Growing up in the 80s, one of the scariest diseases kids could imagine was rabies. Stories of 30 needles to the stomach raged through the elementary school community like wildfire. One little nip in the finger from an angry squirrel and you’d end up in emergency with Dr. Pinhead torturing you. In Vancouver, there are coyotes, raccoons, and squirrels everywhere, so as a kid I was surrounded by creatures that I was sure wanted to sink their rabid teeth into me. I eventually grew up and grew out of my fear of catching rabies from urban wildlife, but after watching this horrifying 1960s medical documentary following the stages of rabies in an Iranian patient bitten by a rabid wolf, I feel like I’m having flashbacks.
