After the first incident, more appeared. The intruder made the rounds of the county, apparently sickening first one household and then the next.
Police couldn't catch him.
The phantom gasser was never identified. Nor was the gas he allegedly used identified.
This was during the Great Depression. Times were hard. Folks were facing a new year without knowing if they'd be able to eat.
Local media, which consisted of newspapers at the time, wrote about the story for months. Then it went away.
In 1944, similar events took place in Mattoon, Illinois. People panicked.
The media picked up that story, too.
This last incident occurred during World War II. Times were hard.
Both incidents have been attributed to mass hysteria.
Mass hysteria is a condition where unexplained physical symptoms arise in many people in a region. It's a collective delusion with visible symptoms.
Incidents involving mass hysteria are catalogued throughout history. There's the Salem Witch Trials, , possessed nuns in France, poisoning scares, the War of the Worlds incident with Orsen Well's radio show.
It's not unheard of at all.
Why do I bring this up?
I am wondering if the incidents at a local high school, where students are experiencing "twitching" and other unusual symptoms for which there are no explanations, might indeed be a case of mass hysteria.
I have heard a few news organizations wonder if it is a hoax, but I think that mass hysteria better describes it. It likely is a reaction to the state of the world today.
Think about it. On April 16 there were multiple murders at Virginia Tech. Combine that with the recent reports of MRSA that have had everyone scrambling to wash every surface with bleach.
Add to that the constant fear mongering from the federal government (war with Iran, flu pandemic, Orange alerts, etc.), religion (it's the end-time, after all), and concerns about drought and forest fires and who is bullying whom via text messaging, and you can see how everyone might be suffering from a bit of PTSD or hysteria.
According to Wikepedia, here are six things that must be in place for mass hysteria:
1. "Regional conditions must be conducive" to the mass hysteria's plausibility.
2. "Channels of communication must be available for the reports to spread."
3. "Social and economic stress, as well as a lack of faith in the authorities,predispose people to embrace unconventional interpretations."
4. "[E]very culture has marginal traditions that offer alternative explanations."
5. "A triggering episode often serves as the pebble that commences an avalanche of reports."
6. "[O]utbreaks of unusual manifestations are aided by breakdowns in official control."
I think we can make a case for every one of those six conditions. First we had the Tech shootings and then MRSA (1). Both were widely reported ad nauseum (2). We have high gas prices, and the price of food is skyrocketing; it's going to be a lean Christmas for a lot of people this year. Nobody is expecting the government to do anything to help the lower classes (3). We're looking for the "other explanations" right now - toxins, in particular, are thought to be the problem at the moment (4). As best I can tell, it started with one report among the students and then spiraled (5). The officials so far aren't able to figure out what is happening, and as for other societal breakdowns, well, take a look around at invasions of privacy, the police state atmosphere at airports, the inability to attend a sporting event without being searched, etc. See if that doesn't make (6) sound likely.
I am not making light of the symptoms or what is going on at this local high school. I think it is every bit as real as any labeled disorder and these children are indeed sick.
Parents certainly have a right and a responsibility to do what they think they must to protect their children. The reactions from everyone appears to be warranted.
But we often discount how stress can manifest itself and how the psyche deals with issues that people, especially young people, cannot easily assimilate.
It has to come out somewhere.
What I'm wondering is if we're looking in the wrong place. Maybe it's not a sick building.
Maybe it's a sick society. Maybe these children are like the canaries in the coal mine.
Maybe we should listen to them chirp.
It's an interesting post. This is so strange. If they get to the bottom of it please let me know!
ReplyDeleteFor a fuller report on the Botetourt gasser (with victims named), see:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.prairieghosts.com/madgasser
Becky, I couldn't get your link to work but found it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.prairieghosts.com/gasser.html
TC - it is a mystery, what's happening at the school. If they ever find out anything I'll note it but I honestly don't expect them to do so.
Although I agree that some may suffer from mass hysteria and probably are even "faking it", I do believe there are a couple of legitimate cases as well.
ReplyDeleteI would seriously be looking into their sensitivity to EMR/EMF levels. They're a little harder to "test" than say swiping a desk with a cloth, but worth being looked at. Has the school recently upgraded their wireless signal? Are there cellular phone antennas on or near the school? There's been at least one other case from a person who lives near the school, so they need to extend their "testing area".
Interesting post, Dew. I do agree that there are enormous pressures on children these days. Besides all the things you noted, many teenagers are under great academic pressure, as well. There is so much competition to get into college, and so many high schoolers are stressed out, with huge academic loads.
ReplyDeleteI wondered about this too. I was thinking about the Crucible when mass hysteria got so many so called witches hung. Later one theory was that they had eaten some grain that effected them like an acid trip. Ann mass hysteria was surely at play.
ReplyDelete