E301: MACABRE - The Great Vampire Epidemic

Fresh Hell Podcast

freshhellpodcast

True Crime, History

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Johanna takes us back to 18th-century Austria, when terrified villagers were convinced the dead were refusing to stay buried...and the Habsburg Empire responded the only way it knew how: with paperwork! Hear all about Petar Blagojević and Arnold Paole, and how it lead to Maria Theresia’s no-nonsense vampire ban. This is the true story of Europe’s first documented vampire epidemic. We’ll talk superstition, bureaucracy, and why the Empress’s personal physician, Gerard van Swieten, might have been Bram Stoker’s real-life inspiration for Van Helsing. Of course we also try to figure out the possible medical explanations behind the legend: tuberculosis, rabies, and much more Austria, Austrian vampire panic, Habsburg Empire, Petar Blagojević, Peter Plogojovitz, Arnold Paole, Gerard van Swieten, Maria Theresia, Enlightenment, Aufklärung, vampire history, vampire epidemic, Milzbrand, anthrax, tuberculosis, rabies, porphyria, premature burial, Medvegia, Kisilova, 18th century, superstition, folklore, Bram Stoker, Van Helsing, vampire myth, Viennese history, Christian Reiter, historical medicine, grave exhumation, Visum et Repertum, Habsburg Monarchy, true crime history, Fresh Hell Podcast, Spooky Fuckery Month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Joe Wix is on a mission.
0:02.2	I want to make this and sell it.
0:03.9	He's creating a protein bar.
0:05.6	This is ultra-processing.
0:06.9	That could potentially kill you.
0:08.4	I want the maximum amount of each harmful ingredient while staying within the legal
0:12.0	limit.
0:12.4	So just how ridiculous the food system really is.
0:15.7	Joe Wix, licensed to kill on Channel 4.
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	...

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