Examples of how hysteria becomes mass (8 photos)

History knows cases when suddenly a group of people there was some kind of mass hypnosis going on. Crowds of people, and even cities, began to believe in some strange things, like evil spirits and martians.





Scientists are still struggling with these mysteries: why this happens. What it is? Disease? Some creepy sight hypnosis? Here are the most famous cases of mass hysteria.

dangerous gas



The media often causes hysteria to spread. This is what happened in the fall of 1944.

Two women living in Mattoon, Illinois, dialed rescue service and reported that some mysterious figure had splashed gas their bedrooms. After that, the women began to feel nausea and dizziness. That's all, no more police information to find out managed. All this was a great cause for excitement.

After a report appeared in the local newspaper about "gasman", then the police immediately began to call others, declaring "gas attacks" that happened long before the incident described in newspaper. In two weeks, about thirty calls, mostly from women.

A certain Donald Johnson, who took up the study of this phenomenon, came to the conclusion that after the publication of the article, people began to associate his deteriorating health with mysterious gas attacks.

blood sucking



In 1995, farmers in Puerto Rico clutched their heads and did not knew what to do: every day the number of livestock is rapidly decreased. Rabbits, goats, chickens lay on the ground with stab wounds and "sucked blood". Veterinarians did not know how to explain what was happening.

The mysterious monster was nicknamed the "goat sucker" and immediately after the very first of his crimes there were "eyewitnesses" of the crimes.

A certain policeman claimed to have seen a humanoid, growth which was 120 cm. Then a number of people began to report a terrible greyish-brown creature with a small head, which they met in forest. The country fell into a panic. Search parties explored the area, and in in bars, people were arguing about who this terrible goatherd was - the result an unsuccessful genetic experiment, or a strange animal that broke free.

The monstrous creature after a short time gained completely a clear portrait: a rat on two legs, with huge bulging eyes, long front "paws" decorated with sharp claws, kangaroo legs and all over the back - spikes.

Skeptical people tried to convince the frightened farmers that this is an ordinary predator. But the goatsucker was never caught and its existence has not been proven. Gradually people stopped to be afraid, and peace was restored on the farms.

Windshields



house on the pacific coast

In the northwestern United States in March 1954 began to appear reports of "strange" damage to car windshields. All these cases coincided with the moment when the hydrogen bomb was tested in the Pacific Ocean and this event was noisily described in the press.

People have linked the appearance of small marks on windshields with "nuclear impact". By mid-April, the police had more two hundred reports of "small pockmarks". There were even reports that the entire parking lot "suffered" from the "nuclear tests". before the riots and riots remained just a couple of steps.

The mayor of Seattle turned to President Eisenhower for help in the night of April 15 and the number of citizens distraught with fear decreased. And they were able to completely calm the hysteria only after publication of research results from the University of Washington: scientists proved that "black pockmarks" are simply the result of burning coal.

radio prank



In 1938, on the eve of Halloween, Radio Columbia began your evening broadcast with the announcement of the upcoming radio play. After everything according to the standard: weather forecast and light music concert, which interrupted by a message that a strange thing is moving towards our planet body. Simply enchanting messages were pouring into the air: a story about what A meteorite fell on Mars, mass casualties, and here is an interview with eyewitnesses.

It is expected that radio listeners were on the verge of hysteria, and already a message that it was not a meteorite at all, but a real one a Martian ship whose inhabitants destroyed everything around with "rays death", led to mass psychosism.

Next came reports that at the landing site the ship pulled troops and they are preparing for war with the aliens. The reporter colorfully described how he was running with the few who remained, and the Martians, meanwhile, are firing fire everywhere, leaving ashes behind them from ruins and charred bodies.

But the end of the dramatization of H.G. Wells' novel War worlds" no one has listened to the end: the inhabitants of the east coast of America and even parts of Canada left their homes, they called 911 incessantly to saved from a terrible death at the hands (paws?) of the Martians. Later it was calculated that More than a million people have been victims of this "hoax".

Radio journalist Orson Welles, who came up with such an original way of staging, the next morning became famous throughout the country.

Search for a victim



Bridge in Borneo

Panic hit the island of Borneo at the end of 1979. There everything came together - the liquidation of schools, and the poor social situation, and total unemployment, and all this coincided with government work for the construction of the bridge.

The hysterical state of the population was intensified by the fact that, starting from 17th century, the implementation of similar projects has always been associated with the search the sacrifice that had to be laid at the base of the structure. But only under this condition, the structure will stand for a long time.

It is not surprising that the people covered by the mass hysteria, began to associate ordinary life events only in the context "searching for a victim". Here is such a confrontation between the authorities and the indigenous population.

Insidious bugs



Strange reports began to appear in the summer of 1899 in Washington newspapers. More and more people are turning to hospitals to be treated for "bug bites".

The mass psychosis was so great that in the magazine "Popular Science" had to publish the opinion of the authoritative doctor L. O. Howard, that yes, there are six insects in the United States whose bite can be dangerous to humans, but almost impossible to meet. The scientist was I am sure that the reason for such a mass hysteria was the usual unreasonable fear.

In the same year, the New York Herald published a short article about that there are 11 victims who went to hospital the day before: their bodies seemed to be swollen from the bites of poisonous insects. And some even were able to catch the "vampires".

The Philadelphia Academy of Sciences published a report in the media, where it was said that people were subjected to a "brutal" attack by ordinary bees, butterflies, flies and peaceful bugs.

paper man



Japanese pigtail

Mass hysteria hit some Chinese cities at the end of the 19th century and it lasted for three whole years.

In Nanjing, in 1876, the first cases of strange "paper people" who deprived decent people of pigtails. Costs mention that the pigtail was then in China considered a symbol of humility and support for the imposed regime of the Manchu dynasty. clipped braid was a crime, and so serious that the perpetrator was sentenced to death. So the panic quickly spread to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

An interesting fact: the legend of the "paper man" has been known since the Wei Dynasty (477-517 BC).

All this hysteria was only in the hands of traders of various kind of amulets. They began to make them in huge quantities and they left pretty briskly.