The Bubonic Plague in... San Francisco?

That time San Francisco was plagued by THE LITERAL PLAGUE.

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***CREDITS***

Mortician: Caitlin Doughty

This video was largely informed by "Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague" by David K. Randall. Thank you to Mr. Randall for your exhaustive research and illuminating insight.

We'd also like thank Marilyn Chase for her book, "The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco". Thank you Ms. Chase for your research and thoughtful explanations.

Go read about the plague everyone!

***MUSIC***

Impact Prelude by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 license.

Iron Horse - Silent Film Dark by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Comic Plodding - Silent Film Dark by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Batty McFaddin - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Bad Ideas - Silent Film Dark by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Amazing Plan - Silent Film Dark by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Discovery Hit by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons

***SELECTED SOURCES/ADDITIONAL READING***

Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague
Randall, David K. W. W. Norton & Company. New York, 2019.

The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco
Chase, Marilyn. Random House. New York, 2003.

"San Francisco's bubonic plague epidemic has eerie parallels to modern day"

"San Francisco’s Plague Years"

"Maybe Rats Aren't to Blame for the Black Death"

"Rats May Not Be to Blame for Spreading the 'Black Death'"

"Studies reveal how plague disables immune system, and how to exploit the process to make a vaccine"

"The ‘Chinese Flu’ Is Part of a Long History of Racializing Disease"

[TheDiplomancer]

Politicians: Closing their eyes and plugging their ears to pretend crises aren't happening since forever.

[Cleanyourdamnmirror]

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Damn! We are bad at History.

[Jediahbear]

Blue is currently in the afterlife angry screaming "DID YOU GUYS NOT LEARN ANYTHING?!"

[margotrosendorn]

My heart aches for Wong. Poor guy AND his family deserved better...

[Amestrian]

"1900 was, Ironically, the year of the Rat"
FYI, so is 2020.

[citiesinruin]

*2019 : Stay away from negative people*

_2020 : Stay away from positive people._

[tamarcanady]

i'm watching this three years later and the identical denial STILL is uncanny. humans are hopeless.

[JP-gddi]

I'm so sad hearing that Wong died alone and without anyone caring about him..

[whiskeylullaby]

Fun fact! The plague never left. It's still very much alive in the US and yes you can still get it albeit rare

[glasspopcorn]

“His two roommates took him to a coffin shop/funeral home, and left him there”
They’re bad roommates, but they’re not the worst.

[davidprado]

As a Virginia boy myself I never expected a Virginian good ole boy to be the hero of this story. But whatever with that. The whole saga was riveting, and you madam are an incredible storyteller, researcher, historian, bard, witch, shaman, magician, whatever one is who draws people around the fire and captivates them with horror, laughs, and wonder.

[dl]

My great uncle was a (cough) doctor in San Francisco in the 1930s. He collected, um, specimens from a pal of his who had worked in the morgue here for years and years. Our family has been hear since the 1850s so who knows when he got these samples. One of these samples was the bubonic plague. We had the (multiple) samples (typhus, etc.) destroyed by a university hospital when they were found in a hidden room in the basement of my grandmother’s house in the 1970s. You’re welcome, SF.

[HardWorkingandHouseProud]

Edit: thank you all for your kind words. It means a lot.

A friend of mine died this week of cancer. She wasnt embalmed, but i went to greet her anyway. Wasn’t scared, thanks to many, many Caitlin videos. Thank you for making my grieving process easier, Caitlin.

[nerdyrevelries]

"His roommates carried him to the coffin shop and left him." And I thought I'd had some bad roommates.

[teenagedirtbag]

I love how she can makes the discussion of death and dying not seem scary. I know so many people who are afraid of death, and I would recommend her to anyone who is afraid of it.

[MrPooleish]

I grew up hearing "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it", but I didn't expect it to be this literal.

[disnerdbeth]

"the Plague doesn't affect Europeans!1!1"

The millions of Europeans who died in the Middle Ages: 👁👄👁

[jadaousley]

"There is no plague in Ba Sing Se"

[robertthurman]

We had a case of Bubo at a medical center I worked at in the late 70's. It's still around and so rare it is often misdiagnosed. Easy to cure once you figure it out.

[margotrosendorn]

Kinyan: "I am the medical genius of the ages!!"
Also Kinyan: lets a literal plague ship in like meh it's fine