Humans are often called as witnesses to testify in courts and before Congress. As we are about to find out, being a witness is not exclusive to humans. Animals, puppets, and robots have also fulfilled that role.

Animals have been called as witnesses in criminal proceedings because they saw the crimes or got involved in one way or another. Some courts have allowed this use of animals, while other judges have plainly refused.

10 Bud The Parrot

In May 2015, 49-year-old Glenna Duram attempted a murder-suicide. She shot her husband, Martin Duram, five times before shooting herself. Martin died, but Glenna survived. Bud, an African grey parrot owned by Martin, was the only witness to the murder.

Bud revealed that Glenna was the shooter when the bird started saying “Don’t f—g shoot” in Martin’s voice. It often repeated what is believed to be the last conversation between the couple. The bird alternated between the voices of Glenna and Martin and always ended with Martin’s words, “Don’t f—g shoot.”

Martin’s mother, Lillian, mentioned that Bud was a filthy bird and was fond of repeating whatever it heard, so it was probably telling the truth. Prosecutors attempted to take Bud to court as a witness, but they were turned down. Nevertheless, Glenna was found guilty of murder.^[1]

9 Elmo

In 2002, Elmo of Sesame Street became the first puppet and nonhuman to testify before the US Congress. (Arguably, it is still the only puppet to have ever testified before Congress.) Elmo appeared before the Education Appropriations Subcommittee to support an increase in funding for teaching music in schools.

The increased funding was to be used to purchase music equipment and fund music research. To play the part, Elmo dressed in a suit and tie. However, not everybody found it funny.

2002 was a busy year for Congress. It was stuck right between the 2001 World Trade Center attacks and the 2003 Iraq War. The September 11, 2001, bombing was still fresh at the time, and Congress was planning a vote on the Iraq War. Besides, Elmo also interrupted other witnesses and tried to eat the microphone.^[2]

8 Murphy The Dog

In 2005, Albert K. Smith was arrested for shooting the boyfriend of his ex-wife. While in a cell, he wrote a letter to somebody named Murphy Smith. The elusive Murphy Smith interested prosecutors who believed they had gotten a lead on the murder. They issued a subpoena and called Murphy in as a witness.

When Murphy arrived at the courthouse, prosecutors were shocked to discover that he was not a human. Instead, he was Smith’s five-year-old Shih Tzu. Murphy the dog had been brought to court by Albert Smith’s unnamed brother. But they were not permitted to enter the courthouse because dogs were not allowed. The embarrassed prosecutors apologized for the mix-up.^[3]

7 Scooby The Dog

In 2008, an unnamed 59-year-old woman was found hanging in her Paris home. Police considered it a suicide, but her family suspected murder. So they insisted on an investigation. The only witness was the woman’s unnamed dog. The pooch was later nicknamed Scooby after the famous fictional investigative dog, Scooby Doo.

Police believe that Scooby was in the home at the time of the woman’s murder. They found a suspect and called Scooby to court as a witness. Prosecutors observed Scooby’s behavior when presented with the suspect to determine whether to continue with the murder investigation or rule its owner’s death as a suicide.

Scooby barked ferociously when presented with the witness. The court did not explain what decision it reached, and we were unable to find a follow-up. However, Judge Thomas Cassuto thanked Scooby for its help, saying the dog showed “exemplary behavior and (was of) invaluable assistance.”^[4]

6 Tango The Dog

French courts obviously have a thing for using dogs as witnesses. In 2014, a French court called another dog as a witness in a murder trial. The pooch was Tango, a nine-year-old Labrador. Tango’s unnamed owner had been murdered, and prosecutors believed that Tango had witnessed the homicide.

Tango was called to the witness stand where the judge ordered the suspect to threaten the dog with a bat. Prosecutors assumed that Tango’s behavior toward the suspect behaving this way would determine whether the suspect was the murderer.

