What was it like to fall ill during the deadliest epidemic in human history?
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A patient’s haunting experience in a Coal Region influenza hospital in 1918
“May these sights soon cease” – Influenza in Pottsville, 1918
"Sorrow and woe stalk almost unceasingly in our midst," wrote the Pottsville Republican in October 1918.
“Nothing to really compare with this” – A reflection on the 1918 influenza epidemic in Wilkes-Barre
"Three hundred miles of funeral processions, and the tears and groans that accompany these sad partings."
Women faced great risks, but volunteered to save lives in Harrisburg during the 1918 flu epidemic
During the height of the 1918 influenza epidemic, the women of Central Pennsylvania jumped into action.
Spanish Flu wreaked havoc in Tower City in October 1918, killed more than 110 people in three weeks
In the communities of western Schuylkill County, influenza caused terror and grief as it claimed dozens of lives in 1918.
During the height of the 1918 influenza outbreak, central Pennsylvania ran out of coffins
Undertakers in Harrisburg found their morgues full of flu victims in October 1918 with no way to give them proper burials.
Parade to raise money for World War I brought deadly influenza to Williams Valley in 1918
"Good music always has an appeal to most people," wrote a reporter accompanying a Liberty Loan Drive parade through Central Pennsylvania in the early fall of 1918. And in the coal towns of Dauphin County's Williams Valley, the bands and singers were particularly successful in attracting a crowd. On the evening of October 2, 1918, … Continue reading Parade to raise money for World War I brought deadly influenza to Williams Valley in 1918
