June 3, 1348

Dear Brother,

I hope that you are not dead yet. I hope you shall hear from me again, as I have the terrible pestilence. The other nearly hopeless flagellants and I have decided that the Jews are the reason of all this. The Jews were the reason of Jesus’s death, and we think that by whipping ourselves, and suffering the same pain as Jesus, we shall not get the terrible pestilence. We are also attempting to kill them avenge them for their horribleness. I got this dreadfulness anyway, so I have decided we are not whippings ourselves hard enough. I’m missing my old life now. Before I was a 28 year old farmer/peasant, now I’m half dead on a street covered in blood.

It is getting extremely bloody on these tiny little roads. As you know in little Sicily all our roads are tiny. All I hear is those painful whips hitting our nearly skinless body, and the terrible groans. And the sights I see, they kill me! So much blood, those crazy women putting our blood in their own eyes, it’s just a horrible sight! I taste all that blood as well, and I feel and smell it! All the blood is taking over my senses! It’s just terrible!

Below you shall see the symptoms of the pestilence. Then you can know if the whipping has helped you. At first you will get cold and hot simultaneously. You will feel extremely hot then extremely cold. After that you will start to cough blood. I hated this one because it gave me the terrible blood taste in my mouth again. Then you will get big odd colored bumps all over you. They sometimes pop and let out a gooey liquid. You’re pretty much dead by then, and you are dead after you have seizures. I hope this advice will help you in your later life.

You shall go and tell all of your friends and all our family to flagellant as well, in honor of me, and in hopes of protecting yourselves. If you do this you shall not get the pestilence, and saves the lives of others of whom we love and would hate to see the suffer the terrible five  days.

Good luck,

Joe Nivvy
P.S. Watch an eye on the family for me. I would hate to go back to France and get our whole lovely family sick as well.