1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: Hey there everyone, it's your old pal Josh and for 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: this week's s Y s K Selects, I chose How 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,440 Speaker 1: the Black Death Worked. It's a look at a fascinating 4 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: few years when a mystery disease we still don't know 5 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: what it was swept across Europe and Asia and killed 6 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:22,799 Speaker 1: a significant portion of the world. Check it out and enjoy. 7 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 9 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,519 Speaker 1: I'm Josh Clark with me as always as Charles W. 10 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:40,599 Speaker 1: Chuck Bryant, and that makes this stuff you should know 11 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: the podcast, the audio podcast nothing more? Got it? Not 12 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 1: a lot less then? Uh, comparably sized podcasts. No, No, 13 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: this is chock full of good stuff. This one's gonna 14 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: be a man do you think so? Oh? Yeah, I 15 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: liked it. You like this one? Yeah? I like some 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: of the historical stuff we did. Man, I love it, 17 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: you know, as a history major at one point, love 18 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: of history, Yeah, Chuck. Yes, So we're talking about the 19 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:11,759 Speaker 1: Black Death, Yeah right, not Black Sabbath like death. Well, 20 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: I'm gonna need some more time, okay, so we'll wait, 21 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: hold on, all right, I'm back, Okay, Yes, Okay, you 22 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:22,479 Speaker 1: understand now what we're talking about, great chuck um. I 23 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: was researching this to find out like, okay, what's newsy 24 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: about the Black Death? Like, how am I going to 25 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: find an intro? I actually found one, really, Yeah, it's 26 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: it's from two thousand six February two thousand and six. Sorry, 27 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: but there was a study that came out of you 28 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: tricked university. Have you ever heard of the Little Ice Age? 29 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: Uh No, there was a period in um world history, 30 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: global history. I think it may have been kind of 31 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: localized to Europe. So let's say European history in about 32 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: the fifteen hundreds where there was this in explicable period 33 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: of cold. Interesting, right, it's called the Little Ice Age, 34 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: harmful cold. It got cold, like our our conception of 35 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: like why you know, Vikings wear pelts and everything, they're 36 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: always walking around it's very cold, not just because they 37 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:22,360 Speaker 1: live in Scandinavia, but because it was cold. Then okay, 38 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: so this Little Ice Age, like I said, inexplicable. No 39 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: one had any idea why it happened. And these you 40 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: trecked researchers got that got ahold of some tree sample, 41 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: some leaf samples from eras before the Little Ice age 42 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: and after, and they started counting stomas. These are the 43 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: pores on the leaves. The more stonage you have, the 44 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: more carbon dioxide there is in the air. Leaves developed 45 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: these stomas, they can absorb more c O two, right, 46 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: so if so facto, the more stonage you have, the 47 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: more c O two in the atmosphere. And what they 48 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: found by counting these stone Alma's was that there was 49 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: a lot of c O two prior to the thirteen 50 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: forties in Europe. That means that there's not that much 51 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: c O two. You know that there was a lot 52 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,359 Speaker 1: of c O two in the air in the atmosphere. 53 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: One reason there's a lot of c O two is 54 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: because there's not a lot of trees to soak that 55 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: c O two up. One reason there's not a lot 56 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: of trees is because humans are cutting down the trees 57 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: to farm land, right or just stay warm. There's there's 58 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: fewer trees deforestation brought on by human activity. Okay, So 59 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: what they find then is that after fifty roughly, there's 60 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: suddenly fewer stomas, which means that there's less c O 61 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: two in there, which means that there's more trees. Do 62 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: you know, eitherre are more trees, do you. I have 63 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: a pretty good guess it's because in between that time, 64 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: the thirteen forties and the thirteen fifties, the Black Death 65 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: happened and so many people die that it had a 66 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: measurable effect on the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because 67 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: of not that many trees, and then suddenly lots of 68 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: trees because there was no one to tend this farmland 69 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: in the interesting you know what else. This was a 70 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: tidbit from the end, but we might as well say 71 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: it here. They think that there is a lack of 72 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: genetic diversity in the UK today because of the Black Death. 