To ensure that there were no errors, prosecutors used Norman, another nine-year-old Labrador, as a control. The suspect also threatened Norman with a bat. Afterward, Norman’s reaction was compared to Tango’s. Although we do not know how the dogs responded, the exercise was considered a failure. The suspect’s lawyer said it was “absurd.”^[5]

5 Officer Azor K9

In 2012, Rodney McGee appeared in a Florida court over a traffic citation. However, he called for a postponement of the proceedings because one of his key witnesses was not in court. The witness was Officer Azor K9, a German shepherd police dog.

McGee was so serious about having Officer Azor K9 in court that McGee had issued a subpoena. He was clearly shocked when a police handler led Azor into the courtroom. Apparently, McGee had not believed that the police would be crazy enough to bring a dog to court as a witness.

McGee had subpoenaed Azor because the dog had been present at the scene when police suspected that McGee had drugs in his car. McGee said he wanted to hide marijuana in the courtroom and determine if Azor could find drugs.

The unimpressed Judge Peter Bell did not allow Azor to testify. Bell did not permit McGee to hide marijuana in the courtroom, either. Instead, the judge ordered McGee to pay a $300 fine for not using his turn signal.^[6]

4 Pepper The Robot

In 2018, Pepper became the first robot to appear before the British Parliament. Several human witnesses, including computer scientists and roboticists, also testified. The idea was to prove the usefulness of robots and artificial intelligence to humans.

Pepper provided evidence about artificial intelligence, robotics, and the fourth industrial revolution. The robot also answered questions from members of Parliament, although it was unclear if the responses were preprogrammed or used artificial intelligence technology.

Pepper is part of a category of smart robots created by SoftBank Robotics, a Japanese company. The robots have microphones, cameras, and touch screens on their chests. They have been used in several roles, including receptionists. However, not everything has not been rosy for the robots. One was fired from its job at a grocery store.^[7]

3 Peach The Dog

In 2013, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which handles criminal prosecution in England and Wales, requested a witness statement from Police Constable Peach of the West Midlands Police Station. Officers at the station wrote back to CPS to inform them that PC Peach was actually PD Peach—that is, Police Dog Peach.

Despite this, CPS insisted it needed a statement from the German shepherd. Peach’s handler wrote the statement after a series of correspondence. The handler used wriggly handwriting, the sort a dog would supposedly use if it could write. The statement read, “I chase him. I bite him. Bad man. He tasty. Good boy. Good boy Peach.”^[8]

The handler signed the statement with Peach’s paw print. Peach was four years old, and his service number started with PD, clearly indicating he was a dog. Officers posted the statement on the wall of their station, and it finally ended up on Facebook and Twitter where CPS became the butt of jokes. CPS was unimpressed.

2 Buddy The Dog

In the early 20th century, a court in the District of Columbia called a dog as a witness in a lawsuit over its ownership. Both Major General Eli Helmick of the US Armed Forces and Keeley Morse, a hat seller, insisted they owned the dog.

Helmick claimed that he had purchased the dog in 1920 and called it Buddy. In November 1921, the pooch disappeared. His wife, Florence, found the missing dog in Keeley Morse’s hat shop several months later. Florence insisted that the dog was called Buddy and belonged to her husband. Morse maintained that the dog, named Prince, was his.

Major General Helmick soon got involved and called the police. They detained the dog when they could not determine its real owner. Both men went to court, where Helmick showed receipts, records, and photographs to prove that he owned the canine. Morse said the evidence was unnecessary because Prince was another dog.

Morse insisted that he had purchased Prince on October 24, the month before Buddy went missing, so it could not have been the general’s missing dog. One at a time, the men argued over the breed of the dog to prove ownership. Judge Edward Kimball later decided to settle the case the good old-fashioned way.

Kimball called the dog into the courtroom as a witness. It was put on a chair where it promptly jumped and ran toward Mrs. Helmick. This action, the judge ruled, proved that the dog belonged to the Helmicks and not Morse.^[9]

1 Max The Parrot

In November 1991, 36-year-old Jane Gill was found dead in her Northern California home. Suspicion fell on Gary Joseph Rasp, Gill’s business partner, who appeared in court as a suspect. The only witness was Max, Gill’s parrot, which probably saw the murder.

