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greyl

(22,990 posts)
Sun Nov 15, 2020, 01:29 AM Nov 2020

Mass hysteria in history.


Irish Fright of 1688

Many English people were thus primed to believe that the Irish were predisposed to savagery and capable of any atrocity. Against that backdrop, rumors began circulating in December of 1688 that the Catholic Irish forces quartered in England were readying themselves to fall upon the English to massacre, rape, and loot, to avenge the ouster of the Catholic king James. The Irish Fright began in earnest on the night of December 13th, 1688, when news arrived at Westminster that the ravening Irish were marching on London.

Fake news of preparations for atrocities were quickly followed by fake news of actual atrocities, as false reports that the Irish were putting English towns to the torch and massacring the inhabitants spread. The panicked English in London and surrounding shires rushed to arm themselves and form militias, erect fortifications, and patrol the countryside to guard against the imminent arrival of imaginary hordes of bloodthirsty Irish.

The Irish Fright subsided after a few days, and in hindsight, it seems that the rumors were begun, or at least spread, as part of an organized propaganda campaign by opponents of James II to further discredit his cause and to buttress that of William of Orange. When the latter landed in England at the head of a mostly foreign army, he was greeted not as an invader, but with raptures as a savior not only of the Protestant faith, but of the Protestants themselves from the feared depredations of the Irish.

https://historycollection.com/12-historys-baffling-mass-hysteria-outbreaks/6/




1. Salem Witch Trials (1692–93)

This is one of the best-known incidents of mass hysteria. It began when two young girls of the small town of Salem Village began to experience seizures that were not explained by contemporary medical science. After their seizures, the girls proclaimed that they were being assaulted by supernatural entities conjured up by local women.

Soon more girls were being afflicted and more townspeople (mostly females) were being accused. Trials were promptly enacted and those women who did not confess were sentenced to death. Ironically, those who falsely confessed did not face execution.

More than 20 people were executed and more than 100 were jailed before common sense was restored. The girls' seizures ended and the trials ceased. Later medical scientists would lay the blame on everything from stress caused by ongoing warfare with American Indians to fungus on bread products.

https://www.treehugger.com/strange-cases-mass-hysteria-4864276
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Mass hysteria in history. (Original Post) greyl Nov 2020 OP
The 1980's "Satanic Panic" was a good example of mass hysteria. Archae Nov 2020 #1
I remember Geraldo Rivera doing a TV special about it. Buckeye_Democrat Nov 2020 #4
Part of the Salem Witch Trials was an excuse - OhZone Nov 2020 #2
K & R nt greyl Nov 2020 #3
Hahaha rusty fender Nov 2020 #5
Tx. Mass hysteria is a real thing, ugly and lethal appalachiablue Nov 2020 #6
The Dutch 'Black Tulip' craze keeps coming to mind. alittlelark Nov 2020 #7

Archae

(46,262 posts)
1. The 1980's "Satanic Panic" was a good example of mass hysteria.
Sun Nov 15, 2020, 01:42 AM
Nov 2020

I think there may still be people in jail for "crimes" that never happened in day cares and schools.

Buckeye_Democrat

(14,847 posts)
4. I remember Geraldo Rivera doing a TV special about it.
Sun Nov 15, 2020, 03:13 AM
Nov 2020

I watched it and realized it was ridiculous, of course.

Yet I overheard many people at my job and public places who were genuinely terrified by it!


There's too many gullible people in this country to allow that kind of nonsense on our telecasts.

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