73 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,679 Speaker 1: They were much more genetically diverse than the eleventh century. 74 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: It represented what's called the population Bottlenecke. Million people died, 75 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: about a third of the population of Europe, which is 76 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: mind boggling. Yeah, it is all right, let's do it. Well. 77 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:41,280 Speaker 1: I was reading this one his story in his name 78 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: is Skip Knox, and I don't know where he is now. 79 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: But when he wrote that it was at the university, 80 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: you know, Boise State, and he said, um abroncos he 81 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:53,599 Speaker 1: goes it's uh, it's worth saying this has never happened 82 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: before or since death was an event like this where 83 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: within about to three years million people died. That's never 84 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: happened before. I mean, no war can account for that. Yeah, 85 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: no other pandemic. Yeah, it's this. This was it. This 86 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: was as bad as it gets, and it was bad 87 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: so big that it was bad. And it was bad 88 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: not just because of the ultimate devastation, but it was 89 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: bad because of how gnarly the Black Death is. Yeah, 90 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: why don't you wanted to talk about some symptoms? All right? 91 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,159 Speaker 1: If you had the Black Death, this is what you 92 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: had to look forward to. First of all, you had 93 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: no idea what was happening to you. Neither did your doctor, 94 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: neither did your local cardinal or bishop. And you know, 95 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,479 Speaker 1: they didn't know a lot back then, but they had 96 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: their like cock eye theories. At least they didn't even 97 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: have cock eye theories on this. They had a cock 98 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: eyed theory that everybody went along with. They developed something. 99 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:51,039 Speaker 1: But initially they're like, I don't know what this is. 100 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: But you have these big tumor lumps, you got them 101 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: on your body, you got black spots. Well to tell 102 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: them about the tumors somewhere small, but they could get 103 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: pretty big. Yeah, some as big as an apple, And 104 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:06,720 Speaker 1: they said in the article here that if you had 105 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: one on your neck, it could permanently, like cut your 106 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: head to one side, permanently, meaning like the five days 107 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: you had left. I know, I hope it's okay to 108 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:20,720 Speaker 1: laugh a little bit this now. And you surely know. Um, 109 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: you had pus using out of sores, open sores. You 110 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:30,159 Speaker 1: had a nasty smell because you were rotting from the 111 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: inside out. Your breath was awful, it was gruesome, purple splotches. 112 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: God's tokens, right, Yeah, they call them God's tokens, because 113 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: once you got these, that means God's going to take 114 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: you off the earth pretty soon. That's God's token. Fevers 115 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: that could fry your brain, send you into delirium, vomiting, 116 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: coughing up blood, blood, and puss using. I've already said 117 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: it's worth twice. So, um, those are some of the symptoms. 118 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: And once you start having the simp ums, you are 119 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: pretty much done for within a matter of days. Right. 120 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: And so in our modern day it takes a little 121 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: while to bury somebody, even with this machinery that we 122 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: used to to dig modern graves. Um. But back then 123 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: it took even longer to dig a grave to hold 124 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: the service to bury somebody. And when people die within 125 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: days and suddenly there was like a third of the 126 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: population dying off. There was no time to bury anybody, 127 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: no space even there's literally stacking up dogs eating corpses. 128 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: It saysn't here children hungry babies beside their dead mothers. Yeah, 129 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: Molly edmans. Really when I wrote this, man, um, Yes, 130 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: but that's the truth. I mean, that was crazy. That 131 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: was the raw truth. That was an ugly, ugly, ugly scene. 132 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: And of course anyone who see Monty Python knows that 133 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: there are people who operated carts that banged on land pots. 134 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: Since I bring out your dead, why s k, Well, 135 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: we'll get into the flinging. Of course is too well, 136 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: let's get into the flinging, because that's kind of how 137 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: it started. Um. And first I want to point out 138 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: the Black Death, you know, gripped Europe. It did not 139 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: only impact Europe. It's so funny, it's so eurocentric the 140 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: way we approached the Black Death. It started in the 141 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:42,199 Speaker 1: Gobi Desert sometime in the late thirteen twenties in China. 