Today Alaina decided to take it to a vampiric place. During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries New England was struggling with severe outbreaks of Consumption. To better explain this plague that caused severe pain, bloody hacking coughs and the victim to seemingly waste away without explanation, they turned to the supernatural. When entire families began falling victim to its brutal clutches, it simply had to be vampires who had taken host in their loved ones ailing bodies to suck the life from the remaining members. Come on in for a dive into a world where eating the ashes of an exhumed family member's decomposing heart was considered medicine.
Great resources used:
Mercy: The Last New England Vampire by Sarah L. Thomson
Food For the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires by Michael E. Bell
A History of Vampires in New England by Thomas D A'gostino
As always, thank you to our sponsors:
HelloFresh: Get up to fourteen free meals—including free shipping! — with
code morbid14 at HelloFresh.com/morbid14
Babbel: Right now, when you purchase a 3-month Babbel subscription, you’ll get an additional 3 months for FREE.
Simplisafe: SimpliSafe is offering 20% off your entire new system and your first month of monitoring service FREE, when you enroll inInteractive Monitoring! Visit SIMPLISAFE.com/morbid
Caliper: You can try Caliper CBD risk-free for 30 days at TRYCALIPER.COM/MORBID
If you don’t love it they’ll give you a full refund!
Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)
Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)
Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley
Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally
Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com