The London’s plague pits map that shows where the Black Death victims got buried
Overcrowded, dirty and awash with sewage…it’s hardly surprising that the bubonic plague flourished in the crowded streets of London. Over 15% of London’s population was wiped out between 1665 and 1666 alone, or some 100,000 people in the space of two years. But where did all these bodies go?
Why European plague doctors wore those strange beaked masks?
Four hundred years ago, dark figures with white beaks wandered the streets of Europe. But these were no boogeymen or other creepy figures, but healers, so dressed to stave off […]
Is Saint Corona the patron saint of epidemics?
Did you know Aachen Cathedral, Western Germany, may be able to claim a special spiritual connection with the global coronavirus pandemic? It is said that the cathedral, one of Europe’s […]
Hong Kong and the sad echoes of the 1894 plague epidemic
While COVID-19 are stopping the world on current days, a 19th-century pandemic still haunts Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan district. Nearly 130 years ago, the neighborhood was an epicenter of one […]
The curious history of the Milan area that remained immune to the plague: an eccentric marquis, a witch or simply coal?
Before 1630 Milan had over one hundred thousand inhabitants. In 1632 there were forty-seven thousand. In the middle there was the most violent plague epidemic in the history of the […]
The remarkable story of Eyam’s self-quarantine in the 17th century
November 1st 1666, All Saints Day. The plague takes away its latest victim in the remote village of Eyam, England. One of the many deaths from the Great Plague of […]
Friar’s Bush Graveyard: the big (and grisly) history of the oldest Christian burial ground in Belfast ~
The sense of ancient mystery enshrouding the old walled cemetery in south Belfast has long fascinated historians and local people alike. Though it’s only two acres in size, the oldest […]
Anatori Burial Vaults: A tragic story of Khevsureti’s village.
The Anatori Vaults are a number of square slate structures located in a remote area in Georgia near the border of Chechnya, a land surrounded with lot of mysterious legends […]