142 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: China lost thirty five million people in the fourteenth century 143 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: from the Black Death. No one ever mentioned. They always 144 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: hear about the Europe the Black Death in Europe, so 145 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: it was localized, and it was actually in in Asia 146 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: and Central Asia um for a decade or two um. 147 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: But they blame it pretty squarely on the Genoese for 148 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: bringing it to Europe, right, yes, how did the Genoese 149 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: get it? Well? In thirty seven in Kafa, which is 150 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: modern day Ukraine, it was a Genoese trading post. They 151 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: were attacked by the Tartar army. Uh, Tartars start to 152 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: die off by the plague, and the Genoese are like, sweet, 153 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: God is punishing our enemies and they're dying, Let's have 154 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,200 Speaker 1: a big party and celebrate. And then the Tartars are like, well, 155 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: we're gonna start flinging our dead corpses over the wall 156 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:33,839 Speaker 1: at you because the smell is so awful. You will 157 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,440 Speaker 1: die from the smell. There. It was a stupid idea, 158 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: but stupid idea but at work because they actually what 159 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:42,439 Speaker 1: they were doing. What they were doing was germ warfare, 160 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: very early germ warfare. Right. They had it wrong though 161 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: they thought it was a smell. Actually it was this pestilence. 162 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: And so the Genoese, you know, said oh, we need 163 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 1: to get rid of these nasty bodies, but it was 164 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 1: too late. They were infected. By that point. The Genoese 165 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: fled to Sicily and then from there it took two 166 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: pass one. Uh where was the first one? The well? 167 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,080 Speaker 1: The first one went up through um Austria and Germany, 168 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: and then the second path went through um Italy to 169 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: France to the UK. Yes, at a speed which doesn't 170 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,080 Speaker 1: sound fast, but it really is. If you're talking about 171 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: black death, about two and a half miles a day. 172 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,040 Speaker 1: And not only is it fast, like even by today's standards, 173 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: this is before This is when people were riding horses 174 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:31,320 Speaker 1: and carts and the two real it's lightning fastest toll. 175 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 1: It trained fast for that time. Yeah, yeah, Why is 176 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 1: it called the black death? Actually? Do you know this? 177 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: I do, so there's a there's a mistranslation. At some point, 178 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: well back in the day, people called that the big 179 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 1: death or the great mortality, the big death, that's bad. 180 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: That's what they called it as it as it was happening, 181 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: right and then um later on it came to be 182 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: known as the um ultra morse, which is Latin for 183 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:03,400 Speaker 1: terrible death or black death. At some point in time, 184 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: somebody decided that they liked the Black Death better. Uh. 185 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: In sometime in the eighteenth century when they were using 186 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 1: it to differentiate the um plague of London in sixteen 187 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 1: sixty five, but they mistranslated. It wasn't originally called the 188 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 1: Black Death or the um Terrible Death. It was called 189 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: the Big Death. And then it just kind of went 190 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: from there all right. Well, at the time, King Philip 191 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: the sixth of France turned it over to the Paris 192 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:37,280 Speaker 1: College of Physicians, who were they were like the Mayo 193 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 1: Clinic of the time, and they said, here, we need 194 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: to figure out what this is. What is it? Smartest 195 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: doctors in the world, and they says, we know, we 196 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: figured it out. It's all here on the report. This 197 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: is uh. This happened when Saturn and Jupiter and Mars 198 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: lined up in Aquarius, and Jupiter's roll wet and hot 199 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:57,680 Speaker 1: and it soaked up the evil vapors from the earth 200 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: and Mars is dry, so it exploded those purse and 201 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 1: now it is a fog of death. And they very 202 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: smugly pinpointed the time that it happened, one pm on 203 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:13,320 Speaker 1: March and they just shook their heads like but they 204 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 1: did say it was a fog of death. My guess 205 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: is that it was probably pretty foggy for some reason, 206 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: some weather system happened, or they were onto something like 207 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: it was being transmitted through the air somehow, which you know, 208 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: they might have been actually onto something there with an 209 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:34,440 Speaker 1: airborne pathogen possibly, but instead they went with the fog 210 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: of death from the planet's aligning. And another term for 211 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:39,559 Speaker 1: a fog of death is a miasthma. It's a corrupted 212 