Episode 198 - The Dark History of Masks: Part 1

This week on Lunatics Radio Hour, we explore the history of masks, from prehistoric rituals and ancient Egyptian funerary masks to Roman death masks, Venetian Carnival, and the eerie plague doctor.

Sources

• National Geographic Article by A. R. Williams - World’s Oldest Masks Modeled On Early Markers Ancestors 
• Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt by Salima Ikram
• A BBC article by Zaria Grovett: The lost art of the death mask 
• An Art and Object article by Effie Jackson: The History of Venetian Masks
• National Geographic Article by Erin Blakemore: Why plague doctors wore those strange beaked masks 

Get Lunatics Merch here. Join the discussion on Discord. Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback. Music by Michaela Papa, Alan Kudan & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by Pilar Keprta @pilar.kep.

Transcript

Masks In Horror And Beyond

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Lunatics Radio Hour Podcast. My name is Abby Brinker. I'm sitting here with Alan Cooden.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

So, Alan, I have a question for you.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Ghostface, Michael Myers, The Phantom of the Opera, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, and Hannibal Lecter. What do they all have in common?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Strong arms.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

They all wear masks.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Today we are talking about the history of masks in horror and outside of horror.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

That's fun.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Let's get into our sources. There's a national geographic article by A.R. Williams, World's Oldest Masks Modeled on Early Farmers' Ancestors, a book called Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt by Salima Ichram. A BBC article by Zarya Grovit, The Lost Art of the Death Mask, an art and object article by Effie Jackson, The History of Venetian Masks, and a National Geographic article by Aaron Blakemore, Why Plague Doctors Wore Those Strange Beaked Masks.

Neolithic Ancestor Masks And Ritual Use

SPEAKER_00 1:17

There are 15 stone masks that have survived from the Neolithic era, masks that date back 9,000 years. These masks are believed by historians to have been modeled at the time of their creation on the deceased ancestors of those living in the period. Right? So 9,000 years ago, farmers who were living at that time would make these masks based on their ancestors who had already died.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

I was gonna say like a death mask, but that's that's a very different thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

It's different, and we're gonna get into it because so much of the history of masks is actually quite spooky, which is perfect. But this is like almost like an ancestral homage. Sure. Think of it that way. While there's no way to know for sure how these masks were used, it's believed that they weren't just decorative, that there was also some ritual or spiritual component to them. In 1983, a group of researchers excavated a cave that had recently been looted in the Judean desert. They believed the cave was filled with artifacts from an ancient ancestor cult. Thousands of objects, in fact. They also found two fragments of masks, which had clumps of hair, which had been preserved because of the very, very dry climate of the desert and being in this cave, right? And so these clumps of real hair had been sort of affixed to the masks with like making a mustache and a beard on each other.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

A mustache?

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah. The masks weigh between two and four pounds each. The lead researcher believes that the masks were intended to be worn because the eye holes can be looked through. So they believe that again, it wasn't just decorative, that they were worn in practice because they were made in a way where people could actually wear them and see through them.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

I mean, sure, but also like the the same reasoning applies to like bananas, because you can like hold them perfectly in the human hand. That's that's evidence of intelligent design. Just because you can be able to see through it doesn't mean that like you you need to wear it.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

It's a good counterpoint, yeah. Quoting from the National Geographic article by A. R. Williams, quote, many of the masks have holes around the edges. Straps or cords may have been attached there and would have tied to the back of a ritual participant's head.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Now that's a much better reason for saying you wear the masks.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

There you go. The scans also highlighted the resemblance of several of the masks to skulls, with their prominent cheeks, temples, and eye sockets, and teeth bared and a macabre grimace.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

I believe it's pronounced macabre.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Oh, thank you, thank you. Some masks even appear to be modeled specifically on the skulls of old men. End quote. So these ancient stone masks aren't the only examples of very, very old ritual masks that have been discovered over the years, those, though those are quite old, right? 9,000 years is is really old.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

It's quite old, yeah. That's like before the iPhone.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Before the Nokia, even.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

I mean, we we'd have to look up the dates.