Max had remained inside its cage for two days after the murder until Gill’s body was found. The bird was hungry and thirsty when it was rescued. So it was taken to a pet shop where it was nursed back to health. After getting better, Max started to shout, “Richard, no, no, no!”^[10]

Charles Ogulnik, Rasp’s attorney, took an interest in the bird. His client could not be guilty if the parrot had squawked, “Richard, no, no, no!” Ogulnik was questioning a private investigator about looking into the bird’s statements when the district attorney objected.

The judge sustained the objection, ending the bird’s chance of being a witness. Ogulnik later confirmed that he was not trying to produce the bird as a witness. He only wanted to introduce evidence provided by the bird.

Max’s location was kept secret after the incident. The private investigator joked that the bird was in a witness protection program and its identity had been changed from a parrot to a macaw.

Humans are often called as witnesses to testify in courts and before Congress. As we are about to find out, being a witness is not exclusive to humans. Animals, puppets, and robots have also fulfilled that role.

Animals have been called as witnesses in criminal proceedings because they saw the crimes or got involved in one way or another. Some courts have allowed this use of animals, while other judges have plainly refused.

10 Bud The Parrot

In May 2015, 49-year-old Glenna Duram attempted a murder-suicide. She shot her husband, Martin Duram, five times before shooting herself. Martin died, but Glenna survived. Bud, an African grey parrot owned by Martin, was the only witness to the murder.

Bud revealed that Glenna was the shooter when the bird started saying “Don’t f—g shoot” in Martin’s voice. It often repeated what is believed to be the last conversation between the couple. The bird alternated between the voices of Glenna and Martin and always ended with Martin’s words, “Don’t f—g shoot.”

Martin’s mother, Lillian, mentioned that Bud was a filthy bird and was fond of repeating whatever it heard, so it was probably telling the truth. Prosecutors attempted to take Bud to court as a witness, but they were turned down. Nevertheless, Glenna was found guilty of murder.^[1]

9 Elmo

In 2002, Elmo of Sesame Street became the first puppet and nonhuman to testify before the US Congress. (Arguably, it is still the only puppet to have ever testified before Congress.) Elmo appeared before the Education Appropriations Subcommittee to support an increase in funding for teaching music in schools.

The increased funding was to be used to purchase music equipment and fund music research. To play the part, Elmo dressed in a suit and tie. However, not everybody found it funny.

2002 was a busy year for Congress. It was stuck right between the 2001 World Trade Center attacks and the 2003 Iraq War. The September 11, 2001, bombing was still fresh at the time, and Congress was planning a vote on the Iraq War. Besides, Elmo also interrupted other witnesses and tried to eat the microphone.^[2]

8 Murphy The Dog

In 2005, Albert K. Smith was arrested for shooting the boyfriend of his ex-wife. While in a cell, he wrote a letter to somebody named Murphy Smith. The elusive Murphy Smith interested prosecutors who believed they had gotten a lead on the murder. They issued a subpoena and called Murphy in as a witness.

When Murphy arrived at the courthouse, prosecutors were shocked to discover that he was not a human. Instead, he was Smith’s five-year-old Shih Tzu. Murphy the dog had been brought to court by Albert Smith’s unnamed brother. But they were not permitted to enter the courthouse because dogs were not allowed. The embarrassed prosecutors apologized for the mix-up.^[3]

7 Scooby The Dog

In 2008, an unnamed 59-year-old woman was found hanging in her Paris home. Police considered it a suicide, but her family suspected murder. So they insisted on an investigation. The only witness was the woman’s unnamed dog. The pooch was later nicknamed Scooby after the famous fictional investigative dog, Scooby Doo.

Police believe that Scooby was in the home at the time of the woman’s murder. They found a suspect and called Scooby to court as a witness. Prosecutors observed Scooby’s behavior when presented with the suspect to determine whether to continue with the murder investigation or rule its owner’s death as a suicide.

