1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. We've already made our big tour announcement for 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:06,040 Speaker 1: the year, but this is a little different because we 3 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:09,119 Speaker 1: have added a show because Denver sold out, so we 4 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:11,560 Speaker 1: have added a second show in Denver. Nice. Yeah, We're 5 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: going to be there on Wednesday. Then we added a 6 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: show the day before the same place, Gothic Theater, Englewood, Colorado. 7 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: And you can go to s Y s K live 8 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: dot com to get info and tickets for that show 9 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: and all the rest of our shows to Chuck. That's right, Boston, 10 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: April fourth, d C April five. St. Louis and Cleveland, Ohio. 11 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: Come out and see us. Welcome to Stuff you should 12 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: Know from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome 13 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, Charles W. Chuck, pri 14 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: Jerry Stuff you should know. I love this one. Yeah. 15 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: Vampires December fourwelve was our our main podcast on vampires. 16 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: It was like it was a good one and I 17 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: don't remember touching on this at all, did we No? 18 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: I had no idea about it, that's nutty. It wasn't 19 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:19,919 Speaker 1: until I read a great um, a great article about 20 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,039 Speaker 1: vampire panics in New England that I had first heard 21 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: of it. Abigail Tucker from Ye she did an amazing 22 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: job on that one, agreed. So let's start. Let's start 23 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: where that article starts, because I think it's a great 24 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 1: place to dive into this this weirdness. Yeah. Yeah, that's 25 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: not what most people would think. You would say. In Connecticut, 26 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: I'm a freshman in college. There were there were some 27 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: kids playing at I think a gravel quarry and they 28 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: discovered some graves. It's basically the dream of every kid 29 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: who's ever played outside to discover some like long lost graves. 30 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: Like any kid poking around the woods. Were all really 31 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: just looking for dead bodies pretty much at the very least, 32 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: you're prepared for it at all times. Yeah, um remember 33 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: stand by Me, kid, Mean, that's what inspired it all. 34 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: That was one of like the great unnerving, disturbing dead 35 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: kids of all time. And you know what, Ray Brower, Um, 36 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: my friend, my best friend Brett came upon a dead 37 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: body one time playing in the woods. Yeah, and it 38 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,639 Speaker 1: wasn't It was a neighbor who who had a heart 39 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: attack while like raking leaves or cleaning up in the 40 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: woods or something, So it wasn't nefarious, but he still 41 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: ran across the dead body as a kid. How why 42 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: was the guy cleaning up the woods? Well, I mean 43 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: I think it was the woods on the edge of 44 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: his yards or something like that. How long had he 45 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:51,079 Speaker 1: been there for? Uh, don't think it had been that long. 46 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: He wasn't decomposed or anything. I think it was just 47 00:02:55,600 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: like lifeless body. There's Mr whatever, Mr Whipple, Right, don't 48 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: squeeze charm, I'm cleaning the woods. So these these kids 49 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,640 Speaker 1: found graves that were very, very old. They weren't, you know, 50 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: a dead neighbor or anything like that. They were actually 51 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: it turned out to be a lost family cemetery again 52 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: in Connecticut, right, and in very short order, the Connecticut 53 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: state archaeologist, which is pretty cool, position, a guy named 54 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: Nick Bellantoni. He was called out and he starts excavating 55 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: the place, right, yes, I'll keep going. He finds a 56 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: bunch of graves, lots of kids, because it's New England 57 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, late eighteenth century, early nineteenth centuries. When they 58 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: finally said, this is about when this this graveyard was 59 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: in use, and there were kids, some adults buried normally 60 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: exactly like you'd expect. How she said they were buried 61 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: Yankee style. Yeah, I didn't know what that meant. It 62 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: meant like in a very thrifty manner, very bare bones, 63 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: I feel forgiven, not like our ostentatious southern coffins. Right, 64 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: what about that lady who got buried in her ferrari? 65 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: Did you hear about her? I think I did. She 66 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: was great just for doing that, you know, like, I'll 67 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: see y'all in Hell. I'm taking my ferrari with that. 68 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: She was like buried sitting up behind the wheel in 69 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: an agle j in her ferrari. That's how she was buried. 70 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: That's like the Elon Musk's tesla in space, a little 71 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: estro not riding around it. Well, yeah, everyone knows that 72 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: that's actually the body of one of his enemies, of course, 73 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: who was alive when that rocket went off. I'm sure so. Um, 74 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: there's this one grave out of all of them that 75 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: is a little hinky, you could say. Bellentoni starts um 76 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,479 Speaker 1: pulling away some of the rocks. It's entombed now like 77 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: the others. There's rocks around it. And he finds that 78 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: the coffin has been broken, and on the coffin, on 79 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: the coffin lid in brass tacks is J. B. I 80 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: believe hyphen five. Yeah, and this coffin is red, which 81 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: is also different I think than the others. Most of 82 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: the coffin's fine, or most of the skeletons fine. But 83 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:10,919 Speaker 1: when he gets a little further up, he finds on 84 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: top of the ribs the thigh bones are crossed across 85 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: the ribs, and the skull is no longer attached the 86 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:21,119 Speaker 1: end of the spinal column. It's on the rib cage 87 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: as well, and the rib cage has been broken. And 88 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:27,720 Speaker 1: upon further inspection he finds the coffin has been smashed. 89 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 1: And Nick Bellantoni says, we'll I'll be yeah. I mean, 90 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: this is not what normally happens as a body decomposes. 91 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 1: They don't go into the shape of the Jolly rogers 92 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: pirate flag. Um. And it's funny that you picked this 93 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 1: because uh and this is sort of an announcement. But 94 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: the Great Aeron Mankey of Lore fame, was telling me 95 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,960 Speaker 1: these stories this week in the office because uh we 96 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: he has partnered with us. He's gonna do some shows 97 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: with us. Now, yeah, not Lore He's like, no, no, no, 98 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: you don't get that one. But he's gonna do some 99 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: new shows with us and we're all super excited. But 100 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: he was telling me all these stories and you were 101 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: falling asleep, stroking my head gently. And uh, the next 102 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: day you sent this article or this, uh, this collection 103 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:19,479 Speaker 1: of articles you put together and said, let's do one 104 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: in vampire panics. And I was like, that's weird. Man, 105 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: Like Aaron Mankey was just talking about this, and he 106 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,600 Speaker 1: has like three Laura episodes, one on Mercy Brown that 107 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: I listened to, uh as part of this research, but 108 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:33,720 Speaker 1: then two others, and it was just it all can 109 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: kind of really weirdly came together the spirits of the vampires. 