In early October 1918, pandemic influenza descended on Schuylkill County and left thousands dead.
A story from 1918 reveals chaos as “Spanish flu” raged through Schuylkill County

In early October 1918, pandemic influenza descended on Schuylkill County and left thousands dead.
The writers at the "Pottsville Republican" struggled to find words for the horrific death toll of Spanish flu in October 1918.
Private James J. Dee experienced the horror of the First World War and wrote home to his family about the experience.
In the early morning hours of November 11, 1918, the mining towns of Williams Valley erupted with joy.
What was it like to fall ill during the deadliest epidemic in human history?
"Sorrow and woe stalk almost unceasingly in our midst," wrote the Pottsville Republican in October 1918.
A newspaper correspondent details life in Lykens and Wiconisco in the months after the end of the Great War.
Undertakers in Harrisburg found their morgues full of flu victims in October 1918 with no way to give them proper burials.
"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