Scooby barked ferociously when presented with the witness. The court did not explain what decision it reached, and we were unable to find a follow-up. However, Judge Thomas Cassuto thanked Scooby for its help, saying the dog showed “exemplary behavior and (was of) invaluable assistance.”^[4]

6 Tango The Dog

French courts obviously have a thing for using dogs as witnesses. In 2014, a French court called another dog as a witness in a murder trial. The pooch was Tango, a nine-year-old Labrador. Tango’s unnamed owner had been murdered, and prosecutors believed that Tango had witnessed the homicide.

Tango was called to the witness stand where the judge ordered the suspect to threaten the dog with a bat. Prosecutors assumed that Tango’s behavior toward the suspect behaving this way would determine whether the suspect was the murderer.

To ensure that there were no errors, prosecutors used Norman, another nine-year-old Labrador, as a control. The suspect also threatened Norman with a bat. Afterward, Norman’s reaction was compared to Tango’s. Although we do not know how the dogs responded, the exercise was considered a failure. The suspect’s lawyer said it was “absurd.”^[5]

5 Officer Azor K9

In 2012, Rodney McGee appeared in a Florida court over a traffic citation. However, he called for a postponement of the proceedings because one of his key witnesses was not in court. The witness was Officer Azor K9, a German shepherd police dog.

McGee was so serious about having Officer Azor K9 in court that McGee had issued a subpoena. He was clearly shocked when a police handler led Azor into the courtroom. Apparently, McGee had not believed that the police would be crazy enough to bring a dog to court as a witness.

McGee had subpoenaed Azor because the dog had been present at the scene when police suspected that McGee had drugs in his car. McGee said he wanted to hide marijuana in the courtroom and determine if Azor could find drugs.

The unimpressed Judge Peter Bell did not allow Azor to testify. Bell did not permit McGee to hide marijuana in the courtroom, either. Instead, the judge ordered McGee to pay a $300 fine for not using his turn signal.^[6]

4 Pepper The Robot

In 2018, Pepper became the first robot to appear before the British Parliament. Several human witnesses, including computer scientists and roboticists, also testified. The idea was to prove the usefulness of robots and artificial intelligence to humans.

Pepper provided evidence about artificial intelligence, robotics, and the fourth industrial revolution. The robot also answered questions from members of Parliament, although it was unclear if the responses were preprogrammed or used artificial intelligence technology.

Pepper is part of a category of smart robots created by SoftBank Robotics, a Japanese company. The robots have microphones, cameras, and touch screens on their chests. They have been used in several roles, including receptionists. However, not everything has not been rosy for the robots. One was fired from its job at a grocery store.^[7]

3 Peach The Dog

In 2013, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which handles criminal prosecution in England and Wales, requested a witness statement from Police Constable Peach of the West Midlands Police Station. Officers at the station wrote back to CPS to inform them that PC Peach was actually PD Peach—that is, Police Dog Peach.

Despite this, CPS insisted it needed a statement from the German shepherd. Peach’s handler wrote the statement after a series of correspondence. The handler used wriggly handwriting, the sort a dog would supposedly use if it could write. The statement read, “I chase him. I bite him. Bad man. He tasty. Good boy. Good boy Peach.”^[8]

The handler signed the statement with Peach’s paw print. Peach was four years old, and his service number started with PD, clearly indicating he was a dog. Officers posted the statement on the wall of their station, and it finally ended up on Facebook and Twitter where CPS became the butt of jokes. CPS was unimpressed.

2 Buddy The Dog

In the early 20th century, a court in the District of Columbia called a dog as a witness in a lawsuit over its ownership. Both Major General Eli Helmick of the US Armed Forces and Keeley Morse, a hat seller, insisted they owned the dog.

Helmick claimed that he had purchased the dog in 1920 and called it Buddy. In November 1921, the pooch disappeared. His wife, Florence, found the missing dog in Keeley Morse’s hat shop several months later. Florence insisted that the dog was called Buddy and belonged to her husband. Morse maintained that the dog, named Prince, was his.

Major General Helmick soon got involved and called the police. They detained the dog when they could not determine its real owner. Both men went to court, where Helmick showed receipts, records, and photographs to prove that he owned the canine. Morse said the evidence was unnecessary because Prince was another dog.

