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The Laughing Epidemic of Tanzania

in Where Reality Meets the Unbelievable by Ivana Zivadinovic

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The Laughing Epidemic of Tanzania on “Where Reality Meets the Unbelievable”, a list by Ivana Zivadinovic on TheLysts.

Details

Status
Partially explained
Location
Kashasha, Tanzania
Case Type
Mass hysteria
Synopsis
It started with three schoolgirls laughing uncontrollably. Soon, the laughter spread like wildfire — first through the school, then neighboring villages. Children and adults alike couldn’t stop laughing for hours, sometimes days, collapsing from exhaustion and panic. The epidemic lasted months, affecting over a thousand people. No physical cause was ever found, leading scientists to believe it was a case of contagious mass hysteria triggered by stress and fear.
Date or Period
January 1962
Consequences
Over 1,000 people affected, schools closed, psychological trauma.
Evidence
Reports published in the Central African Journal of Medicine.

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