Episode 286: Lazarus

One of the most intriguing topics throughout history has infectious disease and the way we handle it. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by GennaRose Nethercott, research by Cassandra de Alba, and music by Chad Lawson. ————————— Lore Resources: Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music https://www.lorepodcast.com/music Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources https://www.lorepodcast.com/sources Official Lore Merchandise: lorepodcast.com/shop https://www.lorepodcast.com/shop All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com https://www.grimandmild.com ————————— Sponsors: Cook Unity: Try the freshest, best-tasting meal delivery made by your favorite celebrity chefs. Go to CookUnity.com/LOREFREE https://www.cookunity.com/lorefree or enter code LOREFREE before checkout, for Free Premium Meals for Life. Mint Mobile: For a limited time, wireless plans from Mint Mobile are $15 a month when you purchase a 3-month plan with UNLIMITED talk, text and data at MintMobile.com/lore http://www.mintmobile.com/lore. Quince: Premium European clothing and accessories for 50% to 80% less than similar brands. Visit Quince.com/LORE http://www.quince.com/lore for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. ————————— To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to ads @ lorepodcast.com with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it. ————————— To advertise on this podcast please email: [email protected]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore ————————— ©2025 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Still waiting in line? Again? That's time you'll never get back. Save time and money with stamps.com. Over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with stamps.com. Join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office. For a limited time, go to stamps.com and use code PODCAST for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  Your joints help you keep doing what you love. Give them daily support with Ancient Nutrition Multi-Collagen Protein. Two scoops deliver 20 grams of collagen from 10 types, including clinically studied eggshell membrane. Plus, vitamin C and probiotics to support skin, hair, nails, and joint health. Visit ancientnutrition.com/protein and use code PROTEIN for $15 off. That's ancientnutrition.com code PROTEIN.

• 1:15Aaron Mahnke?

  In August of 1945, the language of power changed forever. No longer did the largest army mean the strongest nation. It wasn't about tanks, or strategy, or even money. No, power forevermore would be about one thing and one thing only: Who had access to an atomic bomb? And ever since, that bomb has become more than just a weapon. It's now a symbol showing who has influence and who does not. Of course, back in the days before atomic power, nations had to rely on more creative status symbols to prove their might. For example, in the 1820s, that symbol happened to be giraffes.

• 1:58Aaron Mahnke?

  Yes, you heard me right. You see, the viceroy of Egypt at the time, Mehmed Ali Pasha, was on a bit of a giraffe gifting spree. Paris, Constantinople, and London had all received one of the animals as a diplomatic gift, and in 1828, it was Vienna's turn. And the Austrians were honestly pretty stoked about it. Having a giraffe in your city had become a marker of political alliance, and they didn't want to be left out. The giraffe in question, a young male, made the voyage by sea along with a caretaker and two cows to provide it plenty of milk to drink on its long trip. Finally, the ship arrived, but the journey wasn't over yet. Before the giraffe was allowed

• 2:42Aaron Mahnke?

  to set hoof on the mainland, it was required to quarantine on a nearby island called Poveglia, which had long been an isolation station for plague-carrying soldiers. After all, who knew what diseases this foreign animal might be carrying? Forget the Trojan horse, what about the Egyptian giraffe? For a full forty days and forty nights, the long-necked visitor waited and waited. It was probably pretty confusing for the poor young calf, not to mention the fact that Poveglia is said to be extremely haunted by sailors who never made it off the island. But whether the giraffe ever saw a ghost, I can't say. I've never had the chance to ask him. But finally, the giraffe officially arrived in Austria, and the people went wild. A massive

• 3:27Aaron Mahnke?

  fad for giraffe-themed everything took hold, from dance moves and perfumes, to a women's hairstyle that mimicked the animal's pokey little horns. It's a fun snapshot from history, and honestly, I figured that you deserved a little something light as an appetizer today, because the truth is, most patients don't receive so warm a welcome when they're released from quarantine. In fact, many are never released at all. I'm Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

• 4:09Aaron Mahnke?

