Medicine is one of the wonders of our age, helping us recover from myriad conditions that would, until not so long ago, have meant certain death. Yet the world of medicine is also a fascinating one, dotted with strange stories, unlikely heroes, and unwilling victims.
Running from August 2019 to December 2020, the Parcast podcast Medical Mysteries explored many of the strangest stories in medical history. This includes the rise and fall of Reye Syndrome, a debilitating disease that led to brain swelling and death in children from 1951 to the 1980s and was later linked to aspirin consumption, to the history of mental health, going back more than 300 years.
It also covers the beginnings of the AIDS pandemic in 1980s San Francisco, the Laughing Sickness that almost led to the extintion of a tribe in Papua New Guinea, and the flesh-eating bacteria that almost killed one of the main exponents of an independent Quebec.
Yet, perhaps, the weirdest story covered on the podcast is that of Mary Toft, who captured the imagination and the horror of 18th-century England, when she seemingly started giving birth to dead rabbits. Such was the infamy of the case that it ended the reputation of many of England’s best doctors and surgeons.
Medical Mysteries is available to stream on Spotify, with over 40 episodes covering a wide variety of subjects.
