MASS HYSTERIA – HISTORICAL AND LITERARY VIEWS
Expository Essay: Preparation for Research Paper
Define “mass hysteria.” What are its characteristics? Is it a social issue? Political
issue? Medical issue?
Is paranoia a necessary part of hysteria?
Why can we not define an event as hysterical in the present – only in the past after it has
happened?
Tolerance, Prejudice or Hysteria? – concern for society? Fear for self?
Did the event cause the hysteria or did hysteria cause the event? What led up to it?
“Falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after; so that when men come to be
undeceived it is too late; the jest is over and the tale has had its effect.” (Jonathon Swift;
1710)
EXAMPLES TO BE RESEARCHED:
 Comet Hysteria
o In general – “Doomsday Comets”
o 1665 – Europe – believed to have caused the Black Plague
 Anthrax hysteria
 UFO/Flying Saucers/Crop Circles
 Riots
o Kent State
o Rodney King
o Watts Riots – 1960s
 Tylenol Murders – 1982 (led to tamper-proof seals on medicine
 The Red Scare
o 1920s
o 1950s - the HUAC (Un-American Committee)
 “War of the Worlds” – 1938
 Cuban Crisis – nuclear threats/fears (I.e. movie Blast from the Past)
 Germany – fear of Jews – Hitler’s influence
 Jonestown Massacre
 Ryan White Story
 Japanese Internment Camps – WW II
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Treatment of Native Americans – i.e. Wounded Knee
Stock Market Crash
Y2K Hysteria
Robert Roberson Child Abuse Case – Wenatchee Sex Rings
Lynchings/Cross Burnings – treatment of blacks through 1960s
Vampire Sightings