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:46,520 Speaker 1: bit of air. And this is what Europe went with, right, Yeah, like, okay, well, 213 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:48,719 Speaker 1: these are the smartest guys as far as medicine goes. 214 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 1: They have the longest crow'sbeak masks of anybody, um, and 215 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: we're gonna go with this fog of death thing, So 216 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: how do we combat it? And what they figured out was, well, 217 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,720 Speaker 1: since you're breathing this fall, you gotta keep the fog 218 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: at bay, and one good way to do that is 219 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:08,960 Speaker 1: to fight fog with fire smoke. So there were fires everywhere. Yeah, 220 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: they were recommended to burn um aromatic woods, so people 221 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: would and people even carry this stuff around rosemary, amber 222 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: and musk. The Pope even stood between two fires when 223 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: he addressed people. Yeah, they kept him burning on street corners. Um. 224 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: And then there were the fact that it was coming 225 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: from the south and it was a fog of death. 226 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: They started putting glass in their southern windows so that 227 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,320 Speaker 1: the southern wing couldn't penetrate it. See that kind of 228 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: smart there it is. They weren't all hokey. Now, some 229 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: that seemed kind of smart. What didn't seem very smart 230 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: was don't bathe don't have physical intimacy, although it's a 231 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 1: good way to spread disease, so maybe they're onto something there. Um, 232 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: don't sleep during the daytime. They had nothing to do 233 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 1: with spreading it. They're like, just don't be lazy, avoid 234 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,760 Speaker 1: sad thoughts about disease. It's something to that if you 235 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:06,600 Speaker 1: believe in the mind, uh, if you believe in positive 236 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: psychology exactly. So some of the little hokey there was 237 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: a little substance to a bit of it. Um. I 238 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 1: have a little cocktail tidbit for you, though, so awesome. 239 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,320 Speaker 1: I don't know. The word quarantine actually comes from the 240 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:24,680 Speaker 1: Black Death in Venice, Italy. They were pretty smart and 241 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: they said, you know what, we should start isolating some 242 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: of these ships of people that are coming in, not 243 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 1: let them come on land until we know that no 244 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: one on board is is sick. So let's do this 245 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 1: for like thirty days. And then they went, now that's 246 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: not long enough. It's just do it for forty days. 247 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: Forty days or quawan quaranti giane quarantine. That's where the 248 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: word came from. Well it's not as much of a 249 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: stretch of somebody besides, Chuck is pronouncing it. But yes, 250 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,600 Speaker 1: that is where quarantine. You look at it, it looks 251 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: like the word quarantine. Yeah, so that's pretty smart too. 252 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: There are some smart people. Still, six of the population 253 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: of this died within I think eighteen months. Yeah, so 254 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 1: the quarantine, while practical and useful, you know, didn't protect everybody. Yeah, 255 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: and you know, we don't know what the doctors were 256 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: doing that much because all we have here is just 257 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: recorded documents of what was going on. Well there there 258 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 1: there wasn't even documentation. It was popular writers, church writers. 259 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: It wasn't like science journals. I mean, not a lot 260 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: of people knew how to read and write during this time. 261 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 1: And the ones who did normally were affiliated with the church, 262 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: so they would have had a very religious view of 263 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: what was going on. Right, Um, they're probably blood letting there. Yeah, 264 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: the like the physicians that were working the crow's mass 265 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 1: guys um were uh blood letting. They were um opening 266 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 1: up these bu bos, which is it's almost like a 267 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 1: textual representation of a pussy boo. They would open these 268 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:57,320 Speaker 1: and drain them because that made sense to get rid 269 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: of whatever is in there, I guess, very small. Yeah, Um, 270 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 1: we still do that today, Poppins. It's yeah every Tuesday. Uh. 271 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: Religion comes into play pretty heavily there because a lot 272 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: of people said, you know, let's let's turn to God 273 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: and pray for help. Well, a lot of people thought 274 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: that this was punishment from God. Oh yeah, the flagellents, 275 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: so only he could do anything about it or she 276 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: depending in New York and um, so yes, the flagellents, 277 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: chuck take it with the fligillents of Germany. Yeah, the 278 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 1: brotherhood of the flood Flagellents had our vigilance. Flagelence had 279 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: already been around, not flagilens