(1/12 )THREAD 👇👇 Gather around: today’s tale is about self-sacrifice, bubonic plague, and the resilience of the human spirit. Let me tell you about EYAM: THE PLAGUE VILLAGE. 
(2/12) On 1 November 1666, a young farmer named Abraham Morten took one final, agonizing breath. He was the last of 260 people to die of bubonic plague in the remote village of Eyam in Derbyshire.
(3/12) His fate had been sealed in September, 1665. George Viccars—a local tailor in Eyam—received a consignment of cloth from London, not realizing that it was playing host to fleas that were carrying the bubonic plague. Viccars was dead within a week.
(4/12) Plague spread throughout the village. Panic broke out, and villagers began making preparations to flee. It was then that two clergymen, William Mompesson (pic) & Thomas Stanley, decided to intervene in order to stop the plague from spreading to neighboring villages.
(5/12) In a joint sermon, the two men pleaded with their fellow townspeople to remain in Eyam until the scourge had played itself out. Moved by the clergymen’s words, the villagers decided to make the ultimate sacrifice: they sealed themselves off from the rest of the world.
(6/12) They created a stone boundary around Eyam. No one was allowed in or out. People from surrounding villages brought food and clothing. They would leave their goods on the stones and pick up payment from a well filled with water and vinegar, which would disinfect the coins.
(7/12) Within Eyam’s self-imposed bounds, the plague was unrelenting, killing people arbitrarily over the next fourteen months. No one was untouched by tragedy.
(8/12) Elizabeth Hancock inadvertently brought the plague back to her farm after helping to bury a neighbor. Within a week, all six of her children and husband had died. Not wanting to put anyone at further risk, Elizabeth took on the task of burying her entire family herself.
(9/12) By August, two-thirds of Eyam’s population had died from the plague, including Mompesson’s own wife. The graveyard had become so full that the dead had to be buried in nearby gardens and fields. The dwindling congregation grew smaller everyday.
(10/12) By November, the plague finally subsided. Of the village’s 350 original occupants, only 90 had survived. However, it is not the statistics that are noteworthy in this story, as these are fairly typical of plague mortality rates during this period.
(11/12) Rather, it is the villagers who are noteworthy. They stopped the spread of plague with their courageous, selfless actions. No one in the surrounding area contracted plague during this time. Today, the village’s church window tells this extraordinary story.
(12/12) I hope you enjoyed tonight’s thread. You can find more long-form #histmed stories on my Instagram page: instagram.com/drlindseyfitzh… ❤️
