SYSK Selects: How the Black Death Worked

# Summary

Josh and Chuck dive deep into one of history's most devastating pandemics: the Black Death that swept through Europe in the 1340s, killing roughly a third of the continent's population in just a few years. They explore the horrifying symptoms people endured, the wild medical theories doctors proposed (including that planetary alignment caused a "fog of death"), and the social chaos that erupted, including tragic pogroms against Jewish communities and the rise of self-flagellating religious groups. The guys also tackle the scientific mystery of what actually caused the Black Death—while it was long attributed to bubonic plague, modern researchers have found compelling evidence suggesting it might have been something else entirely, or perhaps a combination of diseases.