110 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: And so anyway, welcome Mr Manky, Yeah, welcome, We're glad 111 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: to have you. And are we calling him Mr Mankey 112 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: not Aaron? No, but it was very sweet. He's an 113 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,839 Speaker 1: long time all time stuff you should know listener, and uh, 114 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: he's a legit. I'm sure that he is going to 115 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: hear this and say, oh, guys, I did this so much, 116 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: so much better. I don't like you any longer. So anyway, 117 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: JB fifty five year right is spelled out in brass tacks. Uh. 118 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: It's a male skeleton. It's from the eighteen thirties at 119 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: the latest in there in the body is probably in 120 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: his fifties or so, and it's just very very creepy 121 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: and perplexing. Yeah, very perplexing. First blush, Bellentoni said in 122 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: that Smithsonian archicly he'd never seen anything like it before, right, right, 123 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: So he's he obviously, being an archaeologist, He's not like, 124 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: well that's pretty interesting. I'm going back to my sandwich now. 125 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: He wanted to get to the bottom of it, that's right. 126 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: So he started asking around and finally one colleague said, well, 127 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 1: maybe it was a vampire. This is Michael Bell not 128 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: yet okay, he it was apparently a colleague, I guess, 129 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: a fellow archaeologist who's like, there was actually such things 130 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: as vampire panics. And then Bellentoni met Michael Bell, right, 131 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: and notably Uh in eighteen fifty four. This is about 132 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: twenty years after the gentleman j B. Which is probably 133 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: his age, right, or I guess maybe Jim Brown years old, 134 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: let's let's just call him that. Uh, and Jewitt City, Connecticut, 135 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: there was a vampire panic that had broken out and 136 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: the corpses were exhumed that people might thought were vampires. Uh. 137 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: And then I think is when he finally gets in 138 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: touch with this Rhode Island folklorist named Michael Bell. Yeah, 139 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: and Bell is like, my friend, I'm going to tell 140 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: you something. Are you sitting down and Bell Andoni says yes, 141 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 1: and Bell goes, have you had your sandwich? Um? Bell goes, 142 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: you are sitting on the only intact physical evidence of 143 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: what was a series of vampire panics that gripped New 144 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: England in the late eighteenth to to actually late nineteenth century, 145 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: almost up to the twentieth century. Yeah, that's the remarkable 146 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: thing here, because if you hear this and you're like, yeah, yeah, 147 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: I know about Salem. This was a couple of hundred 148 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,200 Speaker 1: years later. Yeah, this was Yeah, this is about less 149 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: than a d and fifty years ago. Yeah, Like we 150 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: we had evolved way past that by this point to 151 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: believe that vampires existed and we need to dig up 152 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:21,960 Speaker 1: bodies of our relatives. Yeah, that's what's so shocking about this. 153 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: Like the Enlightenment had come and gone. Science was a thing. 154 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:28,199 Speaker 1: It was just it was it's very weird to think 155 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: about how late this happened, but sure enough, there is 156 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,079 Speaker 1: bel ATONI looked into it and talked to Michael Bell 157 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: and found out, No, there was, there was vampire panics. 158 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: A lot of people don't know about them because most 159 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: people don't dig into that kind of thing. But they're 160 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: actually because they happened as late as they did, they're 161 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: actually fairly well documented. The thing is is most of 162 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:54,679 Speaker 1: the graves are lost. Um you have an actual grave 163 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: of one of the vampires that was basically a victim 164 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: of this vampire panic. Yeah, and apparently it happened. Um. 165 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,760 Speaker 1: He documented Bell about eighty of these exhimations as far 166 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: west as Minnesota, but obviously most of these took place 167 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: in the Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire area, Rhode Island, 168 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,840 Speaker 1: Tohode Island. Because I don't know what it is with 169 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 1: New England. Well, we'll get to it. We'll get to it. 170 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:23,959 Speaker 1: They're weird because it's it definitely is a very weird thing, 171 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: especially considering that, like at the time, people who were alive, 172 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:33,960 Speaker 1: We're like, what are you guys doing? How backwards can 173 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: you be? You know? Um, So they're contemporaries were even 174 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:43,079 Speaker 1: like put off by this kind of thing. And at 175 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 1: first it was um like you had to know somebody 176 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: to know that this was going on. But eventually a 177 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: couple of them became high enough profile that, um, it 178 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 1: became international news that there was some weirdness going on 179 00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: in New England that the locals were we're we're in 180 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,839 Speaker 1: the grips of a vampire panic. Yeah. Thorrow wrote about 181 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 1: it in his journal. That's Henry David. Yeah, he wrote. 182 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: He said he was at an exhimation and he wrote 183 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:16,560 Speaker 1: it was like wow, man. Uh And as you said, 184 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: Rhode Island, Like, this wasn't just like out in the 185 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 1: sticks a rural uh, New England. This happened close to Newport, 186 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: Rhode Island, which at the time and is still very 187 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: tony area where oh yeah, dude, beautiful that that cliff 188 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 1: walk or whatever, unbelievable and those houses were around back then. 189 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: These were well healed, rich people and that's where they summered, right, 190 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,840 Speaker 1: murdering one another and getting away with it, drinking champagne 191 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,600 Speaker 1: all the while. That's what they did. God bless him 192 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:50,080 Speaker 1: as a beautiful town. Yeah, Newport Rhode Island is a 193 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,440 Speaker 1: gorgeous town. Yeah. I was very taken with it and 194 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: thought I could totally live here if I had about 195 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: fifty times as much money as I have right now. 196 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: And it was nine hundred. So um, as I said, like, 197 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: this is this is it's it is very well documented 198 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: in some respects, but you have to be a guy 199 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: like Michael Bell who knows where to look because Gray's 200 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: like this don't pop up every day. Right. There was 201 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: this dude who documented it probably better than anybody, um, 202 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: and he didn't hear about it until I think the 203 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,079 Speaker 1: late eighteen nineties. But he was an anthropologist named George Stetson. 