though, no very big difference. Uh, 280 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: they're already around. But they rose up, like you said, 281 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,640 Speaker 1: in Germany in the in the mid thirteen forties, and 282 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: they thought it was punishment from God. And they thought, 283 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: you know what, we're gonna do something about it. So 284 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: you've heard of self flagellation, that's where it comes from. 285 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 1: They would walk barefoot across Europe whipping themselves with their 286 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:56,520 Speaker 1: little whatever cat of nine tails. Uh scourges, scourges like 287 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: what have you that had like sharp kind of barbed 288 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: and uh. It didn't work though, and a lot of 289 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:06,800 Speaker 1: people turned against God because of that. They also killed 290 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: a lot of Jews. The flagellents did a flagelence. Yeah, 291 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,480 Speaker 1: they killed Jews. They would kill clergy that opposed them, 292 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: except for the Pope. And the Pope was like, you're 293 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: officially denounced, and I think thirteen forty nine and that 294 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,920 Speaker 1: was it for the flagelence, although they popped up again 295 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: in later um plugues and pestilences, but they stopped for 296 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: the black death like immediately when they denounced them. Well, 297 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 1: they killed Jews because there was a pretty bad rumor 298 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: going around that the Jews had, uh, we're poisoning the 299 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: water supply. And because at the time Christians and Jews 300 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,040 Speaker 1: lived separately, largely, a lot of Jewish Jewish communities were 301 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:51,639 Speaker 1: effectively quarantined so they didn't get hit as hard. So 302 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:54,760 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Jews are I don't know prosperings 303 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 1: the right word, but they're not dying like the Christians are. 304 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: So so the Christians started burns. He started burning them alive. 305 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: Apparently in Strasbourg, the Germany was more Jews died in 306 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 1: Germany than anywhere else. Um at the hands of Christians 307 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:15,399 Speaker 1: who were upset about the plague um and in Strasburg 308 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:20,880 Speaker 1: in uh, let's see um, I think thirty eight on 309 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,879 Speaker 1: one day, two d Jews were burned alive at the stake, 310 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: just that one city, on that one day. And apparently 311 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,199 Speaker 1: entire communities used to be walled up and set on 312 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: fire with everybody, or Jews would convert to Christianity on 313 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 1: the spot, or they would set their own houses on fire, 314 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:39,640 Speaker 1: which is kind of sensible, like, oh, look, my house 315 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: is already on fire. Better, I should probably take off, 316 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 1: keep on walking, see you guys later. Well, a lot 317 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,240 Speaker 1: of Jews fled to the countryside, didn't they too, because 318 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: they were able to Yeah, good for them, is what 319 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:51,880 Speaker 1: I said. Well, I don't think it was just Jews. 320 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: I think anybody who had the means of going to 321 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:57,520 Speaker 1: the countryside, which is crazy because I mean, like going 322 00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,879 Speaker 1: to the countryside means like stepping out your back to 323 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,160 Speaker 1: where I thought in like the fourteenth century. Yeah, but 324 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,439 Speaker 1: apparently there were still the wealthy went out to the 325 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,400 Speaker 1: country once in a while and they would Yeah that's 326 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: why SKO. So it was needless to say it was 327 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,640 Speaker 1: a really rough few years for europe um and by 328 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:40,679 Speaker 1: thirteen fifty two it was largely gone. Yeah, it just 329 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:43,479 Speaker 1: took off. But what I mean there was It's not 330 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: like all right, black desk on, everything's cool now. They 331 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: were like huge, huge effects. Apparently the um self flagellation worked, right, Yeah, 332 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: sure that's what it was. Well, yeah, you have to 333 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,760 Speaker 1: imagine if a third right, so that means that between you, 334 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: me and Jerry, one of us dies, but it clearly 335 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 1: be me. It's not necessarily true. I'd set myself on fire. Um, okay, 336 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:12,800 Speaker 1: so then two of us would have died, right, Um, 337 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,880 Speaker 1: I mean a third a third of of this this 338 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: population within like seriously, like two years, is just gone. 339 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,560 Speaker 1: People are um being eaten by dogs or corpses are 340 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,399 Speaker 1: being eaten by dogs in the streets. Families are just 341 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:33,160 Speaker 1: completely abandoning one another once they get sick. The whole 342 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,120 Speaker 1: um social psyche, the collective psyche of Europe just kind 343 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:39,360 Speaker 1: of crumble a little bit. It took a pretty big ding, 344 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 1: and one of the places it took that ding was 345 