Misguided

sleep and waking in an unnatural half dream state. Each suffers from a disease that doctors have not yet understood, encephalitis lethargica, or simply an illness concurrent with the influenza just beginning to sweep the globe. But this disease, el affecting between one and five million people worldwide, manifests differently

intense sleepwalking, ocular disturbances, and a motor skill impairment. Many permanently developed Parkinson's like symptoms, and they call it the sleeping sickness, and it kills between ten to thirty percent of people infected. The first documented.

spread the disease across Europe. As cases rose, health officials issued advisories that newspapers amplified, prompting the creation of isolation wards to contain the influx of patients suffering, and citywide quarantines, and naturally, the doctors were baffled, thinking that it might be influenza or meningitis. Some even believe that it was

a form of mass psychiatric catatonia. Yet the profound lethargy, involuntary eye rolling, muscle rigidity, and tremors didn't point to any known illness, and so they prescribed what they could rest bromides and watchful care in the hospital. Into this confusion stepped Constantine von Econimo, a neurologist from the University of Vienna. His background in sleep research made him particularly

adept at figuring out the problem of the epidemic. Through autopsies, he was able to discover inflammation of the basal ganglia, a region of the brain that regulates movement and behavior, causing tremors and difficulties in movement. Over the course of time, these acute symptoms progressed into a Parkinson's like chronic illness. Van Econimo published a series of studies on the disease, finally putting a name to it, the one I gave

you earlier, Encephalitis lethargica. The work was crucial to not just understanding EL but also for future research into neuro infectious diseases in general. In the mid nineteen twenties, the influx of new cases had abruptly declined, and by the end of nineteen twenty seven it had virtually disappeared from hospital wards all over, and of course, many explanations were

put forward for this decline in cases. Maybe it was possible that the population had acquired herd immunity, so the disease was finding it harder and harder to find a host. Another theory is that, like the Spanish influenza, it had mutated, creating less virulent strains. Many recovered, although one percent of patients did not, instead entering a chronic phase of the illness that lasted for years. Decades later, a small handful of these chronic sufferers remained in a catatonic sort of

fugue state, unable to speak or move. At Beth Abraham Hospital in New York, a young neurologist named Oliver Sachs observed patients that seemed to exhibit the same basal ganglia condition that von Acanamo had first discovered. With more research at his back, he thought that perhaps the symptoms were caused by a deficiency of dopamine, a neurotransmitter of the works as a sort of chemical messenger in the body, and so he gave his patients a drug called Leveedopa to

boost their dopamine. The results were almost instantaneous and absolutely shocking. Patients began waking up from the catatonia they had been experiencing four years. They were able to move, walk, speak, and express emotions. Although this was a temporary relief for sufferers of el a revolutionized treatment and advanced the field's

understanding of dopamine's role in the brain. Years later, Sachs would publish a book on the experiments called Awakenings, which agreed with von Economo's studies, adding more modern information into the mix, and the book was even made into a famous film of the same name, starring Robin Williams as Oliver Sachs and Robert de Niro as one of his patients. The film was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars,

scoring two statues for its writing and editing. The Sleeping sickness has not returned in any real scale, although there have been a number of scattered cases over the years that very much was zembled it and advances in imaging things like MRIs and pet scans now allow doctors to actually see how EL works on the brain in real time and try new medications to curb the possibility of long term effects. Scientists are also using modern virus detecting tools to hunt for any germs that may create a

similar effect in the infected. Honestly, science is utterly amazing. Encephalitis lethargica stands as a singular, strange episode in modern medical history, a pandemic that disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Of course, scientists today are still trying to fully understand the disease that affected so many. Because illnesses may come and go, but as long as we have skilled and experienced scientists to protect us. All of us have hope. At the top of the page, the title

Letter of Condolence is written in shaky black ink. Beneath it a short message explaining that your registration was approved. You're one of forty applicants chosen to participate in this race, hand selected out of thousands. The letter contains a set of coordinates which will require you to trek deep into the Appalachian wilderness, beyond the reach of any GPS signal, with no idea if you're going in the right direction,

and that's just to get to the starting line. It may sound intense, but that's just what it's like for the runners of the Barkley Marathons, the world's most mysterious ultra marathon. Now, the word ultra marathon might sound redundant. After all, running a marathon is an impressive feat all on its own, but an ultra marathon, which refers to any race longer than twenty six point two miles, is

more of an extreme sport. Barkley's Marathons were created by a lifelong runner named Lazarus, whose real name is Gary Cantrell. It was created in partnership with a group of his running buddies. But I have to tell you the origins of the race are a lot darker than one might expect. The story begins with a failed prison escape. James Earl Ray, the man convicted of assassinating doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, was held in a Memphis prison after his arrest in

nineteen sixty eight. But James Earl Ray escaped prison almost ten years later for a total of fifty four hours. Over the course of those fifty four hours, though, he covered eight miles of wilderness before being recaptured. And this is where the dark part of the story comes in. Because doctor King was a civil rights visionary and legend, and rather than lament his killer's escape, Gary Kentrell and

his friends allegedly laughed about it. One man even said that eight miles was a pathetic amount of distance to run when you'd escaped prison, especially in fifty four hours. And Gary Cantrell himself well, he argued that in that time through the same wilderness he could run one hundred and from there. Gary Cantrell charted a rough path one loop, roughly twenty miles long, through uncharted at Balacha, covering dense brush,

rocky inclines, and even a mountain trek. Contestants would complete the twenty ish mile loop five times for an approximate total of one hundred miles. With a cutoff time of sixty hours, runners would risk exposure wild animals, sleep deprivation, dehydration,

and most significantly, going off course. In twenty seventeen, for example, runner Gary Robbins missed the sixty hour cutoff time by less than a minute after getting lost on his final lap, and in two thousand and six, one contestant became lost only two miles into the race and spent thirty two hours in the wilderness trying to find his way back. Since Barkley's marathons take place in protected forests and parks, spectators are not allowed on the course and strongly discouraged

even at the start or finish line. In fact, the twenty mile course has only two water stations, and most contestants never find either of them. Each lap begins and ends at a yellow trail gate, where Lazarus waits to document each runner's time. Some runners nap for about twenty minutes after each loop, the only rest they get during the entire sixty hour race. The race also forbids the

use of GPS. Instead, runners must use their own hand drawn maps made from Cantrell's description of the route, which often includes sections named ratjaw or meat grinder. By now, you might be starting to see why Cantrell calls the registration tickets a letter of condolence. But how does anyone know if a runner actually completes the course if no one is around to watch. Well, every few miles, Cantrell

places books somewhere along the route. At the start of each twenty mile loop, Cantrell assigns runners a new page number they must collect from each book to prove they've completed the planned course. And I know that in theory that might not sound hard, but remember that these races don't take place on a trail. The Barkley Marathons require runners to complete the full course with almost no idea

if they're even on the right track. You might not be surprised to hear that most years no one finishes the race at all, and Cantrell says that's just fine with him. He knows that the event attracts the most elite athletes and thinks failure is an important part of their growth. As runners and as people. Twenty twenty four, is race set the record with the grand total of five finishers. Two of the finishers had completed the race in past years, but the most notable of the group

was Jasmine Paris. Jasmine became the first woman to complete the race, finishing ninety nine seconds before.

produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the people who make it oh. If you're at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities, you'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online as well as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and sign up over

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