12/22/2023 0 Comments Mass hysteria through the agesWhat I would tell them, however, is that what is happening at these schools is unrelated to either religion or the supernatural. "I am not going to tell Malaysians that there are not spirits," says Bartholomew. Bartholomew says that inviting them legitimizes the supernatural aspects of the outbreak, which only serves to prolong it. What follows is a ritual of rebellion that is part hysteria, part melodrama-a subconscious bargaining between the possessing demons and school officials." As a result of cultural beliefs held by those involved, authorities then act by sending in a bomoh or local witchdoctor. Classmates react by screaming, crying, and eventually fainting as they get dizzy from over-breathing. Anxiety rises further and more girls enter trances. "The school is abuzz with talk of demons roaming the hallways. Typically, the sight of one girl 'going hysterical' is enough to send many of her classmates over the edge." This does not happen overnight, but slowly builds up over time to the point where they cannot stand it. "The result is twitching, shaking, convulsions, screaming, and hallucinations which reflect their cultural beliefs. In the case of this most recent incident, Bartholomew says that the nerves and neurons that send messages to the muscles and the brain began to malfunction. ![]() It usually starts with one person subconsciously acting out or cracking under the pressure. Once a need for relief from oppressive circumstances is established, the drama can unfold. "I cannot stress enough that this is not a conscious process and the girls are not faking." ![]() Episodes give a voice to the voiceless as community leaders and government officers will press school officials to ease rules." But it's no manipulation. What is so extraordinary is that these shy, seemingly naive and politically powerless schoolgirls usually get their way, with outbreaks of mass hysteria drawing attention to what they see as unjust rules and poor living conditions. Under these circumstances in the stricter schools, strange behaviors tend to emerge. Frustration and anger build over weeks or months. "It doesn't surprise me that this outbreak is in Kedah, one of the more conservative and devoutly religious states," he says."A typical day at one of these boarding schools reads like a page from 1984, where every aspect of living is rigidly controlled and people are treated like numbers. Bartholomew is a sociologist who has written a book on MPI in schools. Robert Bartholomew believes the recent Malaysian school haunting is a classic case of MPI in a country where it is common. Both of these incidents were treated as mass psychogenic illness. It's happened in the UK, too in 1965, 85 girls passed out in two hours in a Blackburn school just last year in Lancashire, 40 students were treated with nausea and dizziness and four fainted. Some were restrained from their violent fits by the teachers." According to a news report, "Some cried, shivered, and started eating the grass and empty glasses, others stared into empty space with open eyes while performing a Tai Chi type of dance movement called the Kuda Kepang, an ancient Malay wedding dance. In one outbreak in a school in 1979, 48 students went hysterical. ![]() Outbreaks were particularly prevalent in schools and factories in Malaysia and Singapore throughout the 1970s. Incidents crop up across the world every week. Lines blur when symptoms become physical and all the more confusing and terrifying.Īlthough the phenomenon in this Malaysian school is a rare one, it's by no means an isolated case. Mass hysteria, or mass psychogenic illness (MPI) as it's now called, is defined as the spontaneous and quick spread of false or exaggerated beliefs within a particular population. How can a hundred people see something supernatural, sparked from one initial sighting? Is it psychological? Is it truly an unpleasant spiritual experience? Are the students simply lying? But there's still intense interest in what happened there from around the world. On Sunday, the school reopened and things have since gone back to normal. They called in experts-including witch doctors to do prayer sessions and exorcisms. ![]() Eventually, school authorities shut the school down, sending everyone home.
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