27. The Crazy Laughter Epidemic
Laughter is usually a good thing, but as with everything else, too much of a good thing is not good. Case in point, a 1962 crazy mass hysteria episode, in which people started laughing uncontrollably. It began in the village of Kashasha on the western shore of Lake Victoria in Tanganyika (modern Tanzania) and quickly spread throughout the surrounding region. By the time it subsided months later, the mass hysteria had affected thousands of people, and led to the closure of many schools.
On January 30, 1962, a girl in a missionary boarding school had a fit of anxiety-induced laughter and started cackling uncontrollably. She was soon joined by two of her friends. Before long, the contagion spread and engulfed the school. Within a short time, 95 out of the school’s 159 students were laughing uncontrollably. It got bad enough that the girls were unable to concentrate, and the school was forced to shut down six weeks later. The afflicted students took their uncontrollable laughter with them when they were sent back to their families. Within a short time of their returning home, the contagion spread from the schoolgirls to their communities.