  It has been more than five years since we first heard the term COVID-19. And in that time, a whole slew of strange new phrases have made their way into our daily speech. Things like lockdown, social distancing, flattening the curve, and work from home, all of which have become shockingly normal to hear in casual conversation. But of course, the practice of quarantine is far, far older than the buzzwords of 2020. In fact, almost 700 years older. The first recorded quarantine in history took place way back in the year 1377, in what is now the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. You see, plague had begun to ravage other parts of Europe.

• 4:50Aaron Mahnke?

  And so, in an attempt to protect itself, Dubrovnik required any incoming ships from outbreak zones to spend 30 days in isolation before being let in. And it must have worked, because we've continued the same strategy ever since. Now, eventually, the 30-day standard was lengthened to 40 days, which is where quarantine gets its name, by the way. It comes from the Italian quarantina, which literally translates as 40 days. And this extra week and a half wasn't just to give potential illness time to run its course. No, it was actually a religious addition. You see, there was someone else who'd been rumored to spend 40 days in isolation, wandering alone in the desert: Jesus Christ. And the biblical significance didn't stop there.

• 5:34Aaron Mahnke?

  The story of Noah and his ark uses a 40-day timetable. Moses awaited atop Mount Sinai for 40 days before descending with the Ten Commandments. Even Lent, the Christian period of penitence, lasts 40 days. In short, by adopting the number 40, quarantine became not only about physical purification, but spiritual purification as well. And this is important, because during the age of the Black Death, disease wasn't believed to be germ-related. Heck, they didn't even know that germs existed. But what did exist to the people of the Middle Ages? Were evil spirits. In their minds, if the plague had come for you, it wasn't about science. It was an act of divine will.

• 6:15Aaron Mahnke?

  Demonic forces, or even God Himself, had made you sick as a test or a punishment. And a holy forty days of spiritual cleansing might be just the ticket to get that soul of yours squeaky-clean and disease-free. Think about the iconic plague doctor mask that we all know and love from Hollywood films. The design of that mask has something to do with evil spirits. Yes, the mask's shape had its practical uses. The hooked nose, for example, could be filled with herbs, garlic, and vinegar-soaked sponges to filter foul air. But the appearance of the thing wasn't exactly soothing for patients to gaze upon in their final moments. And it may have been on purpose, because according to one theory, the mask was deliberately

• 6:59Aaron Mahnke?

  terrifying, with the hopes that it might scare away those evil plague-bearing spirits. Now, back then, there were many theological explanations for what actually caused the plague. And oddly enough, the most common scapegoats of all were the stars. That's right, astrology is good for more than just determining whether you are comfortable with your crush. Medieval astrologers were able to look skyward and allegedly report when the plague was on its way. Several outbreaks in Europe were blamed on the conjunction of Mars and Jupiter, Mars and Saturn, or Saturn and Jupiter. There was even a London astrologer who gained quite a bit of a claim for predicting the 1665 outbreak, based on a series of planets, comets, and constellations.

• 7:42Aaron Mahnke?

  Today, this perspective on disease may seem like it belongs in a fantasy novel more than the real world, but you may be surprised at how much of a mark these early quarantines left on our modern society. Sometimes, even on the literal borders between nations. Here, I'll give you an example. There is a tiny stretch of land, only about two football fields' worth, on the border between Germany and Belgium. And looking at it on the map, you would logically think that it belonged to Belgium. But here's the thing: it doesn't. Because way back in the Middle Ages, that spot was a quarantine zone where the chronically ill were banished to live, and often die. ...as well. Even after the camp was gone, the area still wigged people out, and so neither

• 8:25Aaron Mahnke?

  country wanted it, both playing a game of land ownership hot potato until Germany ended up getting stuck with it for good. Then there's the border between Austria and the Ottoman Empire. In 1710, Austria established a sort of disease checkpoint between themselves and their southern neighbors in the Balkans. At first, it wasn't anything crazy, just a request for existing border guards to start keeping an eye out for suspicious symptoms before letting folks through. But by the late 1700s, it had become something else entirely. The once-friendly border had become pocked with a chain of watchtowers, each within musket-shot range of the next. Roving patrols of guards constantly manned the line with orders to