204 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:28,719 Speaker 1: He published like a monotype on it, on the New 205 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:31,959 Speaker 1: England vampire panics and exactly what the beliefs were. So 206 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: he he established like the baseline for these beliefs and 207 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,320 Speaker 1: really documented it in the late nineteenth century. Yeah, and 208 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 1: kind of shook up the world. Yeah. So again everybody 209 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: at the time who wasn't involved is looking in like 210 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: what are you guys doing? Um? Apparently the Boston Daily 211 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 1: Globe said that was basically inbreeding was responsible for this 212 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: weird behavior. Um, like people from the South, We're going, 213 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:02,079 Speaker 1: what our nation? Are you guys doing it? There? Right? 214 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: There was a there was the idea that the that Stetson, 215 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:10,439 Speaker 1: George Stetson, the anthropologists had basically been fooled, been fleeced 216 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: by you know, the slick New England city rural folk um, 217 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: and that they were just pulling his leg as it 218 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 1: was put. Um, that's not the case. This actually did happen, 219 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: and it it turns out that it is basically an 220 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 1: extension of a tradition that finds its roots back in Europe, 221 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,680 Speaker 1: goes back many many centuries to Europe. And here is 222 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:39,559 Speaker 1: where it gets extremely interesting to me. The vampire legend 223 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: that we understand today actually grew out of real superstitions. 224 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: Like everything you know about vampires is is what some 225 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 1: people hundreds of years ago and not that very long ago, 226 00:13:53,960 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 1: believed was actual reality. And this, this vampire panic was 227 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: an actual manifestation of those beliefs in real life. That's right, man, 228 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 1: The spirit of the vampires are with us, all right, 229 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:42,640 Speaker 1: we'll be back right after this. Okay. So the vampire, 230 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,680 Speaker 1: as we probably pronounced it like that in that episode 231 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: so many years ago, I have a one note sense 232 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 1: of humor. Uh, it came It's reliable. That's a nice 233 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: way to say. It came out of Europe, not the 234 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: United States. And that word for disappeared in the tenth century. 235 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: And um Bell, as far as he's concerned, says or 236 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: thinks at least that, um, well, we all know that 237 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: it came out of like a Germany and the Slavic 238 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: immigrants coming here. But he thinks, for his money is 239 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: that it probably wasn't just one big way. It probably 240 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: came over from different people at different times, but eventually 241 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:25,240 Speaker 1: it made its way over to the United States through 242 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: probably Pennsylvania and then made its way north right. And um, 243 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: from his research he's found, the earliest he's found is 244 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: a reference to it comes from four in the Connecticut 245 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: Koran and Weekly Intelligencer. And you think the Hartford newspapers 246 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: still called the Hartford Koran, So that's an old paper, right, yeah, 247 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: and um in it in this it's a letter to 248 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 1: the editor from a guy named Moses Holmes, who is 249 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: a councilman in the town of Willington, m Connecticut. And 250 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 1: he's basically warning people not to listen to what he calls, 251 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:06,800 Speaker 1: quote a certain quack doctor, a foreigner. And um, basically 252 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,640 Speaker 1: this doctor was saying there there's vampires of foot and 253 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: you need to exume your family and kill them because 254 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,920 Speaker 1: they're vampires now. And Moses Holmes was saying, don't don't 255 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: do that. This is wrong and weird. Well, yeah, and 256 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: that's the legend that came over from Europe. The Slavic 257 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 1: people had the upier and the Romanians had and the 258 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: upier and the stragoy would die, be buried and would 259 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: come back to drink the blood of their relatives. And 260 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,720 Speaker 1: that was the legend and what it really was. Well, 261 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: maybe we should hold onto that little yeah, let's just yeah, 262 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I meant to cross that out on your Okay. 263 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 1: I was like, this came into yeah, all right, so 264 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:50,800 Speaker 1: we'll we'll we'll tease that out for later. So you 265 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:56,160 Speaker 1: ask yourself, like I think of Yankees as like pretty 266 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,080 Speaker 1: solid people, salt of the earth, especially nineteen cent or 267 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: Yankees salts of the Irish people, really stable, like it 268 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: would take quite a bit to drive one of them, 269 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: just totally crazy. Right, they had to put up with 270 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: these winters, nor easters, um saleasters, sure, all that stuff, right, 271 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 1: and um, you know, how would how would this happen 272 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 1: outside of say, puritanical New England in the in the 273 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. And it turns out I didn't realize this, 274 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: but Abigail Tucker points out that the Yankees that we 275 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:34,119 Speaker 1: think of are not the Yankees, and I'm not talking 276 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:40,520 Speaker 1: baseball here, are not the Yankees, who, um, we're in actuality. 277 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:42,920 Speaker 1: So I sat up very late last night trying to 278 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,439 Speaker 1: figure out the most convoluted way to say that sentence, 279 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: and I think of pay Yeah. I thought this was 280 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,119 Speaker 1: super interesting because when I think of New England, I 281 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 1: think of very religious, puritanical Christian Christian. They don't do 282 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:02,640 Speaker 1: this kind of thing you think of um And actually, 283 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 1: you know what's funny is because Mankett was here. I 284 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: had him on movie Crush. I guess what his movie was, 285 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: hold On, hold On, So I said Christian, which makes 286 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 1: me think of this song Sister Christian by Night Ranger, 287 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:21,199 Speaker 1: which factored in big time into Boogie Night No. His 288 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 1: favorite movie is The Village, which makes total sense. I 289 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: watched that again within the last couple of months, and 290 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,719 Speaker 1: I'm like, this movie is even better now. Yeah, I 291 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,639 Speaker 1: liked it more when I saw it again, which is 292 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:35,680 Speaker 1: weird because you know the twist at the know, because 293 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:37,920 Speaker 1: it's the m night Sham movie. Yeah, And I think 294 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:39,679 Speaker 1: it bugged me at the time because I and I 295 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: told him this in the show. But I think at 296 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,480 Speaker 1: the time I was sort of like over M. Night 297 00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:47,720 Speaker 1: and the Twists. I was like, come on, dude, another 298 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,480 Speaker 1: twist and now I'm looking out for it, so I 299 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: had better be really good. Yeah, but I think years 300 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: later I watched it again, I was like, you know what, 301 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: I think I kind of dig this movie. I did too, 302 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:00,679 Speaker 1: so anyway, very fitting. But I think of those people 303 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: like these Puritans, living off, removed from society, very strict 304 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:10,679 Speaker 1: religious people's but apparently that was not the deal. In 305 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:14,160 