{"podcast":{"title":"MonsterTalk","slug":"monstertalk-162017","podcast_index_feed_id":162017,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/6267523/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/monstertalk--6267523","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7698c27b5af520e6dca580217c19bd71.jpg","author":"Monster House LLC","episode_count":512,"summary":"MonsterTalk: The Science Show About Monsters is a free audio podcast that critically examines the science behind cryptozoological (and legendary) creatures, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or werewolves. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/monstertalk--6267523/support .","last_synced_at":"2026-09-21T08:17:19.460396+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/monstertalk-162017"},"episode":{"title":"☠️S05E42 - THE BLACK DEATH🐀","slug":"s05e42-the-black-death","published_at":"2026-08-03T03:55:02+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/monstertalk-162017/s05e42-the-black-death","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/monstertalk-162017","url":"https://www.monstertalk.org/%e2%98%a0%ef%b8%8fs05e42-the-black-death%f0%9f%90%80/","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73317810/s05e42_monstertalk.mp3","summary":"Blake and Karen are joined by Dr. Ben Dodds , author of Myths and Memories of the Black Death to discover more about a disease which forever changed world history when it swept across Europe in the 1300s. The conversation runs from the mechanics of the disease - what a bubo actually is, what finally kills you, and why the textbook rats-and-fleas model spreads far too slowly to explain what medieval eyewitnesses described - to the harder question of how anyone in 2026 knows any of it. Along the way: the marmot hypothesis, the medieval physicians who were certain they had it figured out, the appalling 1348 pogroms whose victims were dug out of the ground in a Catalan town a short drive from where Dodds was sitting, why Monty Python understood the Middle Ages better than most historical novelists, and a closing answer about the aftermath that most listeners will not see coming. Blake's cold open, meanwhile, sets out to explain why we call it the Black Death at all - and reels in an unexpected monster. Extended show notes at MonsterTalk.org Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/monstertalk--6267523/support . Some product links may be affiliated with Amazon revenue sharing.","meta_description":"Blake and Karen are joined by Dr. Ben Dodds , author of Myths and Memories of the Black Death to discover more about a disease which forever changed world…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3278,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/monstertalk-162017/episodes/s05e42-the-black-death/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/monstertalk-162017/s05e42-the-black-death.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}