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Podcast: Coffee and Cases Podcast
Episode: Living Statues
Description: A century ago, a mysterious illness swept across the worldâand instead of killing quickly, it stole something far stranger: movement, speech, and the ability to wake. Victims of encephalitis lethargica, the so-called âsleeping sickness,â became trapped inside their own bodiesâsome frozen mid-step, mid-sentence, or mid-bite, aware of everything but unable to respond. Millions were infected and many survivors were left as âliving statuesâ for decades, until one experimental drug in the 1960s briefly awakened themâonly for the miracle to fade and the darkness to return. In this episode, we follow the chilling rise and disappearance of the disease, t...