Speaker 1: the eighteen hundreds in rural New England, only ten belonged 306 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,400 Speaker 1: to a church. Shocking to me, and especially it says 307 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,479 Speaker 1: that you're in this article Rhode Island and I love this. 308 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 1: I had no idea it was founded as a haven 309 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:28,199 Speaker 1: for religious dissenters. So I think they just wanted to 310 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: go in party. Yeah, the seaside, they were like, let's 311 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,960 Speaker 1: party and engage in hex magic. Gosh, they were Another 312 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 1: way to put it is that the New Englanders in 313 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:44,200 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century were superstitious, but right exactly, because if 314 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: you were um hardcore Christian, superstition didn't play a part, 315 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:51,680 Speaker 1: you wouldn't like, I mean, what are the some of 316 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: the things they did. They would um barry shoes by 317 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: the fireplace, to catch the devil from coming down the chimney, 318 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: like a horse shoe over your door. Yeah, that kind 319 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,679 Speaker 1: of stuff. Like basically anything you think of is like 320 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:07,439 Speaker 1: locker weird kind of Pennsylvania witchcraft, that kind of stuff. 321 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,199 Speaker 1: This is like, that's what it was. It was like 322 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:15,120 Speaker 1: country witchcraft. That's what they believed in. Because even if 323 00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: you weren't Christian, you still believed in things like good 324 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,440 Speaker 1: and evil and spirits and demons and stuff like that. 325 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,119 Speaker 1: You just had to have a different way of dealing 326 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 1: with them. Since you weren't Christian in the way of 327 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,040 Speaker 1: dealing with and wasn't like praying to God or whatever. 328 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,960 Speaker 1: She had to hang up a horse shoe or barry 329 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:33,840 Speaker 1: a shoe to keep the devil from coming down your 330 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:38,400 Speaker 1: chimney because you were as backwards as a game. When 331 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 1: are we going to reveal the reveal? When are we 332 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: going to do our m night twist? Yet? Not yet? 333 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: All right, Well, then you gotta go because I got 334 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:48,760 Speaker 1: nothing else. Okay, are you ready for now? Well? No, 335 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:54,399 Speaker 1: if you've got more, if you can, were where we were? 336 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 1: All right, Well, here's the reveal. Because being superstitious does 337 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 1: an ex playing the vampire panic. No alone what else 338 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 1: does I'll let you drop the hammer. So they are 339 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,920 Speaker 1: not entirely certain, but the general consensus among people who 340 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:14,800 Speaker 1: study this kind of thing is that this was a 341 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 1: reaction to infectious disease outbreaks, specifically tuberculosis. Boom boom. That's 342 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:26,880 Speaker 1: why superstitious New Englanders were running around in the nineteenth 343 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: century digging up family members and driving stakes through their 344 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 1: hearts or beheading them in their graves. I love stuff 345 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 1: like this when you can look back years later. I 346 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: wonder what they're gonna in a hundred years about the 347 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,720 Speaker 1: Satanic panic. Oh, it wasn't some disease, obviously, this is 348 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: better reveal it was a panic though. Yeah. Um, it's 349 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: interesting that two of our favorite episodes probably are going 350 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:55,199 Speaker 1: to end up being Satanic panic and vampire panics. This 351 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,200 Speaker 1: one's going pretty well. So all right, so let's talk 352 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: about TV for a minute. This is obviously pre antibiotics. 353 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: There is still tuberculosis, but it's super curable now if 354 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: you're you know, lucky enough to live where you can 355 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:16,360 Speaker 1: get antibiotics. But it is caused by Bacterium um, two 356 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: of which can infect humans M. Tuberculosis and M. Bovus. 357 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:24,000 Speaker 1: And you've heard the word consumption in movies like The 358 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: Village from that time period they're dying of consumption. Consumption 359 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,679 Speaker 1: was almost always tuberculosis. That's just what they called it 360 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: back then, right, that was the name for it, the 361 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,360 Speaker 1: reason they called it consumption, and actually that that term 362 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:41,640 Speaker 1: to describe tuberculous is actually predates the more common usage 363 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 1: of consumption today. It was like ingesting or eating something. Yeah, 364 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,919 Speaker 1: it takes back to like I think, so it's the 365 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: original meaning was that your body was consuming itself. That 366 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: it was like the word for tuberculosis. Well, yeah, And 367 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 1: the reason they call it that is because it looked 368 00:22:55,359 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: like your life force was being sapped away from you. 369 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:05,080 Speaker 1: The way that the disease progressed, um, it included coughing 370 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,000 Speaker 1: fits where they said, like you couldn't even stop to talk. 371 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: You would be coughing so hard that's not good. Um. 372 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,400 Speaker 1: You would lose a lot of weight, so it looked 373 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 1: like you were wasting away to um. But at the 374 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:24,200 Speaker 1: same time, you were um voracious ly hungry. You wanted 375 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:26,399 Speaker 1: to eat. It wasn't that kind of illness where you 376 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: just can't even eat. You were hungry like all the time, 377 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 1: but you were still wasting away. So there's this duality 378 00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:38,639 Speaker 1: between hunger, rampant hunger and the loss of a life force. 379 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 1: And this it's possible that all vampire tales and legends 380 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:49,880 Speaker 1: and the origin of it is found in tuberculosis, because 381 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: that's what you think of with vampire is um. The 382 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: whole idea at this time was if you had tuberculosis 383 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,919 Speaker 1: and you were the say, second, third, fourth member of 384 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,880 Speaker 1: your family to come down with this with consumption, it 385 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,280 Speaker 1: meant that the one of the previous family members who 386 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:11,680 Speaker 1: had died of this disease was still alive in some way. 387 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: Their soul was in a supernatural way and was coming 388 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:19,360 Speaker 1: at night and sucking the life from you to sustain themselves. 389 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,840 Speaker 1: If this was the case, then there was only one 390 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:25,119 Speaker 1: thing to do. If you were in New England at 391 00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:27,879 Speaker 1: the time, you had to dig up that family member 392 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: and take care of business. Yeah, it's funny. Emily and 393 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,679 Speaker 1: I always laugh at the movie trope of the the 394 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: cough like it has almost a percent return rate. If 395 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: a character coughs in a movie, then they're going to 396 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 1: die because you just don't leave coughs in movies. That's 397 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:48,040 Speaker 1: a sure sign. Or especially if they like cough into 398 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 1: a hanky. There's always blood in it, Like remember Hodgeman's 399 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:57,239 Speaker 1: um doc Holiday. Yeah, I'll be your Hucklebert coughing up 400 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,639 Speaker 1: the blood and lung tissue. Well, we just started watching 401 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 1: The Crown last night. You know that show on Netflix? 