“The ‘Red Death’ had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.”
As 2020 draws to a close, it looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel in terms for the COVID-19 pandemic. This certainly isn’t the first pandemic the world has endured. In fact, unfortunately, they aren’t that uncommon at all. One of Poe’s creepiest stories, “The Masque of the Red Death” was inspired by the Black Death. I got to thinking about how the people got through outbreaks of the past. The answer I found was… not well.
The Black Death is one of the most infamous disease outbreaks in history. In the mid-1300s, the bubonic plague spread across Europe and Asia in a seemingly unstoppable wave of suffering and death. At that time, no one knew what had hit them, why so many were dying so quickly, or who would be next. It’s a miracle anyone survived.
Though the plague had existed for thousands of years, the Black Death is believed to have arrived on Europe’s doorstep in October of 1347. 12 trade ships docked in Sicily and, to everyone’s horror, their crews were dead and dying. The ships were quickly sent away, but the damage was done.
The Black Death was a horrific and merciless killer. As one writer described, those afflicted with the disease developed “…certain swellings, either on the groin or under the armpits…waxed to the bigness of a common apple, others to the size of an egg, some more and some less, and these the vulgar named plague-boils.” Victims would also suffer fever, vomiting, aches and pains, and, in a very short time, death.
It must have been terrifying to see so many of your friends and neighbors falling ill and dying all around you, and you don’t have a clue as to why. People back then thought you could get the disease simply by looking at someone who was ill. It meant that those who were sick were isolated and abandoned, left to die alone.
People grasped for any treatment or relief. Medicine at the time turned to bloodletting, where a person is bled in the hopes that the bad blood would be drained, or lancing the boils, which meant cutting into them to drain the pus. Neither of these treatments were effective, and were done in unsanitary conditions, further spreading the disease.
Beyond the physical problems, the Black Death led to paranoia and misdirected anger. When something goes wrong, us humans often want to place the blame on someone. For some reason, that makes us feel better. Anyone could be accused of spreading the disease and, given the hysteria of the time, no one really asked too many questions. Similar to the Salem Witch Trials, people were banished and even killed simply because it was suspected that they might have something to do with the plague. That included thousands of Jews.
Some turned their fear and frustration upon themselves. They believed they were somehow guilty and the plague was God’s punishment. One of the more visible representations of this was the flagellants. These were people who would parade through a town, whipping themselves with leather strips studded with metal barbs. What a gruesome sight to see, and certainly didn’t help anyone to think more calmly or rationally about what was going on.
Back to the story. In The Masque of the Red Death, a wealthy prince should have been helping his people, but chose to party instead. “But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys.”
Yet, no thick castle walls could protect against the disease. One night, a strange figure appears amongst the revelers. The figure was dressed, as was everyone else, in an elaborate costume befitting the gaudy masquerade. Yet, the mere sight of him inspired horror.
“The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood—and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.”
So enraged was the prince, he chased the figure down and drew his dagger to slay him. Yet, before he could strike, the prince screamed and fell to the floor, dead. At that moment, the figure vanished and those among the living knew that they were doomed.
“And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall.”
I highly recommend reading the Masque of the Red Death, but now let’s look at the real history. Over the next five years since those first 12 ships brought the plague to Sicily, more than 20 million people died across Europe, nearly a third of the population. To put that into perspective, a third of the United States’ population would be around 100 million. As of the publishing of this video, over 300,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, which is an almost unthinkable tragedy. Still, it’s not as bad as the Black Death.
We know that the plague causes a person’s lymph nodes to swell, with the infection eventually spreading through the body. Even today, it’s a very serious illness and if left untreated is almost certainly fatal. The disease can be airborne, but most people associate the spread of the Black Death through the bite of infected fleas. It was those fleas that hitched a ride on rats on those original trade ships.
So, how did the plague end? Well, it kinda didn’t. During the Black Death, people were able to slow the spread of the disease by isolating the sick. In fact, the Italians isolated people for 40 days, otherwise known as a quarantino (not sure I’m pronouncing that right), which is where the word quarantine comes from. With no cure or effective treatment, the plague simply ran its course through a particular population, and people either survived or they didn’t. Eventually, the disease ran out of people to infect.
But the Black Death wasn’t the end of the plague. Outbreaks would flare up every few generations. The last great plague was in London in the mid-1600s, taking the lives of 100,000 people. Even today, people still contract the plague. I used to live in Colorado, where it seemed like every year there were a couple of cases. Fortunately, it’s not the death sentence that it used to be.
To each and every one of you, stay safe and stay healthy. Look out for one another. Let’s hope that these COVID-19 vaccines are the beginning of the end of the pandemic of 2020. As this year comes to a close, here’s to a brighter 2021.