For a two week period in 1956, residents in the vicinity of Taipei, Taiwan, lived in fear that they would be the next victims of a crazed villain who was prowling the streets and slashing people at random with a razor or similar weapon. At least 21 victims were reported during this period, mostly women and children of low income and education. A thorough investigation revealed however, that: five slashings were innocent false reports, seven were self-inflicted cuts, eight were due to cuts rather than razors, and one was complete fantasy. This is one example of many cases of what has...

The power of imagination, group psychology, and the concept of "fantasy prone personalities," are explored by Bartholomew and Howard as they probe the history of how UFO stories are spread. The impact of "collective delusion" enhanced by the media can be dangerous, leaving great pain and tragedy in its wake. Included are detailed descriptions of the United States airship flap of 1896-97; the imaginary sightings of Thomas Edison's "electric star" of the late 1800s; Canada's phantom balloon wave of 1896-97; the New Zealand zeppelin scare of 1909; the British UFO panic of 1912-13; phantom German...

History is replete with examples of media-created scares and panics. This book presents more than three dozen studies of media scares from the 17th century to the 21st century, including hoaxes perpetrated via newspapers, radio, television and cyberspace. From the 1835 Batmen-on-the-Moon hoax to more recent bird flu scares and Hurricane Katrina myths, this book explores hoaxes that highlight the impact of the media on our lives and its tendency to sensationalize. Most of the hoaxes covered occurred in the United States, though incidents from Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and Australia...

This book surveys the rich, colourful history of mass hysteria and kindred phenomena in schools, from outbreaks of demonic possession during witchcraft scares to twitching and shaking epidemics that became common in nineteenth century European schools, to more contemporary incidents of collapsing bands, itching frenzies, ghost panics and 'mystery' illnesses. Sociologist Robert Bartholomew and historian Robert Rickard trace mysterious outbreaks of strange behavior and illness in students through the centuries. From the possessed children who went into trance states and began to bark like dogs...

This eclectic history of unusual crowd behavior describes a rich assortment of mass phenomena ranging from the amusing and quirky to the shocking and deplorable. What do fads, crazes, manias, urban legends, moral panics, riots, stampedes, and other mass expressions of emotion have in common? By creating a typology of such behavior, past and present, the authors show how common extraordinary group reactions to fear or excitement are. And they offer insights into how these sometimes dangerous mob responses can be avoided.
We may not be surprised to read about the peculiarities of the...