• 9:08Aaron Mahnke?

  shoot unauthorized traffic on sight. Now, there were official crossing points, but anyone trying to pass through them had to undergo 21 days of quarantine, or in times of plague outbreaks, 48, before being allowed in. Disobey, and you would be arrested, subject to trial, and often put to death. Eventually, the quarantine border dissolved, as did the Austrian Empire. But ghosts of history have a way of holding on, and in 2019, a team of researchers made a startling discovery. To this day, modern inhabitants of what was once the quarantine zone remained financially poorer and more distrustful than their neighbors to either side. There's also more of a cultural practice of bribery, which surely would have

• 9:53Aaron Mahnke?

  been commonplace on the border all those centuries ago. Oh, and I should probably mention one more thing. That very same militarized zone is the exact spot where modern vampire lore is believed to have been born way back in the early 1700s. Which makes sense if you think about it. Vampireism was always thought of as a contagious thing. It's passed through biting, blood, or skin contact with someone who has already been infected, and if you caught it, you were doomed to spread death wherever you went. Heck, it sounds a lot like the plague to me. It's fair to say that the Age of the Black Death was Time of terror and uncertainty. People scrambled to pull answers close and push the plague far, far away.

• 10:37Aaron Mahnke?

  And yet, when we think of exiling the sick, the plague isn't the first disease that comes to mind. No, that prize goes to another illness, known as one of the oldest and most infectious in human history. Today, it's known as Hansen's Disease, but for thousands of years, it had a different name, one that, when spoken out loud, induced fear and revulsion for much of human history. And that name, of course, was leprosy.

• 11:18Aaron Mahnke?

  Under the right circumstances, the island might have been beautiful, a vacation spot even, one of numerous picturesque locales dotting the Adriatic Sea off the Venetian coast. Heck, it might make for a nice honeymoon destination, if it weren't for all the screaming, that is. In the words of one Venetian notary from the time, "The island resembled nothing less than," and I quote, "hell itself." There were buildings and living quarters on it, but despite being designed to accommodate 100 residents, the island had been crammed full with over 10,000 human beings. Without room to breathe or sleep, they wriggled against each other in the unbearable heat of summer. Those residents who couldn't fit on land were squeezed onto one of the many boats circling

• 12:03Aaron Mahnke?

  the island like vultures. Mosquitoes swarmed in dark clouds, and all around rose the stench of death. The year is 1400, and you have just set foot on the first of Venice's Lazareti, named for Lazarus, the patron saint of leprosy. In other words, welcome to a leper colony. Get cozy, you're gonna be here for a long, long time. Now, before we continue, I'd better clear a few things up. When most people hear the word "leprosy," they imagine gauze-wrapped faces with missing noses, fingertips plopping off, and living people rotting away like corpses. But that's actually completely inaccurate. The idea that leprosy causes your body parts to fall off is straight-up myth.

• 12:47Aaron Mahnke?

  In reality, it's a chronic disease that affects the skin and nerves, as well as mucus membranes in the eyes, nose, and throat. And symptoms are a lot less severe than we've been led to believe. Patients develop red, scaly skin, which is where the name "leprosy" comes from, in fact. "Lepre" is the ancient Greek word for "scaly." The nerve damage can then cause numbness, so often lesions, burns, and cuts would go unnoticed, which leads to infection. And it's probably those infections that are what earned the afflicted their zombie-like reputation. Also, despite the rampant terror surrounding it, leprosy is pretty difficult to pass from person to person. It's wild that, after all this time, there are still so many misconceptions about the disease,

• 13:32Aaron Mahnke?

  especially since leprosy is one of the world's oldest illnesses. In India, for example, archaeologists even found evidence of leprosy on a 4,000-year-old skeleton. And yet, it's hard to think of a people more stigmatized and mistreated than those who have been labeled as "lepers." Even the word itself has become shorthand for "an outcast." But amazingly, that wasn't always the case. In fact, before all of that judgment, people with leprosy were actually revered. You see, some 12th-century leprosariums, such as London's St. Giles in the Fields, viewed their patients as modern-day "jobes" from the Bible. They had been hand-selected by God to suffer on earth and, in exchange, should be an automatic shoo-in for salvation.

