Group dancing, group laughter... are mysterious "epidemics" that have occurred in many places in world history that scientists are still trying to explain .
What is Mass Hysteria?
Mass hysteria , now known as dissociative disorder , is a term used to describe a large number of people exhibiting the same symptoms of physical and mental hysteria. Symptoms quickly spread throughout the community, in some cases spreading to other cities or occurring across the country.
Hysteria is a mental and neurological disorder. The disease arises from excessive anxiety, manifested by overstimulation, uncontrollable emotions. Hysteria is often the result of pent-up inner conflict...
The disease can occur in both sexes, with a frequency of about 3-5 people per 1,000 people. The disease is common in girls between the ages of 14-25 because of the susceptibility to the disease.
Hysteria is a mental and neurological disorder.
Mass hysteria is a term used to describe a situation in which physical or psychological symptoms appear in large numbers, spreading rapidly throughout communities and sometimes entire cities and countries. .
During flare-ups, sufferers may laugh uncontrollably, faint, convulsions, dizziness, muscle weakness, or any other symptom without seeming to have any physical cause. Cases of hysteria have been reported around the world for centuries and provide a fascinating insight into the complex nature of the human psyche.
Here are the most mysterious mass hysterias in human history:
1. “Dancing plague” or “dancing mania” of 1518
It all began on a summer day in Strasbourg, France in 1518. Frau Troffea, the citizen of the city, began dancing non-stop for almost a week. Within a month, 400 citizens of the eastern French city were stimulated to dance non-stop until they suffered a stroke, heart attack or exhausted themselves.
The state of these people is like being hypnotized. Authorities initially attributed the cause to "warm blood in the brain," but ordered the reluctant dancers to continue dancing around the clock to cure and ward off the evil within them, even even set up the stage and hired more dancers and musicians for them. This makes the situation even worse. Versions of the “jumping plague” in France then spread to Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland…
Some historians think these people accidentally ingested ergot, a toxic mold that causes muscle contractions - but that doesn't explain why they danced in time. such long. Others attributed it to the stress of disease and famine raging in the area, along with a group of people who believed in the "curse of the dance".
Dance mania, also known as the Plague of Dancing, the Dance of Saint John or the Dance of Saint Vitus, swept continental Europe between the 13th and 17th centuries.
The Salem Witch Trials (1692–1693)
One of the most famous cases of mass hysteria was that of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. Dozens of young girls displayed uncontrollable episodes of screaming and squirming, eventually causing a series of accusations of witchcraft. The result was a series of hearings and prosecutions of those accused of witchcraft, known as the Salem Witch Trials, which resulted in the deaths of 25 citizens of Salem and surrounding towns.
The Biting Nuns (15th Century)
In the 15th century, another outbreak of mass hysteria occurred in Germany when a nun in a convent began to bite others. Soon the practice spread throughout the monastery, and as news spread, the phenomenon spread, leading to outbreaks of biting in monasteries across Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy.
As described by a 15th-century doctor: “A nun in a monastery in Germany bit all her companions. In a short time, all the nuns of this convent began to bite each other. News of this fascination among the nuns quickly spread and it has now spread from one monastery to another throughout a large part of Germany, mainly Saxony and then to the monasteries of Holland. Lan and eventually the nuns got biting mania even as far as Rome."
2. “Pandemic of writing” in 1892
In 1892, the hands of some schoolgirls in Groß Tinz, Germany began to shake uncontrollably as they wrote. Some experience memory loss and altered consciousness. The following year, students in Basel, Switzerland began to experience a similar situation.
Dr Bartholomew said: “Hand tremors when writing in post-19th century Europe were a direct result of a new teaching method that treated the mind as a muscle that needed exercise. The tedious and repetitive exercises took a physical toll on the students. So the disease flared up as a subconscious attempt to escape the dreaded writing class.”
3. Matton gas poisoning in 1944
During the height of World War II paranoia, the town of Mattoon, Illinois was filled with rumors of a mysterious man spraying gas at random victims.
The first was Aline Kearney. According to her, that day, there was an "unpleasant sweet smell" in the bedroom that paralyzed Aline Kearney's legs and lower body. When Kearney's husband got home from work, he saw a stranger outside the house.
The Kearney family's story made the front page of the local newspaper, which claimed it was a mysterious "anesthesiologist" who had been outlawed. Soon, the entire town was flooded with reports of similar incidents. News of the mysterious stalker caused panic among the public for some time, but the assailant was never found.
4. Bug epidemic in June 1962
In June 1962, 60 workers of a textile factory in the US began to have strange symptoms: rash, nausea and paralysis. The media quickly caught up with the story, naming it the “June plague.” According to the workers, an insect infected them with the plague. However, entomologists sent to the scene found no trace of the bugs.
In 1962, a mysterious illness broke out in the clothing department of a textile factory in America. Symptoms include numbness, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. Information about a plant bug that would bite its victim and develop the above symptoms quickly spread. Before long, 62 employees were stricken with this mysterious illness, some of whom were hospitalized.
Meanwhile, psychologists interviewed sick workers. The results showed that more than 90% of the victims worked the same shift, most worked overtime, and 50 of them only started reporting their symptoms after media coverage of the outbreak. Since then, some have suggested that stress, along with the power of rumors, may be the cause of a large number of people seeking to "sick" themselves.
5. "Laughing translation" Tanganyika (Tanzania) 1962
In 1962, Tanzania encountered a strange "epidemic" that forced them to close schools for weeks, when dozens of girls couldn't help but laugh. By the end of the outbreak, more than 1,000 people had been affected.
Laughing is not the only problem, many other stressed students present with rashes, fainting and shortness of breath. The official diagnosis given to this case was mass hysteria.
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