Futility Closet

In the 19th century, some New England communities grew so desperate to help victims of tuberculosis that they resorted to a macabre practice: digging up dead relatives and ritually burning their organs. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll examine the causes of this bizarre belief and review some unsettling examples. We'll also consider some fighting cyclists and puzzle over Freddie Mercury's stamp. Intro: Residents of Sydney and London could take a train to the local necropolis. In the 19th century, a dog named Tschingel climbed 30 peaks. Sources for our feature on the New England vampire panic: Michael E. Bell, Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires, 2014. Sarah Richardson, "When Americans Saw Vampires," American History 54:5 (December 2019), 7. Michael E. Bell, "Vampires and Death in New England, 1784 to 1892," Anthropology and Humanism 31:2 (2006), 124-140. George R. Stetson, "The Animistic Vampire in New England," American Anthropologist 9:1 (January 1896), 1