Contagious Delusions: 6 Cases of Mass Hysteria

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Something of a trope when discussing conspiracy theories, mass hysteria is a transitory insanity that affects multiple people. It might manifest as a shared fear, a hallucination or even a physical illness - but the roots of mass hysteria are mental and can "infect" anyone interacting with a victim.  With all that said, let's take a look at...

  1. The Soap Opera Disease
  2. Shrinking Members
  3. TikTokers with Tics
  4. Deadly Dancing
  5. The Salem Witch Trials
  6. Havana Syndrome
Overflowing cauldron
Could historical witchcraft scares be explained by mass hysteria? (LoggaWiggler)

What is Mass Hysteria?

The core of a mass hysteria event is a group of individuals believing that an imagined scenario is true - in spite of any evidence to the contrary. Psychologists consider it to be a conversion disorder (i.e. mental stress "converting" into physical symptoms) that can be transmitted to other people via verbal or visual interaction. Whilst the exact causes are unknown, sufferers are usually experiencing high levels of anxiety (i.e. from fear, hope or even religious frenzy.)

There seem to be two broad categories of mass hysteria: anxiety and motor. Small and isolated communities of people tend to produce the anxiety variety, which spreads quickly but doesn't last long. Those caught up in it may experience tension, fear, dizziness, chest pain, headaches and fainting.

In contrast, the motor variety turns up in individuals experiencing long-term stress. It manifests as involuntary movements that pass from person to person and can last for weeks. Symptoms can include twitching, partial paralysis, involuntary laughing or crying, trance-like states and altered speech patterns.

1. The Soap Opera Disease

In May 2006, a number of Portuguese schools were brought under the weather by "Morangos com Acucar" or "Strawberries with Sugar." This wasn't some form of contaminated fruit or allergy, but rather a youth-oriented soap-opera in which a number of characters became infected with a life-threatening illness.

Highly stressed by the upcoming exams, a number of students interpreted itches and rashes as the onset of this fictional disease, and soon a mass anxiety-type hysteria ripped through the schools. Over 300 pupils came down with this imaginary sickness before it abated.

2. Shrinking Members

Singapore used to have a number of pork farms, and as you might expect, the livestock had the usual vaccinations. What you might not have expected is an outbreak of a mass hysteria known as Koro, manifesting as a fear that male genitalia will shrink and retract into the body cavity if humans consumed the vaccinated meat.

This outbreak occurred in July 1967 and led to hundreds of Singaporean men crowding medical centers or even making use of eye-watering "home remedies" involving clamps and strings to hold the organ in place.

Elastic bands
The less said, the better... (Andres Siimon)

3. TikTokers with Tics

During the recent Covid-19 pandemic, a smaller-scale outbreak of complex motor and vocal tic‐like behaviors emerged in 12 to 25-year-old females at Tourette syndrome clinics across the world. This behavior resembled a fully-fledged neurological disorder but was also consistent across patients in the USA, Canada and Europe.

Upon further examination, researchers suggested that increase social media use thanks to the lockdowns coupled with the high stress of the whole situation may be to blame. A number of content creators on social media platforms like TikTok have displayed or talked about their experiences with these tics, and researchers suspect that this may have triggered similar tics as a form of mass hysteria in impressionable viewers.

4. Deadly Dancing

In 1518, the townsfolk of Strasbourg found themselves afflicted with an uncontrollable urge to dance. Afflicted people would step out into the street and perform an erratic dance for days on end, with some of them even dying from exhaustion or exertion.

Around 400 people contracted the dancing plague, with some scholars assigning blame to St. Vitus (or mass hysterical belief in him) as the saint could allegedly inflict this ailment - though others have suggested mass ergot poisoning as a culprit.

5. The Salem Witch Trials

In 1692 Salem, America, a group of young women experiencing fits were "diagnosed" as being bewitched (though their symptoms could have had many other explanations - such as the ergotism mentioned above) and they soon began accusing people of witchcraft. One of the accused named a few other people as witches - and some of these then confessed, offering yet more names.

The mob (now whipped into a frenzy and seeing witches in every shadow) lashed out without feeling a need for evidence. In 1693, Governor Phips put an end to the trials - later courts would declare them unlawful, pardoning the accused and offering restitution to the families of the condemned.

In this instance, a panicking population (including a court and judges) was swept up in hysteria by the accusations of a few young girls, so much so that they were willing to execute multiple people on extremely flimsy grounds (i.e. "spectral evidence" or testimony about dreams and visions!).

Havana streets
The site of a sonic superweapon? (Anonymous)

6. Havana Syndrome

Multiple CIA agents working in Havana, Cuba, have reported experiencing waves of sound and pressure as though they were being targeted with some kind of sonic or microwave weapon. Given the history of espionage (and even invasion) directed towards Cuba by America, there were plenty of reasons to suspect attacks in return.

Investigation and examination of the victims showed no real trace of any attack, and brain scans failed to find anything indicating damage. Most scientists now suspect that the whole affair was a case of psychogenic illness, mass hysteria brought on by the high-stress environment... though speculation still runs rife!

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