Morse insisted that he had purchased Prince on October 24, the month before Buddy went missing, so it could not have been the general’s missing dog. One at a time, the men argued over the breed of the dog to prove ownership. Judge Edward Kimball later decided to settle the case the good old-fashioned way.

Kimball called the dog into the courtroom as a witness. It was put on a chair where it promptly jumped and ran toward Mrs. Helmick. This action, the judge ruled, proved that the dog belonged to the Helmicks and not Morse.^[9]

1 Max The Parrot

In November 1991, 36-year-old Jane Gill was found dead in her Northern California home. Suspicion fell on Gary Joseph Rasp, Gill’s business partner, who appeared in court as a suspect. The only witness was Max, Gill’s parrot, which probably saw the murder.

Max had remained inside its cage for two days after the murder until Gill’s body was found. The bird was hungry and thirsty when it was rescued. So it was taken to a pet shop where it was nursed back to health. After getting better, Max started to shout, “Richard, no, no, no!”^[10]

Charles Ogulnik, Rasp’s attorney, took an interest in the bird. His client could not be guilty if the parrot had squawked, “Richard, no, no, no!” Ogulnik was questioning a private investigator about looking into the bird’s statements when the district attorney objected.

The judge sustained the objection, ending the bird’s chance of being a witness. Ogulnik later confirmed that he was not trying to produce the bird as a witness. He only wanted to introduce evidence provided by the bird.

Max’s location was kept secret after the incident. The private investigator joked that the bird was in a witness protection program and its identity had been changed from a parrot to a macaw.

When we think of diseases throughout human history, certain images commonly come to mind: a tragic heroine coughing blood into a white handkerchief, peg-legged pirates suffering from scurvy, piles of corpses carted away while children hold hands and solemnly chant “Ring Around the Rosie,” white-haired men sitting in bed wearing head bandages and covered in leeches. And what kinds of words come to mind? “The plague?” “Consumption?” “Dropsy?” But what were these diseases exactly, and what happened to them?

With the advance of technology, some old-time diseases are well and truly dead. For example, the 33rd World Health Assembly made an official announcement on May 8, 1980, declaring that naturally occurring smallpox had been eradicated worldwide. Other diseases, such as polio, have been significantly reduced. Worldwide polio cases declined by more than 99 percent between 1998 and 2013. Now, 80 percent of the world’s population lives in so-called “polio-free” areas, according to the CDC.^[1] Other diseases, however, have never left us and continue to be a scourge on humanity—albeit under different names than during the days of yore.

10 Then: Consumption
Now: Tuberculosis

In 2016, the United States saw its lowest number of reported TB cases ever. But worldwide, it is still one of the top ten causes of death, and more than 95 percent of cases occur in developing countries. Though tuberculosis is known mostly for causing a bloody cough, “consumption” actually refers to another symptom—severe weight loss—and the way sufferers appear to be “consumed” by the disease.^[2] The term “consumption,” or at least an ancient Greek version of it, first appeared around 460 BC in the writings of Hippocrates (he of the Hippocratic oath).

You may have heard the word “tuber” in relation to potatoes, and no one could blame you for not making a connection between potatoes and tuberculosis. Yet, it’s true: The Latin word tuber, which means “lump” or “swelling,” is used to describe both certain structures in plant species as well as this famous disease, due to the fact that it causes small, hard swellings on infected organs such as the lungs. Though TB has been around since ancient times, the term “tuberculosis” has only been around since 1860.

9 Then: The Black Death
Now: Bubonic Plague

Few historical diseases are quite as infamous as the Black Death. Estimates of the number of fatalities vary widely, with some counts as high as 200 million in the 14th century alone. Nightmarish stories of the Black Death abound, including one account by an Italian writer who described layers of human bodies separated by thin layers of earth, “just as one makes lasagne with layers of pasta and cheese.” Though it was referred to as the Black Death, people at the time did not know it was caused by bacteria carried by black rats and their fleas. Unlike brown or gray rats, black rats prefer to live close to people, and those rats’ fleas needed new hosts once their rodent hosts had died.

