10 Abnormal Instances of Mass Hysteria

Incidents in which a group of people began to behave in a mysterious manner and exhibit symptoms that appeared to be out of context, such as nuns barking or children who couldn’t stop laughing. They frequently vanish as quickly as they appeared, and few people are affected in any way. Mass Hysteria is frequently the cause of these unexplained conditions.


10. The Attacks on the Cuban Embassy

A string of bizarre illnesses that befell American diplomats at the US Embassy in Cuba was one of the most significant and terrifying stories of 2016 and beyond. Numerous individuals developed serious symptoms, including memory loss, hearing loss, and actual brain damage. Cuba was alleged by the Trump administration to have used a covert sonic weapon against the Embassy.

However, subsequent research has disproved this. Due to JAMA research that concluded the victims had suffered physical trauma, a section of the attacks’ Wikipedia page today dismisses the idea of mass hysteria. That makes it appear pretty straightforward. That, on the other hand, was from 2018. The data was looked at by other researchers, and they found some serious mistakes.



There was no context provided by the reports that the embassy staff had numerous physical ailments. There is absolutely no evidence to support claims that people were injured, including information about the nature of the injuries, how they were assessed, and anything else. Self-reporting provided a substantial amount of the data used in media reports.

The possibility that the injury was caused by another sonic weapon took off, then again, actually nobody on the planet has made such a weapon and, surprisingly, those that have attempted, similar to the US government, have had little accomplishment with anything like what occurred in Cuba since physical science don’t permit things to work that way. The signs and symptoms of widespread hysteria seemed to very closely resemble the condition.

9. The Salem Witch Trials

are perhaps the most well-known and most ominous example of mass hysteria in American history. They demonstrate just how extremely perilous mass hysteria can become. In the late 1600s, nineteen women were hanged as witches and executed within a year, while hundreds more faced persecution for the invented crime. More people perished as a result of torture and imprisonment. The local priest had created a setting where citizens were publicly shamed for their sins.



He accused the locals of being devilish when his children began acting out. In order to determine whether or not they were witches, dozens of people were detained, taken to court, and subjected to bizarre and absurd tests. Simply touching a person who was having one of these fits was one of the tests. If the person stopped having fits, they were a witch. Even the presence of a mole, which was referred to as a witch’s teat at the time, was regarded as direct proof of witchcraft.

8. Monkey Man

There are some instances of widespread hysteria that seem easier to believe than others. However, there has long been a strong connection between many cases and the supernatural and unbelievable, making it even more difficult to comprehend how any of it could have been believed by even a small number of people. Barely any instances of this are more sensational than the Monkey Man of New Delhi. Beginning in 2001, New Delhi residents began to report seeing a terrifying creature that was half man and half monkey.

In addition to having razor-sharp metal claws and a helmet, the creature probably moved across rooftops for safety. Individuals detailed being gone after and harmed by the animal. Worse still, a number of people even perished in what was thought to have been attempts to flee the monkey man by falling from rooftops. The majority of injuries were attributed to animal bites rather than the supernatural monkey man bites because the police were unable to keep up with all of the reports. The madness was accepted to have been filled by odd notion as well as by planned power outages that were leaving individuals out of the blue in haziness aimlessly times.



The situation probably got worse and fears got worse as a result. The circumstance got terrible enough sooner or later that posses of vigilantes were wandering the roads and had even beat up an exceptionally diminutive man, expecting he was the monkey man being referred to.

7. Halifax Slasher

In 1938, a man in Halifax, England, started slaying women with a mallet and shiny buckles on his shoes. Two ladies guaranteed the man went after them and set off a frenzy that saw individuals rampaging with an end goal to chase the lowlife down. Inside the main week different assaults were accounted for, and the weapon transformed from a hammer to a blade or razors.

The investigation required the assistance of Scotland Yard. Things spiraled out of control when vigilantes began attacking individuals they believed to be the slasher. Fear caused local businesses to close, and the panic spread to other towns, where attacks began to be reported as well. One of the victims eventually gave in and admitted that they had planned the attack and actually hurt themselves. Others did likewise, and at last five of the purported casualties were accused of public wickedness.



6. Tanganyika Laughter Incident

Some people believe that laughter is the best medicine; however, this cannot be the case when laughter is also the cause of the issue. This was the case in a 1962 incident in Tanzania, when a schoolgirl started laughing so hard she couldn’t stop. Even though school officials tried to get her to stop, her contagious laughter spread to other students.

Nearly all 159 students at the school were affected. The occasion began in January and was all the while happening in Spring when the school had to close down. The epidemic of laughter spread beyond the school’s walls. Individuals in different towns and different schools succumbed. Some were impacted for days or even weeks. However, it spread widely enough to claim over 1,000 victims and force the closure of 14 different schools over several months.



Thinking back on the episode, most analysts have inferred that the chuckling was uneasiness borne. Students were experiencing excessive stress at the time due to a number of factors. Uncertain expectations of British-run schools and the region’s recent independence were probably major factors in people’s minds.