• 14:17Aaron Mahnke?

  In other words, if you had leprosy, you supposedly would go straight to heaven when you died. And because of this, they were treated kind of great. St. Giles in the Fields was basically the equivalent of a medieval health spa. Patients received medicinal care, yes, but spiritual care as well. The institution was sitting pretty on massive charitable donations. But don't assume that this generosity was selfless. You see, if you made a big enough donation, the patients might pray for you. And a prayer from someone with leprosy was said to have more spiritual currency, so to speak, than a normal prayer. In other words, get on a leprosy patient's good side, and you could ride shotgun all the way to heaven. But in the mid-1300s, all of those warm, fuzzy feelings disappeared.

• 15:02Aaron Mahnke?

  The Black Death was tearing through Europe, and suddenly contagion was on everyone's mind. Just like plague victims, those with leprosy were no longer seen with sympathy, but with fear. By the late Middle Ages, people with leprosy were forced to wear distinctive clothing to identify themselves at all times, and even ring a bell to announce their presence. There were even events called "leper masses" that were held by the church in which ill people, very much alive ill people, mind you, were declared dead to the church and society alike. Why go through the hassle, you might ask? Well, for one, this "living death" allowed relatives to steal all of the victims' money and property in the name of inheritance.

• 15:44Aaron Mahnke?

  And as you'd imagine, the more the church punished the sick, the more people with leprosy were stigmatized and abused. And it wasn't only in Christianity, either. In the Japanese religion of Shintoism, the word used for leprosy is the same word for sin. In ancient Persia, they believed a person was given leprosy as a punishment for, to quote Herodotus, "sinning against the sun." Soon, though, Europe decided that bells and uniforms weren't enough. No, it was time to get rid of these threats to public health altogether, and thus the colonies and Lazarate were born. Now, these places weren't just for those with leprosy. Plague victims were also sent there. But here's the difference: if you survived your bout of plague, you would be allowed to go home.

• 16:28Aaron Mahnke?

  But if you suffered from leprosy, you would be imprisoned on that island of nightmares for the rest of your life. And if the ghost stories are true, maybe even longer.

• 16:55Aaron Mahnke?

  Once upon a time, there grew a beautiful tree. It was called the mancaneel, and it had wide, swaying branches that reached toward the sun like arms lifted up in prayer. Hanging from these branches were thousands of emerald-green leaves, and nestled among those leaves were clusters of plump, ripe fruits. But this tree, you see, had a secret. It was twice as deadly as it was beautiful. When weary visitors took shelter beneath the mancaneel during a storm, toxic, milky-white sap poured down on them, blistering and burning their skin. When hungry travelers devoured its jewel-like fruits, they writhed in agony for hours. Some never recovered. Spanish explorers referred to this fruit as “the little apple of death.”

• 17:40Aaron Mahnke?

  And it was on that very island that this tree grew that thousands of human souls were about to be imprisoned forever. But to understand why, it’s helpful for us to back up and cover some of the context first. In 1845, the British government opened a leprosarium in the coastal Trinidadian town of Cocalrita, not far from Venezuela. This leprosy outbreak, by the way, was their fault. You see, Britain had enticed a vast number of Indian immigrants to move to Trinidad for menial labor jobs, the kind of jobs that they would never force on white workers. They promised those laborers land if they signed up, and so Indian migrants came in droves, and they brought a little something with them. That’s right, leprosy.

• 18:25Aaron Mahnke?

