3 Strange Phenomena of Mass Hysteria attributed to curses, witchcraft, and demonic possession
Throughout history, events of mass hysteria have plagued humanity, caused by superstition, contagious psychosomatic symptoms, conspiracy theories, intentional manipulation, or the unexplainable. Below are three examples of this type of phenomenon that I find the most fascinating.
Dancing Mania
One summer day in July, 1518, in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace (now France), a woman known as Frau Troffea began to dance in the street. Frau twisted, twirled, and shook, without music, for nearly a week until she was joined by about 30 other townspeople. By the next month, nearly 400 hundred people were swept up in the trance of uncontrollable dancing. Some of them collapsed from exhaustion and others reportedly died from strokes and heart attacks. The episode ended in September, only after the dancers were forcibly removed and taken to a mountaintop shrine.
This wasn't the first or only dancing plague, the phenomenon occurred numerous times in Europe, primarily between the 14th and 17th Century. In some instances, the episodes were purported to be caused by bands of travelers in strange, colorful attire, who went from place to place, amassing followers and instigating the dancing among townspeople. By mid-17th century, dancing mania seemed to have completely disappeared, ending as suddenly and inexplicably as it began.
The condition was initially attributed to curses. The first recorded episode of dancing mania in 1021, occurred when 18 people gathered outside a church in Germany on Christmas Eve, and started singing, dancing, chanting, and leaping. The priest, who was unable to perform mass with all of the commotion, cursed them to dance for an entire year as punishment. Other breakouts were also attributed to curses, and the shrines of the saints St. John the Baptist and St. Vitus were often visited by the dancers to pray to regain control of their bodies.
Modern theories of the cause of the dancing plagues include instances of ergot poisoning, a guise by cults to perform illegal rituals, and mass psychogenic illness caused by stress. It\'s a bit of a shame that dancing mania has fallen out of fashion. Other than the death thing, it sounds like a great way to relieve stress, which we could all benefit from in 2020.
Learn more: A forgotten plague: making sense of dancing mania by John Waller
Koro and "Penis Panic"
Koro, or genital retraction syndrome, is a anxiety-related mental disorder where the genitals retract into the body, causing the appearance of disappearing or shrinking. Epidemics of this syndrome relating to the phallus have been referred to as "penis panics" and have occurred in a contagious manner throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe.
In the famous treatise on witchcraft, Malleus Maleficarum (1486), the author Heinrich Kramer describes common reports in Europe of witches stealing men's members in "great numbers, as many as twenty or thirty...". After taking them, the witches "...put them in a bird's nest, or shut them up in a box, where they move themselves like living members, and eat oats and corn". While Kramer sensibly asserts that the men who claim this are deluded, he attributes the delusion to witchcraft. Classic 15th century move to blame penis panic on women, and use it as justification for persecution!
So penis panics must be a thing of the past, like dancing mania, right? Not so! Numerous outbreaks of this disorder have occurred from 1967 to 2013 in Asia and Africa. Modern outbreaks have been attributed to: unexplainable mass hysteria, penis pick-pockets, sorcery, and hair combs implanted with laser-controlled micro-bots—which would be a fun explanation if it weren't part of a larger anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, and unfortunately, it is. The opinion of this humble researcher is that we've not seen the end of penis panics, so keep an eye out for them. Or don't. That's definitely a good move, too.
Learn more: 6 'Penis Panics' Around the World by Julia Davis
The Loudun possessions
In 1632, the seventeen nuns of Ursuline, a convent in Loudun, France, began to act strangely, after being isolated for an extended period of time due to an outbreak of the plague. (Sound familiar?)
Jeanne des Anges, who presided over the convent, had strange dreams about the handsome Urbain Grandier, a local parish priest, in which he appeared in angel form, and seduced her into sinful and sexual acts. Anges' sexual obsession with Grandier, strange dreams, and raving spread to the seventeen nuns who started seeing visions of the dead, speaking in hoarse voices, convulsing, and entering laughing fits.
Two priests were called in to perform exorcisms, during which Anges claimed that her and the nuns were possessed by Asomodeus and Zabulon, and that the possession was caused by Grandier, by throwing a cursed bouquet of roses over the convent wall. Further investigations cast doubts on whether the possessions were genuine, and it was claimed they were faked to frame Grandier, who was later executed as a result. However, the possessions continued after his death, so it's possible that even if it was a ruse by a few nuns at first, the incident evolved into mass hysteria. The possessions at Loudun are one of the most famous cases, and Aldous Huxley wrote a book about it entitled The Devil\'s of Loudon, which was later adapted into a supremely weird and abrasive film by Ken Russell.
Learn more: Loudon Possessions on Occult World