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,879 Speaker 1: in religion. A lot of heretical society sprung up because 346 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: it was like, either this was your work, God, or 347 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: you didn't do anything to help us, so we're not 348 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,520 Speaker 1: coming to church anymore. Well yeah, Instead of being like 349 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:59,399 Speaker 1: really thankful that they survived, people uh partied like it 350 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,960 Speaker 1: was nineteen nine, basically big time crazy parties. Yeah, a 351 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:09,280 Speaker 1: lot of debauchery, lots of debauchery. Um uh. There was 352 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:12,479 Speaker 1: an economic impact to a huge one. Well yeah, if 353 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,160 Speaker 1: half your sorry, if a third of the workforce is gone, 354 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,719 Speaker 1: you've got no one working, So labor is gonna skyrocket. 355 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,080 Speaker 1: The price of labor is the price of labor is 356 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: cost of goods food, you know, the little silver lining. 357 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: Their food was in supply because there weren't as many 358 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:34,400 Speaker 1: people to eat it, exactly. Sadly. The other cool thing though, 359 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: is it's potentially we saw the birth of modern science 360 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 1: and medicine because of the Black Death. Because the leaders 361 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: we're like, you know, this whole planet's aligning thing was 362 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,040 Speaker 1: pretty stupid now that we look back at it, so 363 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: why don't we found some schools and do some real 364 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: research based on physical science and give that a whirl. 365 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: And then it started it it worked, which is some 366 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 1: kind of ironic as well, because is the population was 367 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,280 Speaker 1: so decimated that it even after they had this idea, 368 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:06,920 Speaker 1: they had to wait a little while to reopen schools 369 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: because they couldn't staff them. Oh yeah, um. And also, Chuck, 370 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: there were there was an almost complete loss of any 371 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: illusions about death and whether or not it's coming for you. Um. 372 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:23,600 Speaker 1: There's a whole allegory and art that um that sprang 373 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: up at the time called Dance macab which was the 374 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,640 Speaker 1: dance of Death, which is basically like you know, showing 375 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:34,360 Speaker 1: living people and skeletons, you know, working side by side 376 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:38,119 Speaker 1: or um, hanging out or partying together or whatever. And 377 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: the point of that is that you know, death can 378 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 1: come at any time and it's coming for everybody. So 379 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: art and poetry and things like that just took a 380 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: real downer turn there for a while because that was 381 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: clearly what everyone was thinking about at the time. That's right, Chuck, 382 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: Uh what caused it? See, this is where I get 383 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: a little, um a little confused, because there's conflicting information 384 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: even to this day. Well, it's um one of the 385 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:03,680 Speaker 1: things where we thought we figured it out. But uh, 386 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:09,439 Speaker 1: modern techniques and modern investigation have kind of led us 387 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: to think, as you like that, I have have led 388 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,440 Speaker 1: us to think that maybe that first idea hasn't wasn't right. Yeah, 389 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: the first idea came out of the third pandemic, which 390 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: was in eight in Hong Kong and India. Right um. 391 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:33,680 Speaker 1: And two bacteriologists, Alexander Yerson and uh Shibasaburo Kitasato, thanks um. 392 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,679 Speaker 1: They worked independently and isolated the cause of that third pandemic, 393 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 1: and it is what we know today as bubonic plague. 394 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 1: It's a bacterium called your Cina pestis um, named after 395 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: Alexander Jerson, right um, and it lives in the four 396 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:56,120 Speaker 1: gut of fleas, rodent fleas that feast on rats. Yeah, 397 00:23:56,119 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: this was interesting, I thought, because the fleat bites the 398 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 1: regular fleet um bites rat and drinks blood. And it's like, 399 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:09,959 Speaker 1: oh man, that was fantastic. Uh. If you're infected with 400 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,200 Speaker 1: the your sena, you're sending a pestis in your flee 401 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,639 Speaker 1: You bite the rodent and you eat the blood. But 402 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:18,480 Speaker 1: it gets stuck in your foregut, and so you never 403 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:22,440 Speaker 1: feel that quench of that tasty, tasty blood in your 404 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:24,879 Speaker 1: stomach if your flee. So you keep biting more and 405 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:27,880 Speaker 1: more rodents and infecting more and more rodes because you're, 406 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: like we talked about with the fleas, regurgitating it back 407 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,479 Speaker 1: onto rodents, and all of a sudden you're killing all 408 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:35,679 Speaker 1: these rodents and then when there are no more rodents 409 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:39,280 Speaker 1: and the fleas will go to people. And so they 410 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: thought that's how it was spread, which makes sense because 411 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:47,200 Speaker 1: it's not like um conditions were really sanitary in the 412 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: Middle Ages, or there were plenty of before the Middle Ages, 413 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 1: um the fourteenth century, right, yeah, um, yeah, there were 414 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:57,639 Speaker 1: plenty of rats, plenty of fleas um. The problem is 415 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 1: that there's a lot of discrepancy is between bubonic plague 416 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:06,480 Speaker 1: or your sena, your Cinea pestis and whatever. The Black 417 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,920 Speaker 1: Death was right, so you've got like a big discrepancies. 