Funerary Masks In Egypt And Greece

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Ancient Egyptian funerary masks were created to protect the deceased and ensure that they could be recognized in the afterlife. They were placed over the head or face of the deceased person during burial. The masks served both a practical and a spiritual purpose within Egyptian religious beliefs. So ancient Egyptians believed that preserving a person's identity was essential for the soul, right? Particularly to reunite with the body after death. While the most famous example is the gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun, most Egyptians were buried with masks made from far more affordable materials, such as painted cartonage, wood, or linen and plaster. These masks often idealized the appearance of the deceased rather than depicting an exact likeness, presenting them as youthful, serene, and divine. So it's sort of like in Twilight after you become a vampire and you kind of become this idolized version of yourself.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

What?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

You know, at the end of Twilight, when she becomes a vampire.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Spoilers.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

And she but everybody sort of becomes like the perfect, you know, quote unquote version of themselves.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Okay, that sounds healthy.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Yeah. So these masks were like made from people's like peak, like their youth. The guy was like, you know, 105, they made the mask from when he was like 25.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

I wonder if there's records of the person's likeness. Or if they're just like trying to memory.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yeah, I mean there's no or just yeah, guessing.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Yeah, they're just guessing.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

And also they're so covered in makeup.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah. Who who even knows?

SPEAKER_01 5:36

I mean, they look quite beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Oh, stunning. They were decorated with symbols associated with protection, rebirth, and the gods. Funery masks reflected the Egyptian belief that death was not an end, but a transition into eternal life.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, but death is only the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

I like to hear that from you.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Is that the thing? Is that the slogan of the mummy?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yes, it is. Well played. Another famous ancient mask, the mask of Agamemnon, is a gold funerary mask discovered in 1876 by a German archaeologist during excavations at the ancient site of Mycenae. It was found in Grave Circle A and dates back to around 1550 or 1500 BCE. The mask predates the legendary King Agamemnon by approximately three centuries, making the initial identification almost certainly incorrect. Crafted from a single sheet of hammered gold, the mask was placed over the face of a high status individual as part of a royal burial, reflecting the wealth and social hierarchy of the Mycene civilization.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

I just imagining. Alright, so we're gonna want to make this mask while you're in your prime. So just lay here and we're gonna we're gonna bang this sheet of metal over your face, preserve it as best as possible.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

I mean, I guess my question is how thin is this gold? You know? Like it's kind of crazy that it was preserved for so long because isn't gold like famously pliable?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Uh gold is definitely a soft metal, but it is still, you know, metal. So uh unless it's like getting jostled and dropped and stuff, it's gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

But like when you have a gold ring, is that hardened with something else or is that pure gold?

SPEAKER_01 7:15

So it's never it's almost never pure gold. Yeah. Because then to your point, it would be too soft. Uh and like so like the you know, like in movies when you see someone get a gold coin, they bite it. Yeah. Like you used to be able to, if it's pure gold, you can dent it. Uh, and that's what what they're doing. They're seeing if they could dent the coin.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Um otherwise it's you know, cut with something, it's a fake, whatever. But like, yeah, gold coins, that's like why you get like 16 carat, 24 carat, the higher the carat, the more actual gold content.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Right, right. Interesting. Although this was not the burial mask of the king himself, the artifact remains one of the most iconic discoveries from the Bronze Age in Greece and provides valuable insight into the elite funerary practices, craftsmanship, and beliefs around honoring the dead at the time. These historic masks help to paint a picture to modern historians. Their discovery helps us better understand the lives and rituals of these ancient people, and in a lot of ways, our ancestors, right? And how important the dead were in everyday society. Another historic practice, one that I'm very interested in, that gives us even more insight into the overlap of death practices and masks is drumroll, death

Death Masks From Rome To Europe

SPEAKER_00 8:31

masks.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

There it is.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

The history of death masks stretches back thousands of years, but the earliest examples were not molds of the face as they later evolved to. Like the examples we just talked about, death masks started as artists' rendering, right? They were symbolic funerary masks created for burial, particularly among wealthy or powerful members of society. The practice of creating true death masks, made by taking a mold directly from the face of the deceased, appears to have become more common in the Roman Empire.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

I was gonna say, like, I think one of the most famous ones is Alexander the Great.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Oh, interesting. Yeah, we're gonna get into some famous examples. Have you ever been, Alan, to well, I know you have, but have you been to the Alamo Draft House Bar in Brooklyn?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

I thought you were gonna say you've been to the Alamo, and the answer is yes, I have, Abby. Thank you for asking.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

But have you been to the Alamo Draft House bar in Brooklyn?

