plague in collinsport?

[michael c]

i just read a book about,of all things,the history of rats in new york city.in a chapter about the connection between rats and plague it states that the first case of plague in the united states was in san francisco's chinatown in 1900.
if plague hadn't struck the u.s. until 1900,then why was everybody in collinsport,maine in 1795 worried about barnabas collins having contracted it?

[Gerard]

It seems that back in the good, ol' days of the eighteenth (and even earlier) centuries, many communicable diseases were simply given the designation of being "a" or "the" "plague".  Of course, those were the days when they also thought that bleeding you was a sure-fire cure for anything.  How ironic that they didn't try that with Barnabas when he came down with "the plague".

Gerard

[Connie]

** SPOILER **

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Melanie and Quentin came down with the plague in 1841 PT too - remember?
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PS  If you were to "bleed" Barnabas, would blood come out?  Do vampires have blood?   


Can someone tell me how to use that spoiler feature?  I don't know how.

[Josette]

Can someone tell me how to use that spoiler feature?  I don't know how.

It's weird - nothing's working for me now - usually if one puts the cursor over one of the code letters (i.e. B for bold) the little balloon comes up saying that it's "bold" or whatever the item is.  None of them are doing that for me tonight.

Usually, one of those icons is for "spoiler" and you just use that and put the text in between - but I don't see that any more, either!

However, looking at someone's post who used it, it seems that if you just place the text between

Code: [Select]

[spoiler]and[/spoiler] that should do it.

By the way, this is my first attempt at using "code" and I think I got it!!

[Connie]

[spoiler]Major spoilage message[/spoiler]

Ah!!  Thank you.  I didn't realize it was as easy as that.
Yeah...I didn't see a spoiler feature in the tags.

The little "balloon" things are popping up for me, so your browser must be haunted tonight.  (Mine gets haunted at least 2-3 times a week)   

[Midnite]

[spoiler]Melanie and Quentin came down with the plague in 1841 PT too - remember?[/spoiler]

Ah, yes, the supernatural plague.  That one first came to Collinsport in the 1600s. 

[victoriawinters]

He had not "died" yet so he probably would have bled had they put the worms on him.  Occasionally, a surgeon would have made the decision to not bleed someone when they were too weak or had a weak heart.  I think it would have been too gross at the time.  Further, the very act of bleeding with worms would have detracted from the vampire horror he became afterwards IMHO.

Besides which, historical accuracy was not one of Dark Shadows' strong points.  In fact, I think they prided themselves on the constant revision of history lol.... 

[Connie]

[He had not "died" yet so he probably would have bled had they put the worms on him.

Yeah, but I meant once someone IS a vampire.  But anyway, my daughter has reminded me that when you drive a stake through a vampire's heart, blood comes spurting out.  Sooo, I guess that answers THAT dumb question.  lol

-CLC 
Asking All The Pertinent Questions Since 1948

But speaking of the plague....ya know what made me want to smack Melanie in the head??

[spoiler]When they were doing that seance and she kept screeching, "Plague!  Die!  Plague!  Die!  Plague!  Die!"[/spoiler]

(Oy vey, gimme strength)  lol   

[Joeytrom]

That was what happened to George Washington, the doctors bled him thinking he would overcome being sick, but they bled him too much and he died.

[Misa]

When a person was bled, they didn't always use leaches. Sometimes they used instruments to extract the "bad blood". I'll have to look on the internet for the specific devices that were used and get back to you.

Misa

[Philippe Cordier]

When a person was bled, they didn't always use leaches. Sometimes they used instruments to extract the "bad blood". I'll have to look on the internet for the specific devices that were used and get back to you.

They used leaches or cupping to bleed a patient.  Cupping involved cutting the skin and collecting the blood in a cup or bowl.

One of my grandmothers had a rare blood disease where this was actually required periodically (along with radioactive treatments), but for the most part the practice of bleeding in earlier times had little scientific basis.

I've always assumed that vampires have blood.  First, they're drinking it; second, it always gushes out when they're staked; and third, in "real life" cases where vampirism was suspected, the corpse when it was dug up was described as being gorged with blood.  Not sure what the scientific explanation is for the latter.