Once, there was a village named Eyam in Derbyshire, north of London. It was a beautiful village with a charming church and beautiful gardens filled with all kinds of flowers. The grass that paints the vast, plane fields, green was refreshing to the eyes. The historic buildings are beautifully done. The town is not too crowded so it's known for peace and serenity.
The only thing peculiar about the place is the low numbers of residents, having a hundred at most, and more empty houses that houses that actually has a family living in it.
What's more odd is that every house had an exactly identical, wooden plaques spelling out people's names. Usually, no one lives on the houses with longer plaques.
The houses in the village had wooden plaques spelling out the names of someone who died in 1666. People believed that those wooden plaques were made by the families of the deceased to commemorate their loved ones, but some empty houses had all the names of the family members and to this day, no one could explain who made the plaques for those families.
Indeed it was a very pretty village thus no one could tell that a devastating plague wiped out ninety percent of the population in 1666, leaving only 98 people alive to survive the catastrophic incident out of the 980 population.
The plague was said to be infectious and lethal because anyone who got infected would surely die. It was pointed out that every person who got infected died after the 8th day. The nature of the plague was that on the first day, you would feel severe exhaustion. On the 2nd day, severe headache, on the 3rd, coughing caused by dry throat, and muscle cramps. On the 4th day, fever and reddish spots everywhere. On the 5th day, those spots on the neck turn dark and become swollen. On the 6th day, the patient's toes and fingers turn black with gangrene. On the 7th day, bloody eyes and vomiting blood, and finally, on the 8th day, there will be seizures attacks and blood oozing from the ears, causing death.
The government said that the Black Death was spread by rat fleas, which started from a tailor in Eyam receiving a bundle of cloth from London, carrying fleas infected with the lethal bacterium called Yersinia pestis.
The government came together with a bold policy at the time of the infection to quarantine the whole village. No one was to leave. Church service had to be held in the open with people standing well apart from one another. Neighboring villagers placed food on a large rock and Eyam villagers left coins washed in vinegar, but no matter what they did, random people would still get sick.
It only took half a month to wipe out 90 percent of the village population. Indeed it was dark times, and so the people named the plague The Black Death.
Years passed, and a Rhyme was made to commemorate the tragic history of the village.
Ring around the Rosie
Pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes
We all fall down
The "Ring Around the Rosie" originated as a song about the bubonic plague, with the "ring around the Rosie" representing the rash that appeared on the skin of those infected, "Pocket full of posies" indicates the apple-sized swellings, filled with blood and pus, characteristic of the 'Black Death. The "ashes, ashes" indicate the funeral for the burned bodies of the dead. And finally the line "We all fall down!" refers to the 90 percent population of the Eyam village that was wiped out.
Some old tale said, there was once a little boy killed by her family to offer his soul to the devil. In exchange, the rest of the family will live a longer life, and for generations to come, would only bear female children with outstanding health.
In the event that a boy is born within the family, the child must be sacrificed as an offering to honor the agreement with the spirits.
This rhyme was rumored to serve as a warning to the family who made the deal with the devil. It was believed that the authentic work was originally longer and contained more details about the curse.
Nature of the plague: BLACK DEATH in 1666
1st day -Severe exhaustion.
2nd day-Severe Headache.
3rd day- Cough and muscle cramps.
4th day-High fever, and reddish spots everywhere
5th day-Swelling of the lymph nodes on the neck and thighs.
6th day- Gangrene on toes and fingers causing it to turn black.
7th day- Bloody eyes and Vomiting blood.
8th day- Seizure before oozing blood from the ears causing death.
But for some unknown reason, among the 98 survivors, 96 people moved to different countries, leaving only Amelia Davies, and her daughter Elizabeth Davies as the only native of the town.
People said she was not right in the head after losing her husband to the plague. Elizabeth married after her mother died and had a daughter named Agnes. Agnes Linden was raped and gave birth to Christina Linden. Christina got married and gave birth to Elisabeth, named after her grandmother. Elisabeth Green married Charles Hencook and had a twin, Grace and Rebecca.
Agatha's family tree is special, they only had daughters and never had a son for generations after the Black Death.
What's more strange is that all these girls lived a long life and died at the same age, 98. Amelia, Elizabeth , Agnes, Christina , and Elisabeth all died on January 6 at exactly 6:06 o'clock.
What's even stranger is their ancestral house.
All of them tried to burn the house down at some point but refused to sell or leave it. One time, a neighbor saw Elisabeth in the middle of the night burning plaques in the backyard. With a galloon of what looks to be a gasoline on her right hand, and a torch on her left, she lit the stick and poured some of the liquid on the door before setting it on fire. Good thing was the neighbor was quick to call the firemen and police.
The females of the family always had a separate room of their own that even their husbands were not allowed to enter.
Like a guard dog, making sure that no one could sneak in. Like some kind of treasure was inside the room, it was always locked or watched by the owner of the house.
Elisabeth Green had two daughters, Grace and Rebecca. Both refused to inherit the room of the house. So on her deathbed, she wrote a letter to his lawyer to burn all of the things inside her room before selling the house and dividing the money into her twin's savings account.
But Grace went back home with her daughter after Elisabeth died, meeting Rebecca in the process and refused to follow their parents death wish.