The most famous cases of mass hysteria

Until now, scientists can not understand, how there is mass hysteria. Why the whole village people suddenly start to believe in the "Chupacabra", and the whole country in the invasion of the Martians.

Kazoos

Spring 1995 issued for Puerto Rican farmers hot: day by day the number of cattle was reduced. The causes of death for goats, rabbits and chickens became stab wounds and "blood sucking". At the time of the veterinary service to explain the mass death of livestock, apparently, difficult. So there "kazoos" - a mysterious monster, destroying animals. Almost immediately after the first "signals" about the guns on farms Catoosa there were also witnesses of his crimes. So, one of the guards reported "some kind of humanoid, four feet tall".

By the end of March have a few people confirmed that "I saw in a thicket of grayish-brown creature with a tiny head". The country was panic-stricken. So far search teams thoroughly searched the area in the pubs all night long argued: cosacos is a previously unknown animal, or to break free a result of a failed genetic experiment?

Portrait of a monster has been recreated in minute detail: "two-legged rat" with bulging eyes, long hands and sharp claws, with legs like a kangaroo, and across the back - rows of spines. Skeptics tried to calm the crowd, convincingly arguing that "the monster" - just a normal predator. Catch Catoosa or prove its existence have failed, but the fear of the people, and soon vanished.

Paper man

At the end of the XIX century, the inhabitants of some Chinese cities became participants of mass hysteria, which lasted for three years. In 1876, in Nanjing, the first evidence of "paper people" that deny the good of the Chinese braids.

Specific male hairstyle during the reign of the Manchu dynasty in China was a symbol of obedience and loyalty to the imposed regime. To cut a braid was considered a crime – caught "hazing" hair sentenced to death. It is not surprising that the panic quickly spread to only Nanjing, but also rapidly spread to other cities – Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing. "Evil spirit, cutting hair" was elusive, and the source of all evils, will automatically become a foreigner. Interestingly, the "paper man" was known since the dynasty of Wei, which ruled in 477-517 years BC

Widespread panic played into the hands of enterprising merchants: amulets that protect from armed scissors "paper people" flew like hot cakes on market day.

Gas attack

Often fatal role in spreading hysteria play media. It happened in the autumn of 1944, when two residents of the town Mattone of Illinois called the service "911" and stated that "a mysterious figure" sprayed gas in their bedrooms.

The victims complained of deterioration of health, nausea and dizziness. A more detailed picture due to the lack of evidence, police draw failed. The mysterious circumstances surrounding the incident proved to be fertile ground for the birth of the sensation.

After the appearance of the article in the local publication the police called the other "victims", who said about the "gas attack" that allegedly occurred long before the incident described in the newspaper. For two weeks the police have listened to about 30 confessions – the majority of callers were women.

Studied this episode Donald Johnson concluded that mass hysteria was caused not without the help of the media: after reading the notes people automatically linked the deteriorating health (nausea, vomiting, rapid heartbeat, etc.) with the "gas attack".

Epidemic "of lobovuhe"

At the end of March 1954 of the print edition of the North-Western States of America published notes about the "mysterious" damages windshields of cars. Message fatally coincided with the testing of hydrogen bombs in the Pacific, which was widely reported in the press.

Residents of Seattle and other cities have linked the emergence of a "pox" on "lobovuhe" with "nuclear effects". In mid-April, the police received more than two hundred signals "tiny pox". In some cases it was reported that the epidemic has swept the entire Parking lot. Hysteria intensified and threatened to turn into riots. On the night of April 15, seeking to calm the crowd, the mayor of Seattle asked for help to President Eisenhower, after the speech which the number of alarmists have been reduced.

To win the "epidemic" was only after the publication of the results of studies of the University of Washington, scientists who proved that the "mysterious black ospinki" not that other, as a product of combustion of coal.

Bounty hunting

At the end of 1979, panic swept the island of Borneo.

Unfavorable social conditions, unemployment, elimination of schools coincided with the government's work on the construction of the bridge. Stress increased historical memory: from the seventeenth century onwards, the implementation of such projects (real or imagined) is invariably accompanied by a "headhunting", because according to popular belief during construction must be put in the base of the structure of "sacrifice". Only in this case the construction is guaranteed for a long service life.

Succumbed to mass hysteria, people began to interpret ordinary events of everyday life in the context of "hunting" and "kidnapping". Studying local customs, the anthropologist Richard Drake proved that such episodes are a great proof of an antagonistic opposition between indigenous people and government.

Kiss of the butterfly

In the summer of 1899 in the Washington Newspapers reported about a large number of people who applied to the local hospital. All they asked to heal them from the "bug bites".

Wanting to prevent the spread of mass hysteria, in the magazine "Popular Science" published an authoritative opinion of Dr. L. O. Howard. In particular, it was reported that in the United States there are six insects whose bites really are a danger to human life, but a chance to meet any of these "invertebrates" is practically zero. According to the scientist, based on mass hysteria lay irrational fear.

On 9 July of the same year in the "New York Herald" was posted a note about the eleven victims, who the day before asked for help: their bodies allegedly were swollen from the bites of poisonous insects. Some of the applicants managed to catch "vampire".

Published in the press report of the Philadelphia Academy of natural Sciences reported that "attempt" on the lives of people by insects was the usual annoying flies, hard-working bees, bustling beetles and carefree butterfly.

War of the worlds

It is unlikely that the radio broadcaster Orson Welles could imagine that his creative approach to dramatization of the novel of Herbert wells "war of the worlds" would be so compelling.

On Halloween eve 1938 radio broadcasting company "Columbia" began the evening air with the announcement of the upcoming auditions. Then followed the traditional weather forecast and a concert of light music, which was interrupted by a message about the movement in the direction of the Earth charm of the body. One by one the broadcast had been sensational reports: the reporter talks about the fall of Mars meteorite, describes mass human sacrifice, interviewing witnesses.

The following message plunged the listeners into the horror: the meteorite was Martian ship, and flown on it being "death rays" had destroyed everything around it. Further – more, in the epicenter strapped regular troops, who urgently preparing to go to war with the Martians.

The reporter vividly described how flees along with a handful of other lucky people, like the Martians incinerate all around, leaving the burning ruins and mountains of mutilated bodies. the End of "radioshuttle" there was no one listening to: people on the East coast of America and parts of Canada left their homes, trying to avoid death, called 911 and begged him to save them from the Martian invasion.

Experts estimate that victims of "drawing" was more than a million people. Himself Orson Welles the next morning woke up famous – they called him the man who managed to scare America.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»