MASS HYSTERIA THROUGH THE AGES TV

The school responded by cutting down the trees around the school, believing they were home to supernatural spirits. They claimed they had seen the face of pure evil. In 2019, schoolgirls at Ketereh national secondary school started screaming. Similar episodes of mass psychogenic illness have occurred in the school each year. It infected 37 girls and 10 boys on the same day. In 2018, a 9-year-old girl developed crying and shouting episodes. A third of the 900 students stayed home through fear. In 1976 Mississippi school officials suspected drug use after 15 students fell, writhing to the ground. It spread to the wider community and took two years to die out.

The school was temporarily closed in March 1962. The laughter epidemic affected 95 of 159 pupils. It started with just three girls and spread haphazardly throughout the school. The Tanganyika laughter epidemic of January 1962 began in a mission-run boarding school. He said that was the reason the cosmos was silent.

Stephen Hawkins, the English physicist, cosmologist and author, believed the fear of annihilation by an advanced civilization may not be limited to Earth. Stephen Spielberg repeated the theme in a film in 2005. Orson Welles’ radio play ‘War of the Worlds’ threw thousands of Americans into panic in 1938. The doctors were unable to ascertain the cause. In 1906, 237 children were similarly infected in Germany. Twelve years later, a further outbreak occurred, affecting 27 students. This developed into full-body seizures, which spread to 19 other students.Ī similar mass hysteria occurred in Switzerland, affecting 20 students. In 1892, the right hand of a 10-year-old girl began trembling. It led to the death of many powerfully political people and changed France for ever. They feared an ‘aristocratic conspiracy’ by the king and the privileged elite were about to overthrow the Third Estate, the commoners. In 1789, the French Revolution began with mass hysteria when general panic gripped the people. They did not stop until the police threatened to whip the nuns.

Soon, the entire nunnery was meowing like a cat. Infected people were unable to stop dancing until they were so worn out and exhausted, they died.Ī nun in a French convent meowed like a cat. In the Middle Ages, spontaneous outburst of uncontrollable dancing gripped people in communities across Europe. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. They accused over 200 people of practicing the Devil’s magic, hanging 14 women and 5 men. The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 16. Salem Witch HuntĪugust 1992 marked the 300th anniversary of the 1692 hysteria and the Salem witch trials. The mythical mass suicide of lemmings is an irresistible metaphor for human behaviour. “Mass hysteria is a sociological concept that refers to the phenomenon of masses of people becoming distressed about a perceived, usually unreal or exaggerated threat portrayed in catastrophizing terms by the media.” Simon Wessely, from King’s College London in the United Kingdom, believes that mass hysteria should not be confused with moral panic. Hysteria is a condition that begins in the mind, rather than in the body. There are also cases of epidemic hysteria where a group of people believe they have a similar disease or ailment. Mass hysteria can involve anything from fashion fads to taking part in riots.

MASS HYSTERIA THROUGH THE AGES TV

Instances of mass hysteria include an outbreak of fatal dancing among members of the same community, men suddenly gripped by the sickening fear of losing their genital organs, and teenagers with mysterious symptoms after watching an episode of their favourite TV series. The mass hysteria event of January 6th 2021, saw very few women involved. Many mass hysteria events are heterogenous, which denies the female factor.

Women are once more blamed for the ills of mankind. Is America on the brink or mass hysteria?įor many, women and hysteria goes hand in hand, because the Greek word is ‘hystera’, referring to the uterus. It is spontaneous manifestation by more than one person. Mass hysteria is a phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, to a population and society.

Mass hysteria through the ages