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Uh yes, with you.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Okay, so there's this like tunnel you enter through full of death masks.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

You're thinking of the catacombs in Paris.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

No, no. It's very cool. Oh, yeah. I think they're wax, like remodeling, or like they're, I know, replicas of like famous death masks. It's pretty cool. If anyone's in New York and you want to kind of see what these things look like. So elite Roman families displayed wax ancestor masks, known as imagines, in their homes as a way of preserving family lineage and honoring distinguished ancestors. While many of these were, again, idolized portraits rather than casts, archaeological evidence suggests that by the second century AD, plaster molds of ordinary men, women, and even children were being made and buried with the dead. For modern researchers, these are fascinating for many reasons. One being that the appearance of these individuals was preserved long after their death. I think that's the coolest thing. Like you can go and be like, that was Napoleon. That's what he looked like. It's in a it's in a death mask.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah, I mean it's it's probably a very accurate way. It's probably one of the more accurate ways, like pre-photography, to capture someone's likeness. Totally. You're literally casting them.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Death masks became especially widespread in Europe during the late Middle Ages. After the devastation of the Black Death, death became an unavoidable part of everyday life, and families increasingly sought realistic ways to remember loved ones.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

I'd argue that death was an unavoidable thing even before the Black Death.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Sh sure. I just mean it's very similar, for example, to the impact that the Civil War had in the United States, which kind of brought upon us this brother versus brother. This rise in spiritualism and this like want, like Ouija boards and seances to communicate with the dead because people just lost everybody. Sure. And so I think it's similar in that, yes, of course, in in the Middle Ages in Europe, death was a part of everyday life, but in that suddenly everybody around you is gone. It's like kind of like a way of a community of a mask community to grapple with this thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

And so taking a death mask was a way to preserve that person, you know, or memorialize them in a way that felt meaningful to fill that gap a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

I understand.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Craftsmen would carefully apply wax or plaster directly to the face of the deceased, creating an exact impression that sculptors could later use as a reference when carving tomb effigies or funeral monuments. Accuracy became really, really important. Like that was the whole game. Like, how can it be the most accurate as possible? For the first time, they preserved every wrinkle, scar, and facial contour, offering an almost photographic record centuries before photography existed, to your point, Alan. By the 18th and 19th centuries, death masks had evolved beyond practical tools for sculptors and became prized objects of their own right.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

You know, it'll be really badass. They cover the body completely in plaster, and then they just like do with how they actually like how they do actually castings.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Uh-huh. I don't really know much about it.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

So say you're trying to like make a sculpture out of met metal, right? So you make it out of wax, then you cover it in uh then you just like put it into a liquid that's gonna harden, but it's gonna be like a heat-resistant liquid, so it's gonna harden so it's like it's like a like a uh a plaster or clay or something. And then you pour molten metal into the the mold, um, and it burns away all of the uh the the wax and basically replaces the wax. In this case, you could cremate the body all at once by pouring molten metal onto it, it would eat away all that, and you'd be left with a perfect cast of the person's body in like gold eventually.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

And then the body would be burned away?

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Yeah, I mean, because it's it's molten metal.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

It's kind of like a good way to cremate and memorialize at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

I mean, I I just made this up on the spot, but someone has definitely tried to trademark it. Someone has definitely tried it because this technology existed and people had a lot of time on their hands and a lot of money for this kind of shit.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

It's kind of cool though, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 13:34

You really think it would replace the body?

SPEAKER_01 13:36

I mean, it it would burn it up to carbon.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Huh. Yeah, let's do that when we die. Give our ancestors, you know, a real memento.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

A solid gold version of you on your deathbed.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Yeah. Keep it in the garden, you know? Sure. Plant some roses around it.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Museums, collectors, physicians, and scholars preserved the faces of famous individuals as historic artifacts. Death masks were created for figures including Isaac Newton, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ludwig von Beethoven, Dante Alighieri, and Blaise Pascal. For artists, these casts provided invaluable references for creating accurate portraits and monuments. Scientists and physicians also collected them during the rise of phrenology, which is now discredited and a racist belief that a person's intelligence and character could be determined through the shape of their skull. This was a hugely problematic practice. Although the science proved false, it contributed significantly to the popularity and preservation of death masks during the 19th century.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Oh, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Some death masks took on lives of their own. Perhaps the most famous example is that of Le Connu de la Seine, an unidentified young woman whose body was recovered from the Seine in the late 19th century. Her peaceful expression fascinated artists and writers, and reproductions of her mask became fashionable decorations throughout Europe. Decades later, her face was chosen as the model for Rosuski Ann, the CPR training mannequin that has helped teach life-saving techniques to millions of people around the world.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

No way.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Isn't that fun?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

So the So the dummy that we've all practiced on is it based off someone's death mask?