402 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: Do you watch it? Yeah? We saw the very just 403 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,040 Speaker 1: the first episode last night of season one. And of 404 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:14,960 Speaker 1: course there's Jared Harris as Queen Elizabeth's father, the King Camember, 405 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,240 Speaker 1: which what his name was, King, the King of England, 406 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 1: and he's got he's got TV. Of course he starts 407 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: coughing in the very first scene into the hanky and 408 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,920 Speaker 1: you're like, well, he's probably just going to be in 409 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,680 Speaker 1: the bilin um. That's how she became queen. If we're 410 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:32,920 Speaker 1: shouting out things we've seen recently, I want to give 411 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:38,400 Speaker 1: a shout out to Wonder. Wonder what what's that the 412 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,920 Speaker 1: the movie about the kid with facial differences? I've heard 413 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:47,000 Speaker 1: this parents are Owens Wilson and Julia Roberts. So good though, Yeah, 414 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,399 Speaker 1: all right, you know what, let's take a break. Okay, 415 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,360 Speaker 1: who thought I Wonder was going to make an appearance 416 00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:55,000 Speaker 1: in the Vampire Panic and not me? Alright, we're gonna 417 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:56,439 Speaker 1: take a break and we'll come back and talk a 418 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: little bit more about how a family might do this 419 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:29,440 Speaker 1: right after this. Alright, so dad has gone from TV 420 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 1: or consumption, brother has, sister has, Yeah, maybe ones on 421 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:40,280 Speaker 1: their deathbed, the other ones about to die. Um, we 422 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,120 Speaker 1: should talk a little bit about consumption a little more. 423 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: At the time, there were people out there in the 424 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:50,480 Speaker 1: world in the late nineteenth century who understood that consumption 425 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: was Tuberculosis was an infectious disease caused by these germs. 426 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: The people engaged in these vampire panics did not generally 427 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:03,919 Speaker 1: think that They didn't realize that this was a contagious disease. 428 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: They thought that a relative was sapping your life force. Right. 429 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,280 Speaker 1: The thing is is that tuberculousis is a very contagious 430 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,440 Speaker 1: disease spread by coughing sneezing, which you do a lot 431 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: of when you have tuberculosis. And if you're living in 432 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:21,880 Speaker 1: like a one two room house in rural New England 433 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: and you're a family of six, you can say that 434 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 1: high percentage of your family members are going to eventually 435 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,440 Speaker 1: contract this disease. Yeah, whenn't it? I mean, what was 436 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: the number it was killing people over a certain period 437 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: that's a really big point here. The vampire panics started 438 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 1: in the late eighteenth century. Tuberculousis really started to gain 439 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,119 Speaker 1: a foothold in New England and about the seventeen thirties, 440 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:49,359 Speaker 1: and by the time the vampire panics hit their height 441 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 1: in the late eighteenth early nineteenth century, it was the 442 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:58,199 Speaker 1: number one killer of New Englanders at the time. Again, 443 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: they weren't like gosh learned that tuberculosis. I caught this 444 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:06,080 Speaker 1: infectious disease. It was one of our family members is 445 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 1: sapping the life out of one of our other family members, 446 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,320 Speaker 1: because our family members a vampire. Still, the effect was 447 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,359 Speaker 1: the same that they were. They were they they felt 448 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: totally powerless against this condition. They just had what it 449 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,840 Speaker 1: was wrong, and because they had it wrong, they would 450 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: dig up dead bodies and do weird stuff to them. 451 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:32,760 Speaker 1: All right, so brother dies, sister dies, maybe another sibling, 452 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: maybe one of the parents. And then if you're in 453 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:40,000 Speaker 1: rural New England, you say, all right, it's clearly what's 454 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 1: going on here is that whoever the first one that died, 455 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: or maybe one of them, it's coming back and killing 456 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 1: the rest by sucking out their blood. I have a 457 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,360 Speaker 1: vampire in my family, what do I do. I'm going 458 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: to dig with some help. Probably sometimes it's quiet, sometimes 459 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: in the middle of the night. Sometimes, like in the 460 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:02,880 Speaker 1: case in Vermont, it would be like a daytime public 461 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,840 Speaker 1: festival type of there was like a party, like a 462 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 1: community party. Yeah, and that's and in fact, I think 463 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: that's the one Henry David Threau attended in Woodstock, Vermont 464 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:15,680 Speaker 1: in his journal and he was like, wtf with these people, Right, 465 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: there's a weird party. So you would dig these people up, 466 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 1: depending on where you are. Well, first of all, let's 467 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,080 Speaker 1: talk about what they might find when they opened this coffin. Yeah, 468 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: because there were a couple of steps. The first step 469 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:34,120 Speaker 1: was you had to diagnose vampireism. Because they like, let's say, uh, 470 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 1: they finally decided by the fourth family member being sick 471 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:43,400 Speaker 1: um that this family was being being sapped by a vampire. 472 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: They didn't automatically know which dead family member was doing it. 473 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:49,760 Speaker 1: They got to look at them all. Yeah, so you 474 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:53,240 Speaker 1: might dig up multiple coffins. What they were looking for 475 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: was the belief. The belief was that the the you 476 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 1: could tell just by looking at them whither they were 477 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,480 Speaker 1: a vampire. Maybe poking around a little bit too sure, 478 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: but the problem was is that so the idea of 479 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,680 Speaker 1: what we what we think of as vampires is basically 480 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: the bram Stoker vampire, which comes later. Um, these vampires 481 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 1: were like the ghoules from the grave type farato looking. Yes, yeah, 482 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: so like real long fingernails and like pale and bloody 483 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,320 Speaker 1: mouth from kind of slipping away from your body. The 484 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,360 Speaker 1: problem is is like this idea of vampires, what we 485 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: understand is, or what they understood at vampires was a 486 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,760 Speaker 1: tradition handed down from people who had broken up or 487 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,480 Speaker 1: broken into graves before and could tell you what a 488 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: vampire looked like, which is basically a body in a 489 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 1: certain stage of decomposition, right, and specifically a lot of 490 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 1: times a body in a certain certain stage of decomposition 491 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: who had died from tuberculosis. Uh. So you know, you 492 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: might dig up a grave and see a bloat because 493 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: they have a built up of gas in their stomach. 494 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: That is not what they thought it was from. They 495 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:10,760 Speaker 1: thought what they thought they were vampires full from blood. 