  The Cocalrita leprosarium held around 300 patients, Indians and locals alike. I’m sure it wasn’t a party in there, but its urban location meant that the patients could still be part of city life. They wouldn’t have to abandon their families or the land they had come to call home. In other words, they were allowed to be human. But in the 1910s, all of that changed. According to new international regulations, it was announced that merely tucking patients away in a special facility wouldn't be enough. No, they had to be as far from the other people as possible. And so, just like the Venetian government centuries before, Coccavita decided to banish everyone with leprosy to an island. This island was called Shakasikare,

• 19:09Aaron Mahnke?

  and yes, it was indeed home to the world's most poisonous tree. Now, they knew that the patients would never willingly move so far from the city, and so authorities figured out a plan to keep the peace. They simply wouldn't tell the patients that this was happening at all. Construction of the new facility was done in secret. Healthier patients were snuck over to labor on the project, while the rest were still kept in the dark. That is, until the kidnapping started. Between 1922 and 1926, patients would go to sleep in their own beds, only to be roused at 6:00 a.m. and herded like cattle into the waiting arms of the police. And then they'd be shoved onto boats and shipped out to the island. And then finally, once the last patient was moved,

• 19:52Aaron Mahnke?

  they burned the facility to the ground. And imagine for a moment how terrifying this all must have been. Already you are weak with illness when guards rip you from your home and, with no explanation, abandoned you on an island in the middle of nowhere. An island, might I remind you, that is populated with some of the most poisonous deadly species of plant life in existence. And I would like to say that the patients were warned about the mancaneel trees, but honestly, I haven't found record of that. I'm willing to bet that some had to learn the hard way. If things weren't already dismal enough, though, men and women were held separately, never permitted to interact. And this lasted for decades. During the 1940s, the sexes were at last allowed to mingle,

• 20:36Aaron Mahnke?

  but rather than improve life, it became even more devastating. Because any children born from these newly allowed unions were immediately stolen from their parents and placed in orphanages. The families would never see each other again. To be fair, some administrators on the island were kind. One, a man named Dr. Coros, even allowed some residents to sneak back to the mainland for visits. But in 1955, he was fired, and the patients were not pleased. So displeased, in fact, that they staged a full-on revolt. And while it worked to drive away the nuns currently running the facility, new ones simply came in to take their place, and the cycle continued.

• 21:17Aaron Mahnke?

  From its opening in the 1920s until the time it finally closed years later, roughly 2,000 people were imprisoned on the island. Some, for over 40 years. Today, the Shaka Shakari Lepresarium lies in ruins. But although the island has been abandoned by the living, I can't say the same about the dead. It's no surprise that ghost stories about the former leper colony are plentiful. People have reported seeing shadow figures and apparitions. They've heard footsteps and voices floating through the old living quarters and the former convent. Despite being a tropical island, cold spots hover in the air, and visitors have even been shoved by unseen hands. One ghost story in particular claims that the island is haunted by an American nun

• 22:02Aaron Mahnke?

  named Sister Mary Luigi, who died by suicide in 1946. Versions of the tale vary: in some, she took her life after falling in love with a Venezuelan sailor; in others, she had a tryst with a local fisherman; and, and yet more, a priest. In another version, still, there was no lover at all, but rather Sister Mary was ordered to leave Shaka Shakari for another mission, and not wanting to go, she drowned herself in the sea. Is there any evidence that even a scrap of these stories are true? Not at all. But that doesn't stop Mary Luigi's story from being a popular local legend. And I can't help but notice how, even in folklore, it's a healthy, white nun who gets to be the protagonist of the island's most told tale.

• 22:45Aaron Mahnke?

  Rather than thousands of chronically ill locals who were forced to spend their lives and deaths imprisoned on Shaka Shakari, it seems they have been exiled, even in memory. Now, look, I get it. It's easy to scoff at this kind of ghost story as nothing but tall tales and superstition. But do you know who didn't scoff? The Trinidadian Coast Guard. In fact, many of these ghost reports actually come directly from members of the Coast Guard. A few years after the leprosarium closed, the Guard converted some of the old facility buildings into administrative offices and housing. But pretty soon, they found the island entirely uninhabitable. Why? Well, because of the hauntings.

• 23:26Aaron Mahnke?

