Episode 78: Halloween Special!

Halloween is special time of year. Spooky skeletons and vampires everywhere! But how would you treat a vampire? Do werewolves exist? In this episode the gang blurs the lines between horror and medicine and discuss how to treat some truly weird and spooky conditions. 

Horror movies based on true stories: https://www.scoopwhoop.com/inothernews/horror-movies-based-on-true-stories/

• So many are based on Ed Gein (Texas chainsaw massacre, Psycho, Deranged)

• A lot of possession movies

• 2011 possession case: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3063265/

• 1998 20 Chinese subjects: https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/ps.49.3.360

• 2009 history of possession: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/362860

• 2016: dissociative trance: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pcn.12425

• Demonic possession is in the DSM V (2017): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13648470.2017.1389168

Humans acting like vampires: https://www.livescience.com/28266-7-strange-ways-humans-act-like-vampires.html

• Porphyria Cunea tarda causes skin lesion when exposed to the sun

• Xeroderma pigmentosa does this too

Frankenstein: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12711091

Werewolves: https://dnascience.plos.org/2012/12/27/the-curious-genetics-of-werewolves/

• Hypertrichosis effects a couple hundred people, but is not widespread

Bearded Lady: https://www.health.com/condition/pcos/women-embracing-bears-body-hair-pcos

• PCOS leads to increased hair growth in females

Plague still exists: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/seriously-dont-worry-about-the-plague

Leprosy

• Now called Hansen’s disease after the doctor that discovered mycobacterium leprae

• Most historical conditions of leprosy were not actually leprosy, but contagious skin conditions

  • Molluscum, shingles, impetigo, HSV

• https://www.cdc.gov/leprosy/world-leprosy-day/index.html

• https://web.stanford.edu/group/parasites/ParaSites2005/Leprosy/history.htm

Buried alive

• In old Britain, coffins were found with scratch marks in them

• People used to get absolutely hammered and pass out and no one knew if they were dead or not

• https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/55688/6-widely-repeated-phrase-origins-debunked

• 2017: man “dies” from root canal: https://metro.co.uk/2017/10/27/family-of-dead-man-stunned-after-he-starts-breathing-during-his-funeral-7033009/

  • Was treated with Diazepam then died for real shortly thereafter

• Woman “dies” is buried, and is found to have moved, torn off her clothes and given birth

  • https://burialsandbeyond.com/2019/03/27/buried-alive-a-short-history-of-premature-burial-and-safety-coffins/

Historical death measurements

• https://historycollection.com/buried-alive-common-victorian-era-doctors-used-10-methods-prevent/

  • The flag one is the best. Stick a needle in the chest and see if the flag waves

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Dr. Antevy's website: handtevy.com