418 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:15,040 Speaker 1: You've got um bubos right with both, but bubo is 419 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: under the bubonic plague. Um tend to spring up around 420 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: the growing area only, and descriptions of bubos with the 421 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:25,040 Speaker 1: Black Death where that they were all over the place, 422 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:29,159 Speaker 1: all over your body. Um bubos or bubonic plague doesn't 423 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:35,680 Speaker 1: cause um purple splotches. It doesn't cause delirium, doesn't. Yeah, 424 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: or the vomiting um, blood and and pus and all 425 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,919 Speaker 1: that stuff. There's a lot of stuff that was documented 426 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,960 Speaker 1: widely by different sources during the Black Death that doesn't 427 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: have anything in common with bubonic plague. Well, the big 428 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: one to me was the fact that bubonic plague, even 429 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:56,240 Speaker 1: if you don't treat it as mortality rate of about 430 00:25:57,359 --> 00:25:59,520 Speaker 1: and from the sounds of the Black Death, it was 431 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 1: you know, near a hundred taken down entire villages, right, 432 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: So they did figure out that the third pandemic in 433 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,880 Speaker 1: eight was caused by your cine a pestus bubonic plague, 434 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: but they erroneously possibly attributed it to the Black Death. 435 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,159 Speaker 1: But for about a hundred years, that was the premise 436 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:22,640 Speaker 1: that everyone went on was bubonic plague was the Black 437 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 1: Death until Night four and some researchers who have been 438 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:31,439 Speaker 1: dubbed um plague deniers, Yeah, I have started to come 439 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:34,440 Speaker 1: up with competing theories and there's there's some interesting ones. Yes. 440 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:39,439 Speaker 1: Sociologists Susan Scott and biologist Christopher Duncan I think that 441 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:45,160 Speaker 1: it is a hemorrhagic fever like ebola. Makes sense, sure, 442 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,920 Speaker 1: some say anthrax or maybe some just disease that is 443 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: not around, some extinct disease right, like it went extinct 444 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,280 Speaker 1: somehow after after the Black Death. The thing though, is 445 00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,119 Speaker 1: this d n A study in the nineteen nineties they 446 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,040 Speaker 1: dug up some corpses from mat s graves in France 447 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 1: tested the teeth because I guess dental pulps about the 448 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 1: only thing you can test at that point, and they 449 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:11,119 Speaker 1: did find that the y pestis in the samples, so 450 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:13,159 Speaker 1: they said, oh, yeah, so it was a plague. But 451 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: then they apparently looked at other bodies from other grave 452 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: sites and that it wasn't conclusive, so they didn't find 453 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,399 Speaker 1: it at all. So what does that mean? I don't know. 454 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 1: What do you think? Um? Well, Skip Knox, that historian 455 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: I referred to earlier, his um his theory is that 456 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:38,000 Speaker 1: it was bubonic plague working in concert with the mnemonic plague, 457 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: so it was respiratory which is um bubo pneumonic. Yeah, 458 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,159 Speaker 1: which basically his ideas that there are two plagues working 459 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,440 Speaker 1: at once, or that's the theory he subscribed to, which 460 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,439 Speaker 1: I don't know, it's it seems likelier to me that 461 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:56,439 Speaker 1: there's probably some bacterium that's either extinct or worse than 462 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,159 Speaker 1: that dormant. Right, right, let's hope it's extinct. Dormants the 463 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: word I want to be hearing right now. Oh, and 464 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,640 Speaker 1: there's one other thing that was a problem with the fleas. 465 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:07,720 Speaker 1: There were two other problems that we didn't mention. One 466 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,720 Speaker 1: was that there should have been a die off of rats, 467 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: because remember they jumped from rats to humans when there's 468 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,879 Speaker 1: no more rats and there's no documented die off of 469 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 1: rats in Europe before the plague ever. Um. And then secondly, um, 470 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,399 Speaker 1: what was the same winter should kill fleas, that's right, Chuck, 471 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,919 Speaker 1: but it didn't. Well are they does kill fleas, but 472 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: it didn't have any effect on the spread of the 473 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,200 Speaker 1: Black Death. Yeah. Well. The other problem though, is it's 474 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: like we said, it's all stuff that's written down, so 