  To quote one Coast Guard Squadron Commander describing a particular moment during his tenure on the island: "These were four big men, well-trained men, and they had high-powered rifles sitting in the chapel back-to-back with rifles at the ready. I said, 'Okay, you look like unsettled little boys who have seen a ghost.' And they said, 'Sir, there is a ghost.'" Only six months later, the Coast Guard abandoned the island. And they never returned.

• 24:09Aaron Mahnke?

  You can tell a lot about a culture by how it treats its most vulnerable members. How do we care for our elderly, our sick, our injured? Do we band together to ensure every single life is equally valued? Or, like so many did in the wake of these leprosy outbreaks, do we abandon those who need inclusion the most? Don't get me wrong. In the world of infectious disease, there are clearly some types that can only be stopped by separating sick patients from their healthy neighbors. The plague, tuberculosis, and COVID are all good examples of outbreaks where infection management saved lives. But leprosy? Science has proven that Hansen's disease is basically treatable with antibiotics.

• 24:51Aaron Mahnke?

  And because of that, I wish I could say that leper colony stories are a thing of the past, relics of the world before modern healthcare and contemporary ethics had fully developed. Except, well, that's not exactly true. Shakka Shakare, for example, remained open until 1984, the same year that Ghostbusters and The Karate Kid came out. We aren't talking about medieval history here. These patients were contemporaries of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper. And multiple leper colonies still exist today. Yes, in the year 2025, chronically ill people continue to be held at arm's length by fear and misinformation. One of the most abusive leprosariums of all, however,

• 25:35Aaron Mahnke?

  closed its doors in 1990. It was called Carville, and when it opened in 1894, the first patients, five men and two women, were forced into it at gunpoint. Now, when I say patients, I'm being a little ahistorical here, because the administration actually referred to its residents not as patients, but inmates, and their treatment showed it. They were prevented from voting until 1940. They weren't allowed to marry until 1950. One former inmate recalled being transferred to the institution 750 miles from his home in the back of a hearse. He later said that it was, and I quote, "viewed by my family as a trip to my grave." In fact, the admission of patients to the facility there

• 26:18Aaron Mahnke?

  didn't switch to being voluntary until the all-too-recent year of 1970. And if this feels like it hits a little too close to home, you're not exactly wrong. Because, you see, Carville wasn't just the name of the hospital. It was also the name of the place where it was located. A little town called Carville, Louisiana.

• 26:54Aaron Mahnke?

  These stories are horrendous. It's true. But the truth is, all these quarantines were enacted in an attempt to prevent illness from spreading. Disease is a terrifying foe. It's invisible and mysterious, and can travel from person to person, nation to nation, at alarming speeds. And I have one more story for you that takes that threat to a whole new level. Because the only thing more frightening than a disease traveling the world is a disease traveling between worlds. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it.

• 27:27Aaron Mahnke?

  This episode was made possible by Cook Unity. Some of the best meals I've ever had were the moments where I took a chance on a menu item in a restaurant and trusted them to deliver the goods. That's why I crave the meals made by Cook Unity's renowned chefs. Cook Unity was made for adventurous eaters with countless global cuisines from 160-plus award-winning chefs. Explore an ever-expanding menu of small-batch meals, all tailored to your lifestyle, dietary needs, and cravings. Get ready to eat meals delivered directly to your door by going to cookunity.com/lorfree or entering code lorefree before checkout for free premium meals for life. Me, I ordered the Dijon mustard chicken thighs with basil mashed potatoes and carrots by Chef James Grody, and it was incredible. Fresh, vibrant, and so satisfying.

• 28:10Aaron Mahnke?

  And I'm low-key obsessed with that Dijon mustard seasoning, so dang good. With more than 300 weekly menu options, Cook Unity makes it simple to connect to your cravings. Personalize your menu by navigating their easy-to-use platform, and then filter by chef, protein, cuisine, or dietary need to find meals that satisfy your cravings and stick to your health goals. Subscriptions start as low as $11 per meal. Skip deliveries, pause, or cancel anytime. Get what you're craving. Try the freshest, best-tasting meal delivery made by your favorite celebrity chefs. Go to cookunity.com/lorfree or enter code lorefree before checkout for free premium meals for life. That's free premium meals for life by using code lorefree or going to cookunity.com/lorfree. Terms and conditions apply.