5. The Frantic Gasser of Mattoon

You’d be pardoned for not having a profound knowledge of the town of Mattoon, Illinois. It’s a small town with fewer than 20,000 residents who aren’t well-known for much. Except for the Mad Gasser, who also did not exist and was a scourge of the town in the 1940s. Residents of the town reported that a stranger attacked them and exposed them to poisonous gas for several weeks.



Witnesses additionally authenticated these reports, guaranteeing police they had seen the gasser at work. As indicated by reports, casualties would be at home and notice an uncommon smell. They would then experience symptoms like paralysis and nausea. Despite this, the police never discovered a single trace of the gasser’s existence. In point of fact, they were able to discover significantly more evidence that there was no gasser, and the baffling smells could all be easily identified as being caused by animals or spilled nail polish.

4. Charlie Charlie

The Charlie Charlie Challenge, a remake of the much older game simply referred to as “the pencil game,” is said to have brought about the deaths and suicides of evil spirits. All of that wasn’t true, but it didn’t stop countries like Libya and Fiji from completely banning the game to protect children who were at risk.

The game’s concept is straightforward. You put a couple of pencils on a piece of paper, one adjusted on the other to make what resembles an or more sign. You have things like names written in every one of the four sections of the piece of paper that are lined by the pencils. Players pose an inquiry like “which kid likes me?” Additionally, the pencil pivots to point at one of the four names that you have written on the piece of paper. The pencil can move with very little force because of its precarious balance. It will rotate even when you are near it and breathe. In principle, it works very similarly to a Ouija board because it seems to move on its own even though there are clear forces at work.



However, in 2015, the game got out of hand. The original idea was that children were asking a spirit or demon to move the pencil. It was renamed “Charlie Charlie.” Despite its English name, most stories described it as a Mexican demon. Because of this, four girls in Colombia ended up in the hospital, screaming and hysterical, and it was thought that they were the victims of supernatural forces at work. It was only diagnosed by doctors as widespread hysteria.

3. The Clown Panic

In 2016, there was a clown panic all over the world. Essentially focused in the US, it had spread to numerous different nations including Canada, the UK and others. There was a widespread belief that the streets were haunted by evil clowns. By October there were many reports coming in each day about evil comedians. In Wisconsin, a single viral marketing stunt appears to have sparked the clown panic. What’s more, stunt was a liberal term.

Simply posing as a clown on street corners was a man dressed in a creepy clown costume. After that, reports from all over the country started coming in. Weapon-wielding clowns, clowns making threats, and clowns looking unsettling Furthermore, as far as anyone could tell, nothing was real. Throughout the entire event, not a single clown actually did anything dangerous or ominous. Police were getting unknown reports of comedians attempting to bait youngsters and practically no proof to back anything up.



However, each subsequent story made national news, which added fuel to the flames. Throughout the summer and well into the fall, the panic lasted for months. By October most media sources were transparently calling it each of the a lie since no veritable mischief had been caused and no genuine captures had been made, simply unjustified detainments in light of bogus reports.

2. The Dancing Plague,

which occurred in 1518, is one of the earliest known instances of widespread hysteria. Back in the day, the incident was actually used as part of a plot point in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The inexorable urge to dance struck the people of Strasbourg, Alsace. The Dancing Plague was the name given to it.

The occurrence began in July. One day, a woman by the name of Frau Troffea started dancing on the street. After that, she danced for two days. She danced for a whole week, and by the end of the week, she had a dozen back-up dancers. As many as 400 town residents were performing in the streets by the time August arrived. The diagnosis of “hot blood” was made by doctors who were already stumped by the majority of well-known illnesses. Therefore, the treatment consisted essentially of “if you can’t beta them, join them.” A stage was built and a band was hired by the town.



The dancers were only pushed to the breaking point, not helped by the issue. After the fact, there were rumors that people had committed suicide by dancing to death, but whether or not these reports are accurate is still up for debate.

1. Puppy Pregnancy Syndrome

In general, a phenomenon of limited scope is mass hysteria. It occurs for a predetermined amount of time before disappearing when people realize the thing they are afraid of is not real. In West Bengal, India, puppy pregnancy syndrome is not the case.

Over the course of time, strange outbreaks of widespread panic have occurred repeatedly. Tragically, puppy pregnancy syndrome is exactly what it sounds like. After being bitten by dogs, victims are misled into thinking that the dogs have given birth to puppies. In a small village, the vast majority of residents are convinced that this is true. They believe that if a dog is clearly in a state of sexual arousal and bites a human, the dog’s saliva will carry the fetuses into the human bloodstream.



It doesn’t make any difference on the off chance that you’re a man or a lady, the canine infants will flourish. This means that men are in a much worse position than women who are bitten because it is believed that men are doomed to give birth to puppies through their urethra. Men are convinced they will pass away during childbirth.

As a consequence of this, there are people in the town who claim to be experts who are able to carry out rituals that can both kill the puppies and save the lives of humans. When you consider that some female victims have claimed that they could even hear the puppies barking in their abdomens at night, this must be of particular significance. Despite how absurd it may sound, the syndrome has had real, serious effects. To overcome severe dog phobia and obsessive compulsive disorder, victims needed medication.


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