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Yeah, here and here is um here it is.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

She has like a little bit of a smile on her face. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Also, why is there only one CPR dummy model?

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Well, why why shake it up, you know? What's working's working.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Weird.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

The tradition largely disappeared with the rise of photography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Photographs offered a faster, less invasive, and more familiar way to preserve a person's appearance, reducing the practical need for plaster casts. Today, death masks are rarely created outside of artistic or forensic contexts, but they remain remarkable historical objects until Alan and I die, and all that's gonna change.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Why?

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Because we're making our our molds.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

I uh the more I think about it, I there's gotta be there's a catch. Don't back out now. So like uh maybe when they replace the wax in a casting, they drain it out. Can you I you maybe you can like liquefy a body. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Well, if you put in the right chemicals, you can.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah, but you'd have to find a chemical that would eat away the organics without or without touching the mold.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

If you know, write into films about lunatics at gmail.com. Let us know. Death planning

Le Connu De La Seine And CPR Face

SPEAKER_00 16:33

is very important, people. But the dark history of masks isn't all death and gloom. We're gonna take a brief respite from the heavy history to talk about carnival. Carnival has its roots in the Christian calendar as the final period of celebration before the beginning of Lent, the 40-day season of fasting and penance leading up to Easter.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

You mean Ramadan?

SPEAKER_00 16:55

In the medieval and renaissance city of Venice, Carnival evolved into an elaborate festival that began shortly after Christmas and continued until Ash Wednesday. During these weeks, feasting, theatrical performances, music, gambling, and public celebrations filled the streets. According to some historians, however, Carnival also preserved much older traditions. African history scholar Raphael Shijioke Anoko believes that the festival echoed ancient seasonal celebrations centered on fertility, renewal, and the changing cycles of nature, before gradually becoming more associated with entertainment and excess. The Venetian masks became the defining symbol of carnival, beginning in the 14th century. Unlike modern costume masks worn simply for amusement, these masks served an important social function. By concealing a person's identity, they temporarily erased distinctions of wealth, status, and family background, allowing nobles, merchants, artisans, and laborers to mingle as equals. In a society with rigid social hierarchies, anonymity created an unusual sense of freedom.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Doesn't it always? Looking at you, Ice.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

The masks became a powerful equalizer, encouraging interactions that would have been unacceptable during ordinary life.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Such as what, Abby?

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Well, I mean, we see examples like this in a lot of pagan festivals. It also reminds me a little bit of like the dance macabre trope, I guess, in art.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

It's the same ideology behind uh furry conventions.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Tell me more.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

You're in a big animal costume, no one can see your body. You just kind of go for it.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Have you been to a furry convention?

SPEAKER_01 18:34

No, but I know all about it.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

But it's like that topsy turvy day, right? It's like there's so many different cultures that had celebrations like this to kind of shake things up.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

As carnival grew in popularity, masks became increasingly elaborate and took on distinctive forms. One of the best known was the Columbina, an ornate half mask decorated with feathers, jewels, and gold leaf.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Oh, that one.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

You know, we're all we're all picturing Venetian masks.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Another was the Botar, a plain white full face mask typically paired with a black cloak and tricorn hat. Do you know what a tricorn hat is?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Yes, I know what a tricorn hat is.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

What is it? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

You serious? Yeah. It's like the what they wore in the Revolutionary War.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Oh oh, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

It's the hat that looks like a Homantashin.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

What's a Homentoshin?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

It's a cookie based off a tricorn hat.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Oh yeah, okay. Despite its simple appearance, the bota became one of the most influential masks in Venetian society. Its shape disguises not only a person's face but also their gender, body type, and social class.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Just like furry conventions.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Making it nearly impossible to identify the wearer. Even Venetian diplomats sometimes wore this type of mask during official business to conceal their identities and protect state interests. But the freedom provided by masks also brought problems. Carnival became increasingly associated with gambling, drunkenness, theft,