Now this disease is known as bubonic plague, named for the swollen lymph nodes (or “buboes”) in the groin, armpit, or neck that serve as a telltale sign of infection.^[3] While the plague may be the most old-timey-sounding disease on this list, the World Health Organization states that there were 320 reported cases of the bubonic plague worldwide in 2015, resulting in 77 deaths. 

8 Then: Hysteria
Now: Any Number Of Things

These days, “hysterical” is a word typically used to describe something that is funny. It is used less often to mean “uncontrollably emotional,” even though this is the original meaning of the word. Going back even further, the word “hysterical” comes from the Latin hystera, meaning “womb.” It is the same root for the word “hysterectomy,” the surgical procedure in which the uterus is removed. Why would the word for “uterus” give birth to a word that describes a state of extreme emotional disturbance?

Throughout history, hysteria was thought to be a uniquely female problem, a product of women’s inferiority to men, beginning in ancient Egypt and persisting for thousands of years across numerous societies. Any unexplained issue in a woman’s health was chalked up to “hysteria.” Sometimes, an ostensibly scientific explanation was given. Hippocrates believed the uterus was a free-floating organ that would migrate about the body, causing havoc wherever it went. Other times, hysteria was simply blamed on witchcraft or demonic possession.^[4] Orgasms were considered a fitting treatment for hysteria, a belief which eventually led to advent of the modern vibrator.

7 Then: The Falling Sickness
Now: Epilepsy

Historically, “the falling sickness,” a name which appeared in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, is one of the kinder ways of describing the seizure disorder now known as epilepsy. Like hysteria, it was often attributed to more sinister causes, such as insanity, witchcraft, or demonic possession. In antiquity, it was also referred to as “the sacred disease” or described as divine—not because it was considered a blessing but because it was considered supernatural in nature, a curse inflicted by an angry god or a devil. However, as long ago as 400 BC, the Greek text On the Sacred Disease asserted that epilepsy was natural and not divine in origin. 

As is so often the case, the terminology we use for the disease today comes from a Greek word, this time epilambanem, which means “to seize or take hold of.”^[5] Though a seizure can be an extremely frightening event to witness (and, of course, experience) most people are now aware that seizures are caused by a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain, as opposed to witchcraft or devilry. 

6 Then: The Clap
Now: Gonorrhea

Let’s not beat around the bush. Many people have already heard the gruesome origin story of “the clap” as a term for gonorrhea. (Read no further if you haven’t, especially if you are squeamish.) It is said that “the clap” referred to a treatment of sorts for gonorrhea that worked by “clapping” the penis between two hard surfaces so as to expel discharge from the urethra. Technically, this is just a theory, and there are others that are much less nauseating. One is that it actually comes from the French word clapier, a term used to refer to a brothel. Another is that it comes from the Old English word “clappan,” meaning “to throb.”^[6]

The origin of the word “gonorrhea,” on the other hand, is significantly less interesting. It comes from the Greek root “gono-,” related to reproduction (think “gonad”), and “-rrhea,” meaning flow or discharge. Though unpleasant, gonorrhea is preventable and treatable; unfortunately, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea is currently a major public health concern.

5 Then: Dropsy
Now: Edema

Detail on the exact origin of the word “dropsy” is scarce. It is thought to come from the Middle English “dropesie,” which can be traced back to the Greek hydrops.^[7] While the word “dropsy” might conjure images of klutziness or fainting, the key part here is not the “drops” but rather the “hydro.” “Dropsy” refers to swelling caused by excess fluid in the body and, therefore, is better described by the more modern term “edema” (also Greek in origin).

It is difficult to write succinctly about edema, as it can happen for many reasons and in many places in the body. It can describe the swelling that results from a mosquito bite and also the swelling that can indicate congestive heart failure or head trauma. How it is treated depends on its underlying cause.