496 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,880 Speaker 1: They'd be like, look at this fat vampire. Yeah. They 497 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,880 Speaker 1: might see uh, long finger nails and say that looks 498 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: to me like a vampire, right, But that is what 499 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: your skin receding. Your skin pulls back from the nail bed, 500 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,479 Speaker 1: which makes it look like your nails have kept growing 501 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,240 Speaker 1: after um after death, which is not the case. Same 502 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: with your hair too. They may see red lips, bloody 503 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:35,239 Speaker 1: lips even possibly sure because apparently the breakdown of your 504 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:40,000 Speaker 1: lung tissue from tuberculpsis um continues even after death. So 505 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 1: they would see blood on the lips and be like, yeah, 506 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: they've been sucking the blood out of their their loved one. 507 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 1: But the key to all this is the heart. Uh. 508 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:49,160 Speaker 1: That was what they were trying to get to, to 509 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: see if there was any fresh blood near the heart. Uh. 510 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:54,360 Speaker 1: And if they did find that one one of the 511 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: well we'll get to what they would do. But um, 512 00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,320 Speaker 1: And again, a lot of time you would see fresh, 513 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,520 Speaker 1: a pure, hearing blood because of the way the body 514 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:06,040 Speaker 1: decomposed from tuberculosis or period. So this thing, yeah, but 515 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: but tuberculous is a lot too, especially like the blood 516 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,040 Speaker 1: on the lips kind of thing. Right, So this thing 517 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: was kind of self sustaining, self fulfilling when somebody died 518 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:17,960 Speaker 1: of tuberculosis if you dug them up at a certain 519 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: period of time, especially if they say like died in winter, 520 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:25,040 Speaker 1: they might seem inexplicably in a in a pristine state 521 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 1: because they're underground in New England's freezing in the winter. Um, 522 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 1: So they would fit the bill for a vampire just 523 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,680 Speaker 1: by definition of being a decomposing body. But to the 524 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,520 Speaker 1: people who didn't understand what decomposition was, it was just 525 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,840 Speaker 1: plain as day that they were looking at a vampire 526 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: in the grave. Right, So they find a family member 527 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,520 Speaker 1: that fits the bill of a vampire. That step one 528 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: vampire is m is being diagnosed. Next is dispatching the vampire, 529 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:56,720 Speaker 1: dealing with the vampire. And the problem is this, the 530 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: vampire is already dead. So there are only certain things 531 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:01,959 Speaker 1: you can you to a vampire to kill it. And 532 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: really what you're not trying to do is kill it. 533 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 1: You're trying to make it so it can't get out 534 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: of the grave and keep sapping the life force out 535 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: of these family members, hence hopefully saving the dying family member. Right. Uh. 536 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:18,200 Speaker 1: And it was technically called epo tropaic remedy. That's a 537 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: clinical name for it. Basically, it's something that you're doing 538 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,560 Speaker 1: to counteract this evil. So it depends on where you 539 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 1: were what you might do. Um, everyone had their own methods. 540 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,960 Speaker 1: Um in Maine and Plymouth, Massachusetts. I love this one. 541 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: All they did was flip it over so it was 542 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 1: face down, and they're like, everyone knows the vampire just 543 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 1: very creepily rises from the waist out of their coffin. 544 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 1: What if we just slipped them over? They couldn't do that. 545 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,640 Speaker 1: They went and let's go get some ice cream. Or 546 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 1: the steak through the heart that didn't arise because they 547 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,560 Speaker 1: thought the steak had some magical powers. But they thought 548 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,440 Speaker 1: they would literally just stake them into the ground so 549 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 1: they couldn't get up. That's another thing too. So you 550 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,360 Speaker 1: know the steak through the heart with the vaan pire, 551 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,000 Speaker 1: you think that that's trying to kill the vampire. That 552 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:05,880 Speaker 1: is not what they were trying to do. But the 553 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:09,680 Speaker 1: larger thought here is that our understanding of staking a 554 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,759 Speaker 1: vampire through the heart comes from people who actually did 555 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,879 Speaker 1: this because they were trying to battle tuberculosis. That's so 556 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:19,600 Speaker 1: amazing to me. It's a confluence of all these weird 557 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:22,480 Speaker 1: things really that led to this, but but in all 558 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: of it has been refined into this neat, tidy vampire legend. 559 00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 1: This this is the compartment and fits in vampire legend 560 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: to those of us alive today. But it's got this 561 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:35,160 Speaker 1: amazing history and backstory, some of which happened in real life. 562 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:40,239 Speaker 1: This reminds me of the real life zombies too. Yeah, exactly. 563 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:45,920 Speaker 1: Good point, like this weird religious hysteria combined with um 564 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:47,880 Speaker 1: what they didn't understand at the time was kind of 565 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:52,279 Speaker 1: medicine and science. This weird pre science era, so fascinating 566 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,840 Speaker 1: to me. Y're not pre science, but I guess it 567 00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:00,440 Speaker 1: was pre real science, rudimentary science. Um. So. In the 568 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:05,279 Speaker 1: Connecticut Rhode Island, Vermont, in that region, the go to 569 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,840 Speaker 1: was to burn the heart, take the ash from the 570 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:12,760 Speaker 1: heart and ingest it to give it to someone who 571 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:14,440 Speaker 1: may be sick in the family or may even be 572 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: healthy trying to ward off sickness, and they would actually 573 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:20,839 Speaker 1: eat that. So that was one way of dealing with it. Yeah, 574 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,120 Speaker 1: that's There's a quote here from Woodstock, Vermont, when Daniel 575 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:27,440 Speaker 1: Ransom in his journal it was said that if the 576 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:29,879 Speaker 1: heart of one of the family who died of consumption 577 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: was taken out and burned, others would be free from it. 578 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: And father, having some faith in the remedy, had the 579 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:39,280 Speaker 1: heart of Frederick taken out after he had been buried 580 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:43,640 Speaker 1: and it was burned and Captain Pearson's blacksmith forge. Um, 581 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,000 Speaker 1: here's the thing, though it did not ever save anyone 582 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,000 Speaker 1: from tubercules. No, that's the thing. And I was wondering, like, 583 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: what is what was the superstition? How did the superstition 584 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:58,279 Speaker 1: explain a failure to cure I don't know, you know 585 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,040 Speaker 1: where they just like, we waited too long. I bet 586 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:02,719 Speaker 1: you they did that that had to be. They would 587 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:05,120 Speaker 1: just have some explanation that we didn't do it right. 