Venetian Carnival And Anonymity

SPEAKER_00 19:58

political intrigue, and other disruptive behavior.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Yeah, not to mention public indecency.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

By the 18th century, authorities began restricting where masks could be worn, banning them in many churches and other sacred spaces.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

It's COVID all over again.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Not long afterward, the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 effectively ended the historic carnival tradition. Although the celebration disappeared for generations, it was revived during the 1970s as part of an effort to preserve Venice's cultural heritage. Today, the Venetian carnival remains one of the world's most famous festivals, with handcrafted masks serving as enduring symbols of mystery, transformation, and the temporary freedom of becoming someone else.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Would you say it's the world's most famous festival? No. What would you say the most famous is?

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Of any current festival in the world, like active festivals? Yes. I mean Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Christmas?

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Yeah. Do you mean how are you defining a festival?

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Like a one event that people go to that's a festival.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Coachella.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Coachella. Yeah, okay. I thought you were gonna say Bonaroo.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Yeah, that was uh ten years older.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Bonnaroo is for old people?

SPEAKER_00 21:08

I think Bonnaroo is a little more like um Gen X. Coachella's a little more like Gen Z millennial. I mean, I I've I'm not amusing. What hell are you talking about? Whatever. All right. In ancient Roman it's just that Bonaroo is older, you know, and like I think they have more like You're thinking of Woodstock. No, it's like in the middle.

Janus And The Power Of Duality

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Okay. In ancient Roman religion, Janus was the god of beginnings, endings, transitions, and doorways.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Oh, sorry, Janus.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

He is almost always depicted with two faces, one looking towards the past and one towards the future, symbolizing his ability to see both directions at once. While Janus himself was not traditionally represented by a wearable ceremonial mask in Roman worship, his dual faced image inspired masks and theatrical representations throughout later European history. Do you know that laughing crying theater mask?

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Yes. Janice. Janice. Wow. Did we talk about that in a previous episode?

SPEAKER_00 22:04

I don't think so. I've never really heard of Janice.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Maybe the fan of the opera episode.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Maybe, yeah, yeah, maybe. During festivals and dramatic performances, actors sometimes wore double-faced masks or costumes inspired by Janice to represent change, transformation, and the passage from one season or stage of life to another. His imagery reinforced the idea that a mask could embody more than one identity at the same time, making Janice a lasting symbol of duality and transformation. You know who he reminds me of?

SPEAKER_01 22:34

I do not.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Harvey Twoface.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Harvey Twoface. Is that like Benny Two Sticks?

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Two Face. What's his name from Batman? Two Face.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Two Face.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Isn't his name Harvey?

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Harvey Dent is his real name. His criminal name is Two Face. Harvey Twoface Dent? Sorry, no, no, you're right. Back in law school, everyone called him. Sorry, back in his DA days, everyone called him Harvey Two Face because I guess I I don't know why. Uh I guess he wouldn't uh hesitate to stab people in the back.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Speaking of DAs, what's your favorite movie about DAs?

SPEAKER_01 23:08

You mean the shaggy DA?

SPEAKER_00 23:10

I'm just wondering.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Man, that won't that movie's phenomenal. Talk about different appearances and masks. The man wears a dog body.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

It's not quite right. That's a weird description.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

He turns into a dog.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

He doesn't wear a you mean like his soul wears a dog body?

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Like a like a war. What's a warg? From Game of Thrones. Oh.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Alan's rewatching Game of Thrones, so God help us all.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Do you remember the show Reboot? No. I feel like Reboot was a cartoon in the 90s. It must have been in the 90s. But it was it was all um CGI. So, you know, that that that that generation uh of like pretty pretty crunchy computer graphics. Sure. And the premise is everything is inside a computer, and then like these in there the the like there is uh vi the the villains were like viruses and they had and the like the heroes were like the antivirus that had to like protect the system.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

And there is one villain named Hexadecimal.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

I mean they all had like computer names because this is before people knew what computer names were. Like what another the the big villain of the series was called Megabyte, you know?