• 28:54Aaron Mahnke?

  Go to cookunity.com for details. This episode was also sponsored by Mint Mobile. Know what doesn't belong in your epic summer plans? Getting burned by your old wireless bill. While you're planning beach trips, barbecues, and three-day weekends, your wireless bill shouldn't be the last thing holding you back. That's why I recommend Mint Mobile. With Mint, you can get the coverage and speed you're used to, but for way less money. And for a limited time, Mint Mobile is offering three months of unlimited premium wireless service for $15 a month. So while your friends are sweating over data overages and surprise charges, you'll be chilling, literally and financially. Say bye-bye to your overpriced wireless plans, jaw-dropping monthly bills, and unexpected overages. All Mint Mobile plans come with high-speed data and

• 29:36Aaron Mahnke?

  Unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts. If I needed this product today, Mint Mobile is what I would use, no questions asked. And I've watched Grim and Mild teammates set up their Mint Mobile plans, and it's incredibly simple. Plus, the savings are just too good to pass up. This year, skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get this new customer offer and your three-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/lore. That's mintmobile.com/lore. Upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 per month. Limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 GB on unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra.

• 30:21Aaron Mahnke?

  See Mint Mobile for details. This episode was also sponsored by Quince. Why drop a fortune on basics when you don't have to? Quince has the good stuff: high-quality fabrics, classic fits, and lightweight layers for warm weather, all at prices that make sense. Everything I've ordered from Quince has been nothing but solid. Quince has closet staples that you'll want to reach for over and over again, like cozy cashmere and cotton sweaters from just 50 bucks, breathable flowknit polos, and comfortable lightweight pants that somehow work for both weekend hangs and dress-up dinners. True story, I wear one of their 100% merino wool all-season t-shirts every single day, usually in black but sometimes in light gray, and I've ordered more just recently. And if you've been looking for t-shirts that fit great and hold up over time, I really

• 31:06Aaron Mahnke?

  think you should give Quince a try. And the best part, everything with Quince is half the cost of similar brands. By working directly with top artisans and cutting out the middlemen, Quince gives you luxury pieces without the markup. And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. Keep it classic and cool with long-lasting staples from Quince. Go to quince.com/lore for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash lore to get free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com/lore.

• 31:46Speaker 03

  Hey, I'm running out to drop off a stack of letters and packages. Need anything shipped while I'm gone?

• 31:51Speaker 04

  Save the gas. Stamps.com lets you print postage and schedule pickups right from your desk. Sync your contacts into the address book. Get detailed accounting insights. And get notified the moment your certified mail is delivered.

• 32:03Speaker 03

  All from my desk?

• 32:04Speaker 04

  All from your desk.

• 32:06Speaker 05

  Join the 4 million businesses using Stamps.com right now with code PODCAST and get your free welcome gift. Stamps.com code PODCAST. Taxes and fees apply.

• 32:31Aaron Mahnke?

  On July 20th of 1969, astronauts set foot on the surface of the moon for the first time. Since then, the event has gone down as one of the most momentous achievements in human history. The start of a new age of exploration and advancement. Which is lucky, because for a while there, some wondered if that moonwalk would mark a very different turning point. The extinction of life on Earth. All because of two little words. Moon germs. You see, no one had ever gone to the moon and back before. So scientists had no idea if the astronauts would bring back some kind of horrible moon disease when they returned to Earth. There was no data then about what tiny organisms might inhabit the moon. Or whether they might be dangerous to humans.

• 33:16Aaron Mahnke?

  And it wasn't just scientists who were freaked out. Coincidentally, a Michael Crichton novel called The Adramina Strain had been a bestseller that summer. A book about an infectious disease from outer space that threatens to wipe out humanity. Not the best timing, as far as NASA was concerned. They actually received thousands of letters from concerned citizens, begging them to be careful of these potentially deadly moon germs. It was clear that something had to be done for scientific safety and public appeasement alike. And so while Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins splashed down in the Pacific just four days after their historic walk, it would be another two and a half weeks before they were allowed to rejoin society.

