right. You know, 854 00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:04,000 Speaker 1: a lot of different versions of it, especially since you know, 855 00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:08,280 Speaker 1: we've been focusing on especially like the eighteenth nineteenth century 856 00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:11,520 Speaker 1: Eastern European version of the vampire lore, which itself is 857 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:15,799 Speaker 1: fairly varied but contributed to what became you know, the 858 00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:19,279 Speaker 1: the Dracula vampire. But they're all kinds of vampires around 859 00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:22,439 Speaker 1: the world that have their own local inspirations. Oh yeah, 860 00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:25,120 Speaker 1: I mean, the so many of the like the mesu 861 00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:30,440 Speaker 1: American and South American versions are just so grotesquely fascinating. Um. 862 00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:33,120 Speaker 1: I think I've discussed some of those in the show before. 863 00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:35,680 Speaker 1: One more thing I just remembered that we hadn't mentioned, 864 00:48:35,920 --> 00:48:38,120 Speaker 1: but we took a quick look at was the idea 865 00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:41,719 Speaker 1: of linking vampire lore and specifically the story of Dracula, 866 00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:45,960 Speaker 1: to the idea of hereditary somnambulism. You know, the sleepwalk, Yeah, 867 00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:50,200 Speaker 1: which you can certainly see. Before people understood that that 868 00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:54,560 Speaker 1: might have just sort of mundane neurological causes. Uh, people 869 00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:57,320 Speaker 1: could look at that kind of behavior and say, oh, something, 870 00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:00,560 Speaker 1: something very creepy is going on. Now, my you know, 871 00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:03,480 Speaker 1: my child is sleepwalking out of the house in the night. 872 00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:06,640 Speaker 1: He or she is being lured out by some kind 873 00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:10,200 Speaker 1: of predator, some kind of supernatural parasite, inviting them out 874 00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:12,480 Speaker 1: to be drained. All right, Well, there you have it. 875 00:49:12,680 --> 00:49:15,080 Speaker 1: We're gonna go and close up the clinic for today, 876 00:49:15,239 --> 00:49:18,120 Speaker 1: but who knows, maybe we'll be back uh someday to 877 00:49:18,239 --> 00:49:23,719 Speaker 1: discuss uh and evaluate us some additional cases of alleged vamporism. Well, 878 00:49:23,719 --> 00:49:27,600 Speaker 1: I'm absolutely positive we have not exhausted the possible links 879 00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:31,640 Speaker 1: between medical conditions and vampire lore. So there's no way 880 00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:34,080 Speaker 1: there's not more to talk about. There will always be 881 00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:37,200 Speaker 1: more patients, all right, if you want to check out 882 00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:39,200 Speaker 1: more episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, including the 883 00:49:39,239 --> 00:49:41,640 Speaker 1: episode that preceded this one. Head on over to stuff 884 00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:43,400 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. That's where you will 885 00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:46,160 Speaker 1: find all the podcast episodes. You'll find links out to 886 00:49:46,160 --> 00:49:49,480 Speaker 1: our various social media accounts, such as our Facebook group. 887 00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:51,799 Speaker 1: We haven't talked about our Facebook group but recently, but 888 00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:55,360 Speaker 1: UH the the the Stuff to Blow your Mind discussion module. 889 00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:58,200 Speaker 1: You have to sign up to to to join it. 890 00:49:58,239 --> 00:49:59,920 Speaker 1: There's like a little question you have to answer. But 891 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:02,960 Speaker 1: once you're in you can discuss these episodes with other 892 00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:06,560 Speaker 1: listeners UH and UH and occasionally UH Joe and I 893 00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:09,839 Speaker 1: will also be in there to discuss topics as well. 894 00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:12,000 Speaker 1: Also in Stuff Tobrow your Mind dot com, there's a 895 00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:15,640 Speaker 1: tab for our store. Click on that buy some cool merchandise. 896 00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:17,960 Speaker 1: It's a cool way to support the show, and if 897 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:20,520 Speaker 1: you want to support us without spending a single dime, 898 00:50:20,920 --> 00:50:23,520 Speaker 1: just rate and review us wherever you have the power 899 00:50:23,600 --> 00:50:26,719 Speaker 1: to do so. Big thanks as always to our wonderful 900 00:50:26,760 --> 00:50:30,160 Speaker 1: audio producers Alex Williams and Terry Harrison. If you would 901 00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:32,000 Speaker 1: like to get in touch with us with feedback about 902 00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:34,720 Speaker 1: this episode or any other, or would like to suggest 903 00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:36,600 Speaker 1: a topic for the future, or just to get in 904 00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:38,920 Speaker 1: touch Say hi, say how you found out about the 905 00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:41,560 Speaker 1: show where you listen? 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