Preparation for a paranormal investigation of a location often includes prior research into that same location, although some think that prior knowledge contributes to cognitive bias during that investigation and/or evidence analysis thereafter. Sometimes research that is done to familarize oneself with the history of a location reveals astounding facts that have nothing to do with ghosts/spirits, but rather exemplifies the now familiar and altered quotation by Edmund Burke (1729-1797) who stated "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Along the way this quote got modified to the currently more familiar Winston Churchill version which states "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
This quote applies as much now as it did then, in particular to this article you are reading now, concerning the Covid-19 pandemic we are now experiencing world wide. Specifically, I am going to describe historical facts retrieved prior to my own investigation a few years ago in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A. at the Old St. Lukes Hospital. The archives there are available to the public as this building now is not a hospital, but houses the Jacksonville Historical Society records & organization. The building still contains old hospital equipment in its attic area from the yellow fever & tuberculosis fighting days of the late 1800s and early 1900s. My focus for this article will be facts my research revealed concerning the yellow fever outbreak in Florida around 1887.
It is believed a fruit dealer from Tampa, FL became infected from the bite of a mosquito from smuggled fruit from Cuba. The nature of this illness is that the infected did not immediately know they were sick, yet while asymptomatic, were able to transmit the disease to other humans. Sound familiar? This of course made yellow fever incredibly easy to spread. As word spread that people were becoming ill, many dying and quarantine areas being set up, some fled before the quarantine areas were set up, thus taking the disease with them to other areas. Sound familiar?
Jacksonville, FL is believed to have become infected after Tampa, FL in 1888, being brought there by a saloon-keeper named Richard D. McCormick. Once officials discovered McCormick to be infected and having brought the infection from Tampa, FL they immediately quarantined him and proceeded to burn down the entire Mayflower Hotel where he had been staying. Anyone entering Jacksonville at that point onward from Tampa or surrounding areas, was immediately detained outside the borders of Jacksonville and sent to quarantine. Sound familiar about cruise ships? The quick cures then started to come forth. Sound familiar? Believing the disease to be airborne, some immediate actions to combat the disease were firing cannon ammunition into the air in hopes of killing the disease carrying microbes, spreading and covering streets with lime and bichloride mercury in hopes of destroying residue on one's shoes, and each night, burning on many street corners, barrels of tar for additional hopes of destroying air borne particles. These actions were futile, of course, as the disease's source was later discovered to be a mosquito. Adding to all of this was the hype, exaggeration and false claims that did nothing but contribute more to the problem. Sound familiar? A prime example of this was that Africans were believed to be immune by virtue of their race and thus traveled about carrying the disease and infecting others. This was not only a racist idea but pretty stupid as well. Sound familiar?
(young people in the U.S. initially believed they had a very low chance of infection by Covid-19). This erroneous assumption concerning Africans was predicated on the fact that many slaves showed only mild symptoms. This was later proven to be attributed to Africans building up a resistance to Yellow Fever over generations before being enslaved and brought to North America.
As people came out of quarantine without the disease, they were issued Yellow Fever Immunity Cards that would allow them to travel unrestricted. As it was discovered the Yellow Fever was spread by mosquitoes in 1901, sanitizing became less prevalent and instead local governments took to attempting to kill the mosquitoes with a DDT spraying war. Local Florida governments deemed it urgent to do this because the problem was "hurting the tourist trade along with preventing people from moving to Florida." Sound familiar? Counties complained that budget money for mosquito control was not reaching them in time. Sound familiar?
The symptoms of yellow fever were a fever sometimes accompanied by headache, fatigue, nausea, etc. followed by a brief respite with the appearance of recovery before the more severe effects of the disease comes on the victim. Sound familiar?
Concerning the paranormal, I include myself in those who are more skeptical of spirits remaining in the location of their bodily deaths, yet I still reserve that small percent of unexplained experiences that make me stop short of being a 100% skeptic. At this particular former Yellow Fever and TB hospital, while having a digital recorder on to make vocal notes to shorten my time in the archives, I stumbled upon a few evps, voices that I am certain were not mine. I was alone at the time of making my research recordings in the archive room of Old St Lukes Hosptial, and will just list the most clear ones I noticed and what they sounded like they were stating:
1) I'm not sleeping
2) please help me
3) we're alive
4) did he come back (this one occurred as I left the room for a restroom break!)
5) red foot in house
I want to bring attention to #5 here. The words "red foot in house" seem nonsensical and out of place. After researching yellow fever victims' bodies found, I discovered the following shocking recorded fact: "the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet become swollen and turn bright red." I don't know about you, but I find that very coincidental link to my evp mind blowing! It is also the perfect argument for and example of not having precognitive bias in evidence analysis.
Records were not accurately kept in those days and the deaths registered in Jacksonville were 427 among 13 thousand residents. That's a 3.285% death rate. As of this article's date, worldwide coronal virus numbers were 629,627 cases and 28,967 deaths for a death rate of 4.6% and climbing.
It doesn't appear we have learned much in the way of preparation for a pandemic from just one of many historical disease events, does it?
- MoonJoey
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