Fascinating: St. Vitus Dance

From Discovery News a breakthrough to explain the "Dancing Plague" of 1518 and several other incidences of unusual, and sometimes fatal, occurances.

Dancing Plague

Mass psychogenic illness manifests itself during periods of extreme and prolonged psychological and physical stress. This phenomenon primarily manifests itself in cultures which are underlaid by superstition and supernaturalism. Primal belief held in common with the majority of society can lead to a cascade effect when a society is placed under intense and insupportable psychological stress. As in the instance in 1518, one person can be a trigger which activates a commonly held belief that leads to a snowballing effect on a segment of the population.

I would very much like to read John Waller's book.

There have been instances of this in very recent history. A school evacuated because someone smelled something odd then began feeling ill. Others who did not report smelling anything also began feeling ill. The effect spread until a number of students were affected by whatever it was that made the first student feel poorly. Taken to the hospital, there were no unusual test results. All was normal.


Good article on mass psychogenic illness:

MPI