588 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:08,279 Speaker 1: Maybe they would try another method, not burning the heart, 589 00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:13,680 Speaker 1: like the Jolly the jb They think that the reason 590 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:16,560 Speaker 1: they did that weird jolly Roger thing was because it 591 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 1: was so decomposed. They were just bones, so they I 592 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:22,319 Speaker 1: guess they just improvised, like why don't we just do this? 593 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:25,000 Speaker 1: Well that that apparently finds its root in Europe. In 594 00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:27,040 Speaker 1: some places in Europe that was the way to deal 595 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,680 Speaker 1: with the vampire was to cut its head off. Other places, um, 596 00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:33,640 Speaker 1: they would stick a brick in the vampire's mouth. Some 597 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:37,440 Speaker 1: places they would bind them with thorns. In Europe, and 598 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:39,719 Speaker 1: that that's another thing that kind of fascinates me about 599 00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:43,280 Speaker 1: this whole thing chuck. Is that at some point somewhere, 600 00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:47,840 Speaker 1: maybe in Europe, maybe in Asia, maybe in Africa, somebody 601 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:51,479 Speaker 1: came up with this idea of vampires of relatives coming 602 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 1: back from the grave and sucking the life out of um, 603 00:36:55,320 --> 00:37:00,200 Speaker 1: their their friends, family members, villagers. And that person had 604 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:03,399 Speaker 1: this idea that spread and it made it centuries later 605 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:09,239 Speaker 1: to New England, where it led to the desecration of 606 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:14,720 Speaker 1: the graves family members, including one that was discovered another 607 00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,239 Speaker 1: couple of centuries later by some kids playing in a 608 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:20,960 Speaker 1: gravel pit. That's led to us talking about this today. 609 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:23,480 Speaker 1: If if that doesn't make history interesting, I don't know 610 00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:26,000 Speaker 1: what does. Yes, some kids running around listening to the 611 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: Pixies finds a mountain of skulls st band the Pixies 612 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:34,360 Speaker 1: are top nuts. It's great. Um. Should we finish with 613 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 1: the story of Mercy Brown? All right? So Mercy Brown 614 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:41,200 Speaker 1: lived in Exeter, Rhode Island. This was a farming, farming 615 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,360 Speaker 1: land and by all accounts, by the time she was around, 616 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,439 Speaker 1: it had the town had definitely seen its better days 617 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 1: thanks to the Civil War, um kind of decimating the town. Yeah, 618 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:59,360 Speaker 1: that's a good fact to it. The town is actually 619 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:02,880 Speaker 1: kind of metaphor for vampireism itself like it had lost 620 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 1: its own life force in a lot of ways. It 621 00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:08,359 Speaker 1: dropped by like two thirds and seven the seventy years 622 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:12,239 Speaker 1: before Mercy Brown died. The population did it was. It 623 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:15,359 Speaker 1: was not a good scene for this, the people who 624 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:18,760 Speaker 1: were left behind. Plus they had tuberculosis running around town 625 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: right and certainly through her house. Um, her mother died, 626 00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:27,719 Speaker 1: Her sister, Mary Eliza died. Oh no, that was her mom. Sorry, 627 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:32,399 Speaker 1: Mary Olive was her sister. It's a great name, Mary Olive, agreed. Um, 628 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:37,439 Speaker 1: she was twenty and Mary Olive. That is a good name. 629 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:39,439 Speaker 1: And I think some of those names are coming back, 630 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:44,839 Speaker 1: the classic names. Yeah, little house from the prairie trend. Well, 631 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,600 Speaker 1: I know I know one person who named their daughter 632 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:50,080 Speaker 1: Olive recently, and I thought that was a pretty sweet name. Yeah, 633 00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:52,320 Speaker 1: you should have You should have been like Mary Olive 634 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:56,480 Speaker 1: would have been better. I was listening to a my 635 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:58,960 Speaker 1: favorite murder the other day and they were laughing at 636 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 1: funny Aimes that it's just you can't imagine a baby 637 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,919 Speaker 1: being called like Barbara, and they listened out a few 638 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,120 Speaker 1: other ones, like it comes out with like a clunky 639 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:15,120 Speaker 1: jewelry and a cigarette, exactly, sweet little baby Barbara. Um 640 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:20,399 Speaker 1: So anyway, Mary Olive goes Mary Eliza goes the brother. Uh. 641 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: And this is where it gets a little weird because 642 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,120 Speaker 1: I saw like eight different accounts of this, and they 643 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:29,640 Speaker 1: all had different timelines of death and sickness, whether or 644 00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:34,200 Speaker 1: not Mercy died and then Edwin got sick or not. 645 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,640 Speaker 1: But at any rate, brother Edwin is sick. Mercy eventually 646 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:42,040 Speaker 1: dies of TB and the town says, we gotta do 647 00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:44,640 Speaker 1: something here. Yeah, they went to the dead George Brown 648 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,320 Speaker 1: and said, man, you've got a problem on your hands. 649 00:39:47,719 --> 00:39:49,239 Speaker 1: And if you think about it, so all this took 650 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:51,719 Speaker 1: place over like a decade, which you're like, that's a 651 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,040 Speaker 1: long time. I would think the end of the nineteenth century. 652 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:58,200 Speaker 1: That's a pretty average mortality rate for a family. Apparently not, 653 00:39:58,560 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: but they were kids, you know, they were in their 654 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,719 Speaker 1: early twenties. Well. Also he lost his wife as well. 655 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 1: So over the over the course of a decade, this 656 00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:09,680 Speaker 1: family of five went down to basically a family of 657 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:12,799 Speaker 1: one in a quarter depending on whatever you want to 658 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:17,080 Speaker 1: count Edwin as he's dying, right, So George Brown was like, 659 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,280 Speaker 1: you're probably right, we should do something. Later on, it 660 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,680 Speaker 1: was revealed that he didn't believe in this at all. 661 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:27,760 Speaker 1: That he basically agreed to this because the neighbors wouldn't 662 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:30,040 Speaker 1: leave him alone about it. And the neighbors aren't doing 663 00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:32,840 Speaker 1: this just out of complete selflessness. There was this idea 664 00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:36,759 Speaker 1: that once this vampire um finished with the family, they 665 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,000 Speaker 1: would move on to another family. So if you lived 666 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,719 Speaker 1: in a small village, you had a real problem with 667 00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:44,640 Speaker 1: this vampire being allowed to go on, and you would 668 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:47,800 Speaker 1: bother your neighbor to dig up their family member until 669 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,640 Speaker 1: they relented. And that's what happened with George Brown. Yeah, 670 00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:52,279 Speaker 1: I mean the writing was on the wall certainly with 671 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:56,160 Speaker 1: Edwin as far as the neighbors are concerned. Like he said, 672 00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:59,040 Speaker 1: he's like, fine, do what you gotta do. He did 673 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:02,239 Speaker 1: said I want to die her there, which is amazing 674 00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:05,719 Speaker 1: that doctors would actually preside over an exhimation. I think 675 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:07,800 Speaker 1: that doctor was trying to be the voice of reason 676 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:13,400 Speaker 1: throughout this process, even cutting open Mercy's chest and removing 677 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:17,320 Speaker 1: her heart and then her dominating removing her liver. He's 678 00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:22,080 Speaker 1: pointing out is this Abigail Tucker article says, um, look 679 00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:26,760 Speaker 1: this is evidence of tuberculosis. Yeah, like, shut up, college boy, 680 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,400 Speaker 1: give me that heart. Yeah, that's what happened. I got 681 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,360 Speaker 1: a hot fire burning and that's exactly what happened. Like 682 00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:36,000 Speaker 1: you said, um, they burn this heart. They mix the 683 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:40,120 Speaker 1: ashes into a tonic. Edwin drank it thinking that they 684 00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,760 Speaker 1: would save him. And what he lived a couple of months, 685 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:49,560 Speaker 1: maybe not even because he had tuberculosis. Cutting open the 686 00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:52,160 Speaker 1: chest of a dead relative and burning their heart and 687 00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:56,640 Speaker 1: liver does nothing to cure tuberculosis. The sister. Yeah, this sister, 688 00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,160 Speaker 1: which is it's it's really sad, but at the same time, 689 00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:00,759 Speaker 1: it kind of gives you a pick. Sure, George Brown 690 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,640 Speaker 1: he doesn't believe in like all this vampire superstition. He 691 00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:08,720 Speaker 1: apparently also is cool with the desecration of a grave. 