Mass Hysteria or Possession

Dear Mouse,

This Yahoo news about mass hysteria involving 10 female students in North Carolina is old news. This was in 2002 yet. There must be a dearth of newsworthy news that even the "lost and found" of Paris Hilton’s chiuahua was bannered as headline and Oprah’s fashion sense when she rendered her jury duty was given more media coverage than the case they deliberated on.

Recycled or not, this news reminded me of the segment in Magandang Gabi Bayan where young girls in the the South were claimed to have been possessed by evil spirits. They exhibited the same symptoms of seizures, hyperventilation and swooning. They were treated by prayers and holy waters.

In the case of the North Carolina girls, no other explanation was given except for mass hysteria.Many would take this as the logical explanation of the phenomenon. Me too, if I have not met a young lady who was once "possessed" together with her classmates when she was still a grader. (See my choice cat for this story later).

Excerpt of the news

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Ten healthy female students at a rural, co-ed North Carolina high school had repeated bouts of seizures, swooning and hyperventilation over a four-month period in 2002 -- an outbreak that experts are calling an example of mass hysteria. The first girl began experiencing seizures in August. Over the next few weeks, more girls began to show the same symptoms. The attacks escalated throughout the fall months, then appeared to taper off by the winter holiday break. One student experienced at least 30 attacks. All but one of the girls had no history of seizures.

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