What Really Caused the 1918 Spanish Flu? The 1918 flu killed millions, but failed experiments suggest it wasn't contagious. Discover why a forgotten study still challenges germ theory today

For over a century, the 1918 “Spanish Flu” has been held up as one of the deadliest pandemics in modern history—allegedly caused by a virulent strain of the influenza virus that spread rapidly across the globe. But what if the entire narrative is wrong? What if the mass death attributed to this pandemic had little or nothing to do with a contagious virus?

In recent years, alternative health researchers and medical historians have revisited the Spanish Flu story with a critical eye. One of the most astonishing revelations comes from a forgotten experiment conducted in 1919 by the U.S. Navy and Public Health Service. The results of this experiment, still largely ignored by mainstream medicine, call into question the very foundation of infectious disease theory as it relates to influenza—and perhaps viruses in general.

The Experiment That Changed Nothing—But Should Have

In an effort to understand how influenza spreads, Dr. Milton J. Rosenau and colleagues conducted a transmission study on 62 healthy Navy volunteers at Gallops Island in Boston Harbor. These men, aged between 18 and 30 and in peak physical condition, volunteered to be deliberately exposed to what was thought to be the infectious agent behind the deadly flu.

The protocols were extensive—and grotesque. Mucus and throat secretions from dying flu patients were swabbed into the volunteers’ noses, throats, and even eyes. In some cases, the sick coughed directly into the faces of the healthy men. In others, blood from flu patients was injected into healthy test subjects.

Not one of the volunteers got sick. Not one developed any symptoms.

These tests were repeated multiple times, using different sources of the illness and varied methods of exposure. In every case, the transmission failed. The flu simply refused to act like an infectious agent. The team eventually had to concede: “We are not quite sure what we know about the disease,” Rosenau admitted.

If Not a Virus, Then What?

This experiment flies in the face of germ theory, which holds that specific pathogens cause specific diseases that spread from person to person. If a “deadly virus” couldn't infect healthy individuals despite aggressive exposure, what was really going on?

Critics of the official narrative suggest several alternative factors that could explain the flu-like symptoms and mass mortality observed during the 1918 pandemic:

1. Mass Vaccination and Drug Toxicity

World War I troops were subjected to a barrage of vaccines—including typhoid, smallpox, and rabies—all administered with crude adjuvants and preservatives. Many soldiers became ill shortly after mass inoculation campaigns. According to vaccine researcher Eleanora McBean, those who remained unvaccinated, like her family, experienced no flu symptoms at all—even while helping the sick.

Hospitals at the time also administered high doses of aspirin, mercury compounds, and other toxic medications—treatments now known to suppress the immune system and damage internal organs.

2. Extreme Stress and Malnutrition

The psychological and physical stress of war, trench conditions, chemical weapons, poor sanitation, and inadequate nutrition created a perfect storm of immune dysfunction. Soldiers were depleted, vulnerable, and often treated more like experimental subjects than patients.

3. Chemical Exposure

Toxic gases such as chlorine and phosgene were common in WWI combat zones. These substances can cause lung damage, internal bleeding, and flu-like symptoms. Many of those who died from “Spanish Flu” suffered from hemorrhagic lungs—a symptom consistent with chemical poisoning, not viral infection.

4. Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs)

Arthur Firstenberg, author of The Invisible Rainbow, notes that the 1918 pandemic coincided with the global rollout of high-powered radio transmission. Interestingly, the earliest flu outbreaks occurred not in Spain but at the Naval Radio School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Researchers observed an unusually high incidence of nosebleeds and internal bleeding in naval personnel exposed to radio fields—symptoms not typical of viral influenza.

5. Misdiagnosis and Data Manipulation

Just as in modern times, diseases were often miscategorized. Measles, mumps, pneumonia, and other respiratory illnesses were lumped together under the umbrella of “influenza.” There was no standardized testing or virological confirmation—just symptoms and assumption.

This pattern continues today, as COVID-19 deaths are frequently inflated by including all pneumonia, influenza, and COVID (PIC) deaths under a single statistic. A censored Johns Hopkins study even found that total U.S. deaths in 2020 were consistent with previous years—despite media panic over COVID.

Germ Theory Under Fire

The inability to transmit influenza under controlled, high-exposure conditions should have prompted a major reevaluation of germ theory. Instead, the results were buried or ignored. Mainstream medicine moved forward with the assumption that the flu was infectious—because the implications of it not being infectious were too disruptive to the system.

Alternative perspectives like terrain theory—which sees disease as the result of internal imbalances, toxin overload, and emotional stress—were sidelined in favor of a pharmaceutical model based on vaccines and antiviral drugs.

Yet history offers evidence that the best recovery rates in 1918 came from non-medical “health sanitariums” that used fasting, enemas, fresh air, and nutrition to heal patients. Battle Creek and Kellogg’s Health Restorium reportedly had near-100% success rates, while conventional hospitals lost up to a third of their patients.

A Wake-Up Call for Our Time

If the 1918 pandemic was not caused by a virus—and if Rosenau’s experiment proved that even the sickest patients couldn’t transmit disease by contact—what does that mean for today’s pandemic narratives?

It suggests that disease is not something we “catch” from others, but something that develops within us due to environmental, nutritional, psychological, and toxicological factors.

This doesn’t mean microbes play no role in human biology. But perhaps so-called viruses are not invaders, but messengers or byproducts of cellular stress—a cleanup crew, not the arsonists. Many researchers now identify these particles as exosomes, created by our own cells to carry signals or remove waste.

Time to Rethink the Foundations

The Rosenau experiments should be part of every public health curriculum. Instead, they’re forgotten. Why? Because they challenge the pharmaceutical model that profits from fear, dependency, and mass vaccination.

If we want real progress in health science, we must be willing to question everything—including the assumptions most people never realize they’ve made.

Science is not a religion. It must be open to falsification, open to contradiction, and open to history.

Let’s begin by asking: What if contagion isn't what we think it is?

Because if Rosenau was right, we’ve been fighting shadows for over 100 years.

caring is sharing

Search This Blog

THE MAIL