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

But uh Hexadecimal didn't have her own face based off whatever her mood was, she would just put a different mask on, and that would be her emotion, whether she was happy or sad or angry. She would just swap masks around.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

It was cool. She's kind of creepy.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Yeah. We're actually gonna talk a little bit about a Japanese theatrical mask in the next part of this mask series. Okay. Where it's kind of interesting where the masks were made in a way to convey like multiple emotions, and it was like dependent on the body image and or the the body language and the tone of the scene. It could be interpreted in two different ways.

Plague Doctor Mask Myth Vs Reality

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

But one of my favorite historic masks is the iconic plague doctor mask. The iconic image of the plague doctor wearing a long black robe and a bird-like beaked mask did not emerge during the height of the 14th century Black Death, but during later plague outbreaks in the 17th century.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Which I think is really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

As cities across Europe continued to experience waves of bubonic plague, physicians were hired to treat victims, perform autopsies, witness wills, and document deaths. Did you know that um I was in like a I don't know if it was AP history or not, but I was in a history class in high school, and my like we had to do a thesis every year, and I did two. One was on protest music of the 70s, and the other was on the Black Death. I learned a lot about it then.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Nothing about that is surprising.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

One of the figures most closely associated with the famous costume was the French physician Charles Delorme, who described a protective outfit consisting of a waxed overcoat, leather gloves, boots, a broad-brimmed hat, and a distinctive beaked mask. The ensemble was intended to shield doctors from infection at a time when the true cause of disease remained unknown. The most recognizable feature, this like elongated beak, reflected the prevailing medical theory at the time, rather than an understanding of bacteria. So physicians at the time believed disease spread through miasma or poisonous, foul-smelling air. To counteract these dangerous vapors, plague doctors packed the beak with aromatic substances, including rose petals, lavender, mint, cloves, cinnamon, myrrh, ambergris, and a medical compound called theriac, a complex mixture containing more than 50 ingredients, including herbs, honey, and even powdered viper flesh. Doctors believed the length of the beak allowed enough time for the air to be purified before it reached their lungs. In reality, the plague is caused by bacteria. In this case, it spread primarily through infected fleas, contaminated animals, and in some forms, respiratory droplets.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Well, they've effectively made a filter to stop those droplets, though.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

The rest of the plague doctor's outfit was also designed with protection in mind. The long coat was coated in scented wax to repel contaminated fluids. Leather gloves and boots prevented direct contact with patients, and glass spectacles shielded the eyes.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

It's pretty not bad, PPE.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

It's not bad. Doctors often carried a wooden cane, allowing them to examine patients, move clothing, or maintain distance without touching infected individuals directly.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

Smart.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

While these precautions were based on incorrect medical theories, some elements, such as limiting physical contact or wearing protective outer garments, may have offered a small degree of accidental protection. Overall, however, the costumes did little to prevent infection because it addressed the wrong mode of transmission. Although the costume failed as effective medical equipment, it became one of history's more enduring symbols of epidemic disease. The eerie silhouette of the beaked mask spread through engravings and artwork. I think I have like 17 pins with the plague doctor masks on them. Particularly in Italy, where it eventually became incorporated into the traditions of the Venetian carnival as a theatrical costume, bringing it full circle.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

There it is.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Today, the Plague Doctor's mask has become a cultural icon, appearing in films, literature, video games, and Halloween costumes. Even at Bonnaroo. I don't know about that. Its haunting appearance continues to evoke fear and mystery, serving as a reminder of a time when medicine struggled to understand one of history's deadliest diseases.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

So when you say video games, to which video games are you specifically referring?

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Fallout 76, Bloodborne, Apex Legends, Bloodhound Skins, and Darkest Dungeon, the Plague Doctor class.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

It's almost like you're reading a list.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

Any more questions? No, that's a one thing we haven't talked about yet, Alan, is our mask collection.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

I mean, we've

Our Mask Collection And Travel Souvenirs

SPEAKER_01 29:06

talked about it a couple times.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

I mean, on this, on this episode. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

We've got it. So when we first met on our first date, really, you it it kid somehow it came up that we both had mask collections. And I at the time collected exclusively creepy masks. And you collected artistic masks.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

I collected masks from there's some exception to this, but places I had been or places people had been and and brought masks back to the case.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Yeah, so just you know, d art pieces.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Whereas I was always gunning for the creepiest, most weird thing I could find. But now that we are going steady, uh we're married. We've uh merged our mask collections, and now our our bedroom, all walls are lined with masks.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

