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Mass Hysteria In Upstate New York Summary

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“Mass Hysteria in Upstate New York” The general argument made by Ruth Graham in “Mass Hysteria in Upstate New York” is that cases of large groups of people becoming suddenly ill have surfaced because of a massive panic occurring. More specifically, Graham reasons that a large group of teenage girls experienced Tourette’s like symptoms due to mass hysteria. Graham writes, “Typically, symptoms-which can include Brownell’s Tourette’s-like movements, along with nausea, dizziness, cramping, and more-start with one or two victims and spread when others see or hear about them” (1). Graham is suggesting that individuals, who were made aware of others becoming sick, developed the same sickness because of mental anxiety, and not poisoning, or environmental
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There is a fungus called Ergot that could be to blame for this hysteria; both the symptoms that Ergot causes and the girl's experiences are similar. The fungus Ergot mainly grows on and is most likely to grow on opened-pollinated crops because “it allows easy access of the fungus into the flowering head” like rye (“Ergot of Cereals and Grasses | Disease”). If the infected grain is eaten, the most common symptoms are convulsive fits, hallucinations, vomiting, and a prickling sensation under the skin. This was also what the girls did: "They vomited, screamed incomprehensibly, claimed to see things that weren’t

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But so many other people would disagree so strongly with her sunny disposition, after being robbed, by fate, of the life they had worked so hard to make for themselves. Mairs says in her essay, “I am not a disease.” (213) but living with an invisible illness is consuming. It eats people alive.

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When you think of a blizzard, you usually don’t think of tragic 40 below zero temperatures. You don’t always imagine extremely high winds blowing the snow every which way, making it very difficult to see what’s in front of you. You certainly don’t think of a blizzard to kill 235 people, including 213 children just trying to make it home from school. The Children’s Blizzard of 1888 included many details common to blizzards, had incredible devastation due to the welcoming conditions beforehand, and involved some very surprising circumstances.

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“I don’t remember screaming. I don’t even remember breathing,” Burbano told ABC News “I just remember dragging my best friend down”” (Zambelich). This statement from an interview with one of the survivors of the Orlando Pulse shooting perfectly highlights how adrenaline affects the body and how during spats of mass hysteria the body tries its hardest just to survive. This becomes clear throughout history in places such as England during the plague.

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The poet successfully illustrates the magnitude with which this disease can change its victim’s perspective about things and situations once familiar to

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One of the biggest summer nuisance would be the mosquito, but more specifically the Ades aegypti mosquito. The Aedes aegypti is the vector for yellow fever and the cause of the numerous deaths. In her book The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic the Shaped Our History, Molly Caldwell Crosby presents the idea that the mosquito is not just the only reason an epidemic occurred in the 18th century. This story accounts for the disease that broke out across the world and nearly destroyed almost all of North America’s population, which some believe could have been avoided by simple quarantine analysis and sanitary methods.

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864 Words | 4 Pages

Mob Hysteria Mob Hysteria, according to the site titled, The Free Dictionary, is defined as “A condition in which a large group of people exhibit similar physical or emotional symptoms, such as anxiety or extreme excitement” (www.thefreedictionary.com). For example, the Holocaust was all about getting rid of the Jews; most people did not understand why they were doing this, but went along with what was occurring because that’s what Hitler told them to do and believed was the correct solution to pursue. The Salem Witch Trials is also linked to Mob Hysteria, which began in 1699, when a couple of girls began to act strangely and many claimed they impacted with the devil. The McCarthy Era, created by Joseph McCarthy, was when Senator McCarthy

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997 Words | 4 Pages

The blizzard on January 12, 1888 will forever be known as one of the most disastrous storms in history. The storm earned the name “the children’s blizzard” because so many children lives were taken in this malicious storm. Could something have been done to prevent such a large death toll? Yes. If the proper steps had been taken to warn the people of the approaching bad weather, then many could have taken the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their family and livestock.

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650 Words | 3 Pages

The narrator is certain she is really sick, and not just nervously depressed as diagnosed by her husband, but she is confined by her role as a wife and woman, and cannot convince her relatives and friends that something is actually wrong with her. In the story the narrator says, “”If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the

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777 Words | 4 Pages

This refers to the idea that God created the plague to discern those who were strong in their faith and willing to be martyrs. He continues on with idea stating that true believers would seek refuge in God and trust in His plan for

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952 Words | 4 Pages

Mental illness significantly affects many around the world. In fact, about four-hundred and fifty million people worldwide suffer from one or more of the different known mental illnesses. That is one in every four people. Severe mental health issues such as severe anxiety disorder, antisocial personality disorder, schizophrenia, or sensory perception disorder are illnesses which are common among the people responsible for the numerous mass shootings in America. Many believe the possession of firearms in the hands of the mentally ill are the real cause of mass shootings.

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1611 Words | 7 Pages

Morrie developed asthma, something he never had as a child, in his sixties. He had trouble walking, stumbled and fell a few times, he got hit with a gust of wind and had to be taken to the emergency room once. By this time Morrie was older, in his seventies, so these incidents were not incredibly alarming to most people. But Morrie knew, just like he knew about so many other things some people just couldn’t, that it was not just old age bringing him down.

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Everything from how her interactions with her family to her perception of her environment and how it evolves throughout the story allow the reader to almost feel what the narrator is feeling as the moves through the story. In the beginning, the only reason the reader knows there may be something wrong with the narrator is because she comes right out and says she may be ill, even though her husband didn’t believe she was (216). As the story moves on, it becomes clear that her illness is not one of a physical nature, but of an emotional or mental one. By telling the story in the narrator’s point of view, the reader can really dive into her mind and almost feel what she’s feeling.

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1053 Words | 5 Pages

In 1692, young girls displayed odd behaviors. Some of the odd behaviors were uncontrollable seizures, profane screaming, and trance-like states. The uncontrollable seizures were rapid, rhythmic and sometimes violent shaking movements, often loss of consciousness. The profane screamings including the girls would fall to the floor and start making animal noises, the would cuss, and start talking about Satan. The trance-like states include half-conscious, between sleeping and waking, and dazed.

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562 Words | 3 Pages

The story focuses on the main character who is a woman suffering from mental illness. It is very clear that the woman is ill when she states, “You see, he does not believe I am sick!” (677) speaking of her husband who is a doctor. So first she admits she is sick then later she states, “I am glad my case is not serious!”

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