The Gruesome History of Sexual Disease
After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
History Hit
4.7 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
*Warning: this episode contains discussions of puss*
Gonorrhea and syphilis are no laughing matter, especially in a time before antibiotics.
How were symptoms first recorded and what were the disturbing treatments people endured?
Joining Anthony today as a special guest co-host is Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh, to take us back through this gruesome history.
Edited by Anna Brant and Hannah Feodorov. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For centuries, infections like syphilis and gonorrhea were treated with remedies as brutal as the diseases themselves. |
| 0:13.0 | In this episode, we are joined by the anatomist Kat Irving to explore the gruesome history of sexually transmitted diseases, where stigma met pseudoscience and desperation drove dangerous experimentation. |
| 0:27.6 | From early misconceptions to toxic, miracle drugs. |
| 0:31.9 | We are going to explore the brutal reality of these diseases. |
| 0:35.5 | Welcome to After Dark. My name's Anthony. And I'm Kat. |
| 1:08.7 | And today we are talking about gonorrhea. |
| 1:11.9 | Not just any old gonorrhea, the history of, not actually not just gonorrhea, the dark history of sexual disease. |
| 1:18.6 | Because when Kat Irving, who is, as you will probably know by now, the human remains conservator at Surgeons Hall in Edinburgh, when Kat shows up, this is the shit we talk about. |
| 1:29.5 | The dark history of sexual disease. |
| 1:32.5 | I'm just going to fire straight into it. |
| 1:35.2 | There's no point in hanging around the corridors on this one. |
| 1:38.7 | What the hell is gonorrhea? |
| 1:41.9 | Gonorrhea is a infection, a bacterial infection, |
| 1:46.4 | usually transmitted sexually. |
| 1:49.3 | You say usually? |
| 1:50.2 | Usually. |
| 1:50.6 | What's the other way you can get it? |
| 1:52.0 | It's sexually. |
| 1:53.1 | It's sexually. |
| 1:53.7 | It's sexually. |
| 1:55.5 | Well, actually, I mean, |
| 1:57.1 | we can get into some of the other ways |
... |
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