Humans are fascinated by gore and violence, but even more so the mysterious and unsolved.

Interest in these disturbing and unpleasant subjects is called morbid curiosity,

and it has gripped millions of people throughout the ages. I am one of those people. My name is

Halley, and this is the Morbid Curiosity podcast.

Thank you. Podcast. Imagine going about your day when suddenly your body is no longer under your control.

It begins to move and react on its own.

You can't stop it.

Your muscles twitch and flail. You lose consciousness. You fall. You come to lying on the ground exhausted, confused and in pain. Now imagine that instead of trying

to help you, everyone around is staring at you with fear in their eyes. They might run, scream, or even attack you.

This scenario was the experience of many people who suffered from epilepsy throughout history.

People with epilepsy have been stigmatized, shunned, and even imprisoned due to the prevalent

belief that they were possessed by evil spirits,

cursed, insane, or otherwise dangerous.

This belief spans both time and geography, with some cultures still today suspecting people

with epilepsy are possessed.

In this episode, I'll discuss the history of the disease and its treatment,

as well as its social impacts on those affected by it. Please note that I'm no expert in neurology,

so please correct me if I get anything wrong about the physiology of seizures. Also, I apologize

for my raspy voice. I've been sick for about a month now.

While it's true that some epileptic seizures are terrifying and disturbing to witness,

they're even more terrifying to experience, especially if it's the first seizure. A seizure is a

sudden burst of abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

...