4 Then: Various
Now: Syphilis

Syphilis is a disease that has gone by many names. In fact, historically, regions would name the disease based on whomever they blamed for its prevalence in their own population: Russians called it “the Polish disease,” the Polish called it “the German disease,” the Portuguese called it “the Spanish disease,” and so on. In the horrific, infamous, and formerly secret “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” experiment, the US Public Health Service told the 600 African American males recruited for the study that they were being treated for “bad blood,” though no treatment was ever rendered.

Oddly enough, the term “syphilis” is not much more scientific than the other terms once used to describe it. The term originates from an epic poem written in 1530 about a mythical shepherd who is given the disease by an angry god.^[8] The actual origin of the disease itself is unknown. What is known about syphilis is that it is a sexually transmitted infection that begins with painless sores. Without treatment, can advance to much more serious complications, such as neurosyphilis and ocular syphilis. Once syphilis spreads to the brain or eyes, it can cause severe headaches, paralysis, dementia, and blindness. Luckily, syphilis can be prevented with condoms and treated with antibiotics, though it can be hard to detect, due to those aforementioned painless sores and the fact that they disappear on their own as the disease progresses.

3 Then: GRID
Now: HIV/AIDS

HIV is the most recent disease on this list, yet it, too, was poorly understood when it was first observed. Its name now, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, refers to the fact that it is a virus that affects the immune system of humans. But back in 1982, The New York Times ran an article on so-called “gay-related immunodeficiency,” or GRID, titled “New Homosexual Disorder Worries Health Officials.” At the time, this article also acknowledged that some of those affected were heterosexual men and women, often intravenous drug users. Nevertheless, the term GRID was used because of the disease’s prevalence among gay men.

“GRID” was a short-lived name. That same year, the CDC began using the more accurate term “AIDS.”^[9] Now, “AIDS” is used to refer to the most advanced stage of HIV infection. Persons who are infected but do not yet have AIDS are said to have HIV, a term put forth by the International Committee of the Taxonomy of Viruses in 1986. 

2 Then: Shell Shock
Now: PTSD

This one is a disorder, not a disease, but there are physical aspects to its presentation. PTSD, or posttraumatic stress disorder, is a disorder that can affect a person exposed to death, serious injury, sexual violence, or the threat of any of the above. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition, which is used to diagnose mental disorders, even states that it can result from indirect experience (such as when a close relative is exposed to a traumatic event) or from “indirect exposure to aversive details” of a traumatic event (such as “professionals repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse”). It is characterized by intrusive symptoms such as flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, negative thoughts and emotions, hypervigilance, and sometimes aggressive or self-destructive behavior, among other things.

PTSD is commonly associated with combat trauma specifically, and previous terminology defined it exclusively as an affliction of those who fought in wars. In the early 20th century, “shell shock” was more heavily defined by its physical symptoms—tremor, fatigue, and perceptual abnormalities—than by its mental or behavioral ones. While the “shell” portion referred to projectiles containing explosive charges, the “shock” portion referred to the lingering effects on people exposed to such weaponry. It was first thought to be a brain injury caused by blast force, but in time, researchers noticed similar symptoms among soldiers who had not been near exploding shells. These soldiers’ symptoms could not be explained by concussive trauma, but they could be explained by exposure to the many horrors and stressors of war.^[10]

1 Then: Apoplexy
Now: Stroke

Hippocrates strikes yet again, as he is credited with first recognizing strokes more than 2,400 years ago. At that time, he used the word “apoplexy,” meaning “struck down by violence.”^[11] (Today, “apoplectic” can also be used to describe someone who is enraged.) The connection between the Greek root and the current term is obvious. One who has been struck has had a stroke. 

“Stroke” is the term used today, though other terms may be used. Some prefer “cerebrovascular accident,” although its use has been discouraged due to its suggestion that a stroke “is a chance event for which little can be done.” “Brain attack” is favored by some, as it conveys a sense of urgency, similar to “heart attack.” Essentially, a stroke occurs when the flow of blood to a portion of the brain is blocked, resulting in brain cell death, so swift treatment is crucial. 

Hannah lives in Seattle with her husband and dogs. She enjoys researching and writing.