475 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: it's not like, you know, you said the bubos are 476 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,479 Speaker 1: near the growing area. But at the time, you know, 477 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: with the sensationalism of of the day, people they could 478 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: have been writing, you know, sores all over their body, 479 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: and you know, they could have exaggerated some of the 480 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: symptoms because of fear. Uh. Yeah, I just don't know 481 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: how much I trust the records of hundreds in Europe well. Plus, Also, 482 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 1: there was no standardized medical jargon either for them to use. 483 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: You know that's true too, so or that that they 484 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: could use that we would understand. Yeah, so we're cobbling 485 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,200 Speaker 1: together what we think they meant, what this one person meant, 486 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: but they think the numbers of deaths are pretty accurately. Yeah, 487 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 1: this is pretty crazy. One third. Oh, and we're talking 488 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: about how it's so eurocentric in Cairo, seven thousand deaths 489 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 1: a day at its peak, the bubonic plaque for black 490 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: death sorry the black death. Wow. Yeah, let's say for 491 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: black death. If you want to see some pretty cool 492 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: pictures um and read more about it, I strongly recommend 493 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: this one. Type in black death in the search bar 494 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: at how stuff Works dot com. And it's time now 495 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:50,640 Speaker 1: for a listener mail. Josh. I'm gonna call this our 496 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 1: second to mafia mail. Sometimes we get so much mail 497 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: from one topic that we feel like we should read 498 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: more than one email on the topic, especially when accompanied 499 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:04,720 Speaker 1: by physical threats. That's right. So this is from Kate 500 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,520 Speaker 1: the Canuck Stewart. That's what she calls herself, which I 501 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: thought it's kind of funny. Hi, Josh and Chuck and Jerry. 502 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan of the podcast, but I've never 503 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:15,880 Speaker 1: written in before because I never had much to say 504 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: besides oh my gosh, I love you guys. It's a 505 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: great reason right in by the way. Um. However, after 506 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: listening to the Mafia cast, I just had to write 507 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 1: you an email to have some info for my family's past. 508 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: My grandmother on my mother's side, it's a second cousin 509 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 1: to the infamous Lucky Luciano. Most of the men and 510 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: her family were made and although she was largely kept 511 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 1: out of the loop when it came to the wheelings 512 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:46,320 Speaker 1: and underdealings of her family, like Diane Keaton and the Godfather, Uh, 513 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,160 Speaker 1: there is one event that really brought home the kinds 514 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,760 Speaker 1: of things her brother and cousins were up to. When 515 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,320 Speaker 1: my mom was only a baby, my grandfather ran out 516 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:57,240 Speaker 1: on my grandma. When my great uncle heard about this, 517 00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: he and his cousins asked my grandma if she wanted 518 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,000 Speaker 1: them to take care of him for her. She really 519 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: didn't know what that meant, but responded, maybe even jokingly, 520 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 1: well don't kill him or anything. The next day, she 521 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: got a phone call that her husband had been admitted 522 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:16,120 Speaker 1: to a hospital, badly beaten, with both of his legs broken. Clearly, 523 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't prudent to mess around with members of my family. 524 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,920 Speaker 1: There are other rumors swirling around about different ventures that 525 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: my great uncle and cousins were involved in, but they 526 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 1: were notoriously tight lipped about everything. As far as I know, 527 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: no one in my family is a part of the 528 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,480 Speaker 1: mob anymore, and no one has the broken legs. No 529 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 1: one has broken the legs of any of my ex boyfriends. 530 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: But I wouldn't date you just to be on the 531 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: safe site. Huh. That is Kate the Canuck Um. Thanks 532 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,880 Speaker 1: a lot, Kate appreciate that, and all you Canucks listening 533 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: out there, thank you very much. If you want to 534 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 1: get in touch with Chuck or me Um, you can 535 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,239 Speaker 1: get in touch with us via Twitter, that's right at 536 00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: s Y s K podcast. You can join us on Facebook, 537 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 1: dot com, slash so have you you Know? Send us 538 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: an email to Stuff Podcast at how stuff Works dot com, 539 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 1: and as always, go check out our home on the web, 540 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: Stuff you Should Know dot com. Stuff you Should Know 541 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For 542 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:17,160 Speaker 1: more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 543 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:19,880 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.