All four walls.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Uh, which is kind of exciting.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Yeah, and we have some what's really cool is we try to when we go somewhere together or just like a cool place separately. Alan does a lot of cool travel for work. We try, there's been some failures, but we try to find a mask to bring home as our souvenir, which is nice because it also kind of contains the souvenirs we're bringing home. But it also means our bedroom is covered in covered in mask.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

It's fun.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

I think I think masks are just such a cool thing in general. Like they're a little creepy, they seem a little dangerous, uh, they're fun to look at. I I don't know. I think they're just they're they're neat.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Well, it speaks to their cultural influence, right? That almost everywhere we've ever gone, like you can pretty easily find. And like these masks, we try to get them as to be as authentic as we can, but you know, almost everywhere we've gone, we're able to get masks. Something. Something. Yeah, because that's how like prominent they are globally.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

Right. Uh one of my favorite things is when we're going to a different country, I'll Google whatever country's traditional mask. And usually something will pop up. I think the best example was Romania. I don't know very much about Romanian culture, but when you Google traditional Romanian mask, the same thing pops up again and again and again. It's just like this big wooden mask with tons of fur around the edges.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

It's like hair.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Uh yes. I I don't know what kind of wool or whatever it's made of.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

But it's meant to look like.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Yeah, it looks very bestial.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Uh it's so cool. And I was so glad that we actually were able to find one while we were there.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Was that your favorite mask?

SPEAKER_01 31:34

My favorite mask is actually one of the first masks that I got. It's from Costa Rica. This little artisan just was carving these wooden masks like at a like at a stand. And they were so, so cool. I don't know how to describe it except that it's it's a very neutral expression, but exquisitely carved.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Yeah. Gorgeous. Like one of the more like just like beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Yeah, like the woodwork is absolutely incredible. It's so, so heavy. Uh, my only regret about it is that it was kind of expensive, so I didn't buy its like sister piece, which was the same mask, but like covered in boils. And I'm like, well, this is too creepy.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

We'll go back someday. I've never been, we'll go.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

But it, oh man, like it's yeah, it was the same mask, but just like sick. Actually, my very but I that was one of my first masks. The very first mask was the one of my brass ones.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Um, because we just found it in my father's scrapyard. When it just I don't know, it feels like the movie The Mask, where you just you find a strange mask and you're like, well, we got this thing now. What are we gonna do with it?

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Yeah. One of my favorites is a very, very small wooden mask that my friend Brianna got me in Africa. And it's just again, it's so small and intricate. And it's, you know, we have we have some very, very large masks, and it stands out to me because of how small it is and how much detail there's, you know, contained in in that. I also so we just went to Paris and got a mask at like a huge flea market, which I certainly don't think is a traditional French mask, but I love it because it's very like Hellraiser. I think it's very fun.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

It looks like the face of an Iron Maiden.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

Um, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

I also like our wooden jaguar mask.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Oh, yeah, from Mexico.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Yeah. Uh, just because jaguars being such a traditional animal. Um, I mean, these are like a touristy thing. You can find these everywhere, but just like I just finished reading this uh novel series where there was um an order called the Jaguar Knights.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

They were kind of like holy warriors slash like peacekeepers. Um, and then we went to Mexico and I saw these like traditional jaguar masks. I'm like, oh, cool, we get we gotta get one.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Yeah, I I love them and I think it's fun and uh some of our friends bring them to us. You know, it's just like a cool, it's a cool and it feels very meaningful.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

It so if you have a mask and you'd like to gift it to us, we we will happily accept it and display it on our wall.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Send it to filmsaboutlunatics at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

That's right. Well, okay, so enough about our masks

Why Masks Endure And Next Week

SPEAKER_00 34:09

though. Masks have served many purposes throughout history. They have honored the dead, concealed identity, marked social status, protected against disease, and allowed people to become someone else. If only just for a little while. Across cultures and centuries, they have reflected our beliefs about death, identity, and the unseen, leaving behind a legacy that is fascinating and mysterious. Next week, we'll leave the historical record behind and step into the world of folklore, exploring the legends, superstitions, and unsettling stories that have grown around masks throughout history. Next time on Lunatics Radio Hour. Bye. Bye.