For medieval Europe, the apocalypse wasn't just a metaphor. It was very real and very imminent.

We're talking about the four horsemen, locust, the size of horses, the beast of the abyss,

the whore of Babylon, and obviously the Antichrist. We're going to go through the medieval apocalypse blow by below to see how this obsession

with the end led to the bizarre real-world cults like the Flajolence, who abandoned all norms

for group sex in the woods.

Welcome to After Dark.

The woman straightens, and shading her eyes against the noon glare.

The world has gone strange. The light too bright, too still. She sees the sun dimmed to blood red,

and the sky above crack with a sound like a mountain

splitting. From it spills fire and winged things, vast and shimmering, their cries agonizingly

loud. The earth trembles, birds fall dead mid-flight, She hears the church bell clanging wildly

and sees the river running backward.

Shit, she thinks.

The end is clearly nigh.

Music Hear ye, hear ye, the end is nigh. Well, it was for medieval people anyway, because it was

their Christian duty, actually, to talk about and be prepared for the coming apocalypse. It was

laid out in the book of Revelation where the final battle between good and evil takes place,

so you had to be prepared for what was coming down the line.

Today, we are going through with blow by blow,

one monster after another and discussing how these ideas about the end of the world

ended up with people flagellating themselves

and having group sex in the woods, as Maddie just said.

...