692 00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:12,400 Speaker 1: He's not a very sentimental guy. He's the impression that 693 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:14,560 Speaker 1: I have of him, you know, he's like, yeah, go 694 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:16,840 Speaker 1: cut her open, that's fine, Just stop bothering me. Just 695 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:20,399 Speaker 1: make sure that my my doctor friend Ted is there 696 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,120 Speaker 1: to point out how stupid all of this is. Yeah, 697 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 1: because he they sent Edwin away, I think to try 698 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:29,120 Speaker 1: and get well. And I don't know if George was there, 699 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:32,719 Speaker 1: but he definitely wasn't at that the exhimation. No, there 700 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:37,200 Speaker 1: was a guy there from Providence newspaper. Here's our other 701 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:41,800 Speaker 1: m Night Shamalan twist. He wrote an article that basically 702 00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:43,839 Speaker 1: told the world about this, and it got picked up, 703 00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:45,880 Speaker 1: and it got picked up by a number of papers, 704 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:50,239 Speaker 1: including the New York World, and in the New York 705 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:55,759 Speaker 1: World reported on the vampire exhamation of Mercy Brown. And 706 00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:58,960 Speaker 1: a clipping of that article was found in the papers 707 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:03,640 Speaker 1: of a certain person. How cool was it, That's right, 708 00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:08,600 Speaker 1: the author of Dracula. Yeah. So scholars have said this 709 00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:12,719 Speaker 1: all came too soon before Dracula was published. It he 710 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:15,800 Speaker 1: was probably working on it already, or he was working already. 711 00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:18,440 Speaker 1: It didn't influence it at all. Some people say, no, 712 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,440 Speaker 1: he definitely did. He was influenced by this vampire panic 713 00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:26,920 Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah. And Manky's Laura episode on Mercy Brown, 714 00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:30,279 Speaker 1: because he's just a great storyteller. He ended it just 715 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:32,520 Speaker 1: by saying, you know, I think the last words of 716 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,480 Speaker 1: the show are Bram Stoker. Oh he didn't say, you know, 717 00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:38,640 Speaker 1: maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. Okay, you ready, So 718 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:43,399 Speaker 1: hold on, let's we're gonna do this lower style. So 719 00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:49,080 Speaker 1: chuck of newspaper clipping of Mercy Brown's exhamation was found 720 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:55,880 Speaker 1: in the papers of bram Stoker. Did we have classical 721 00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,680 Speaker 1: music going? But I hope so. Jerry all right okay? 722 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:02,359 Speaker 1: And he also didn't have met giggling in the background. Uh. 723 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:05,279 Speaker 1: If you want to know more about lore, we'll go 724 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:07,720 Speaker 1: check out that podcast and look for more good stuff 725 00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:11,200 Speaker 1: coming soon from Aaron Monkey, who's now our coworker, which 726 00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:13,440 Speaker 1: means we have to buy him a Christmas present and 727 00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:16,480 Speaker 1: I know um. And in the meantime, while we're figuring 728 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,839 Speaker 1: out what to get Aaron Monkey, it's time for listener. Now, 729 00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:31,680 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with this one. Venezuelan living in Chile. 730 00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:34,560 Speaker 1: Hey guys, a new fan of the podcast started with 731 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:37,880 Speaker 1: the Seven Wonders, So that's super new and I was 732 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:41,160 Speaker 1: hooked since then. Uh, and now listen to the new 733 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:43,520 Speaker 1: ones and go back in time to two thousand nine ones. 734 00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:46,960 Speaker 1: I want to go through all that sounds like they're sandwich. 735 00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:50,680 Speaker 1: Maybe I'm from Venezuela living in Chile, And I want 736 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 1: to suggest one about identity. We as Venezuelans are going 737 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:57,480 Speaker 1: through a difficult time as the government is not issuing passports. 738 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,200 Speaker 1: As an immigrant, It's is super hard art. Basically, if 739 00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:03,600 Speaker 1: I want to travel, I can only go to the 740 00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:08,879 Speaker 1: UH more costur member countries because I could do so 741 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:12,560 Speaker 1: with the rut r U T, which is the Chilean 742 00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:15,720 Speaker 1: I D card, and I'm I'm a lucky case since 743 00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:19,160 Speaker 1: I have friends that while asking for Chilean visa, the 744 00:45:19,239 --> 00:45:22,680 Speaker 1: Venezuelan passport expired, and now they don't have either Chilean 745 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:25,840 Speaker 1: or Venezuelan documents. I feel like an orphan if my 746 00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:29,160 Speaker 1: home country does not want to give me I D documents, 747 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:33,200 Speaker 1: and as a resident, Chile can't either only if I 748 00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:37,360 Speaker 1: apply to nationalization, and it will have to wait a 749 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:39,520 Speaker 1: few years until I can do that. She sounds like 750 00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:43,319 Speaker 1: Tom Hanks in the Terminal basically, but in Chile UH 751 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:45,319 Speaker 1: and I have no one to claim. I just want 752 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:47,960 Speaker 1: to put the word out about our situation. The Venezuelan 753 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:51,080 Speaker 1: government pretends that everything is okay when it's not. My 754 00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:54,040 Speaker 1: family is broken across the world that I'm incapable to 755 00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:56,320 Speaker 1: go see them and they can't come to me. It 756 00:45:56,440 --> 00:45:59,440 Speaker 1: is a painful situation. Keep up with good work, guys. 757 00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:02,000 Speaker 1: Thanks to you, I have new topics to discuss with 758 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:05,160 Speaker 1: my friends. They were particularly interested in how frogs work. 759 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:08,360 Speaker 1: Sorry for the broken English. I'm still working on my grammar. 760 00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:11,520 Speaker 1: I think you did great. Agreed. PS. I will love 761 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:15,399 Speaker 1: to hear a shout out hearts hearts that is emmanuela 762 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:20,560 Speaker 1: guia shout out Emmanuel hang in there. Yeah, that's really 763 00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:22,800 Speaker 1: sad to hear, and you're doing great with your English. 764 00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:26,880 Speaker 1: We are very sad to hear about that situation. Um. 765 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:28,160 Speaker 1: If you want to get in touch with us and 766 00:46:28,239 --> 00:46:30,720 Speaker 1: let us know about something going on in your country 767 00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:33,359 Speaker 1: that we weren't aware of, uh, we want to hear 768 00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,799 Speaker 1: about it, you can tweet to us at josh um 769 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:39,279 Speaker 1: Clark or s Y s K podcast. I also have 770 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:42,240 Speaker 1: a website called Are You Serious Clark dot com. Chuck 771 00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:45,440 Speaker 1: is on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Charles W. 772 00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,920 Speaker 1: Chuck Bryant. He's also at Facebook dot com slash stuff 773 00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:51,000 Speaker 1: you Should Know. You can send us an email to 774 00:46:51,040 --> 00:46:53,480 Speaker 1: Stuff podcast at how stuff Works dot com and it's 775 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:55,560 Speaker 1: always joined us at at home on the web, Stuff 776 00:46:55,560 --> 00:47:02,360 Speaker 1: you Should Know dot com. For more on thiss and 777 00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:15,680 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, visit how Stuff Works dot com. 778 00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:11,640 Speaker 1: M