• 33:59Aaron Mahnke?

  That's right, it was time for a moon germ quarantine. Here's how it all went down. First, Navy swimmers greeted them right there in the ocean, handing over isolation garments complete with gas masks which they quickly donned. After being scrubbed down with a topical antiseptic, they were then ushered into what NASA had dubbed a "mobile quarantine facility", which was, I kid you not, a tricked-out airstream trailer aboard the Navy's USS Hornet. The trailer had been outfitted with everything from air filtration systems to air pressurization and more, not the least of which included a fancy microwave oven. There, they were joined by a doctor named William Carpenter and NASA engineer John Hirasaki,

• 34:40Aaron Mahnke?

  before the airstream was loaded onto a plane and flown to Houston's lunar-receiving lab, which boasted more spacious facilities and a larger staff to quarantine with. So, what was life like in lunar quarantine? Honestly, it sounded kinda cushy. It was way more luxurious than the cramped life that they lived aboard the spacecraft, that much was for sure. And there was a lot more to do. They spent their time playing ping pong, chatting on the phone with their families, watching TV, reading books, and of course, undergoing medical testing. Neil Armstrong even celebrated his 39th birthday while in quarantine, and was thrown a surprise party, complete with a cake. Oh, and he also had brought along a ukulele, which he happily strummed among his compatriots.

• 35:24Aaron Mahnke?

  As Michael Collins later recalled, "It was a happy little home. We had gin on board, we had steaks, I could have stayed in there a lot longer." Eventually, though, Armstrong Collins and Aldrin emerged from quarantine totally healthy, and at once they embarked on a whirlwind of ticker-tape parades and state dinners, infecting no one with moon germs in the process. But what a lot of people don't know is that this story could have had a very different ending, because if testing had revealed contamination, well, NASA had a plan: to bury every single person in that laboratory...alive. Here's how it all would have gone down. First, the facility would have been sealed up by armed guards. Then the entire laboratory would have been buried under a mountain of dirt and concrete,

• 36:09Aaron Mahnke?

  with the infected crew still inside. And everyone involved knew this, mind you: lab technicians had already signed an agreement that they would not attempt to flee, and that their next of kin would not be allowed to claim their bodies if they died. Which, might sound extreme, but the alternative would have seemed even worse: the extinction of the entire human race. So the next time you look up at the moon, think of those brave astronauts and laboratory workers who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of our species. Buried alive, with no comfort, but the haunting sound of a ukulele.

• 36:59Aaron Mahnke?

  This episode of Lore was produced by me, Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Jenna Rose Nethercot, research by Cassandra DeAlba, and music by Chad Lawson. Don't like hearing the ads in these episodes? Well, I've got a solution for you. There's a paid version of Lore, available on Apple Podcasts and Patreon, that is 100% ad-free. Plus, subscribers there also get these weekly bonus mini-episodes that we call Lore Bites. It's a bargain for all of that ad-free storytelling, and a fantastic way to support the show and the people who make it. Of course, Lore is much more than just a podcast; there is the three-volume World of Lore book series, available in bookstores and online, and two seasons of the television adaptation on Amazon Prime. Information about all of that and more is available over at our website, lorepodcast.com.

• 37:44Aaron Mahnke?

  And you can also follow this show on places like YouTube, Blue Sky, Threads, and Instagram. Just search for Lore Podcast, all one word, and then click that follow button. And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening.

• 38:12Speaker 06

  Breathe in and reset with Lincoln Rejuvenate, an available multisensory feature in the 2027 Lincoln Navigator SUV. Experience the luxurious massage, visuals, and sense to help you relax in the driver's seat. It's your time for a reset. Visit Lincoln.com to learn more. Lincoln Rejuvenate does not operate unless the vehicle is in park. When the vehicle is off, or if any doors open, do not use the feature in a closed garage or in other enclosed areas. See owner's manual for important operating instructions. Lincoln and Navigator are trademarks of Ford or its affiliates. All rights reserved.