What Can Mass Hysteria Do to a Crowd?

Recently the term Mass Hysteria has been used to describe the sudden mysterious affliction of some thirteen high school girls at Le Roy in upstate New York by more than a few skeptics. But does this explanation really hold up? To gain some perspective on the whole idea of mass hysteria here are some of the strangest examples ever recorded.

One of the earliest famous accounts ever recorded that are now widely considered mass hysteria was the dancing plague of 1518. Sufferers of the mysterious and strange epidemic found themselves dancing uncontrollably. Soon others joined in and by the end of it, many of the dancers lay dead having exhausted themselves beyond their capacity to go on. The illness is widely considered one of the most bizarre and tragic such cases.

Much later, however, there was an illness known as the Tanganyika laughter. This mysterious laughter began very suddenly in Tanzania on January 30, 1962. The strange ailment caused the school to close its doors and shut down while those outside of it were still looking for answers. The students would suddenly find themselves laughing hysterically, unable to stop it. Soon 159 students would be affected.

The school was closed to stem the spread of what was believed to be a possible pathogen. By that time, however, it was too late. Soon the bizarre laughter could be heard ringing from many miles away spreading from the students to the villagers. By the end of this bizarre ailment more schools would close in nearby Kanyangereka. Nothing was ever identified to cause the mysterious illness and it was declared to be a case of mass hysteria.

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Meet the ‘psychic vampires’

While they may not suck the blood out of you, they do drain your energies leaving you depressed and irritable say Wiccans. Melissa D'costa finds out more

Wiccans, psychic vampires

If you've ever been in a crowded train or party and come back home feeling physically sick, angry, cranky, or irritable for no reason, you were probably subjected to an attack from a psychic vampire according to Sangeeta Krishnan, High Priestess, Maya Wicca Tradition.

How to identify a 'psychic vampire'?

Shahrukh Vazir, a tarot reader, says, "People associate the word vampire with blood sucking creatures, however the concept of a 'psychic vampire' is slightly different because they do not suck your blood but drain you of your psychic energy. You can come across a psychic vampire anywhere - a screaming baby that makes you irritable, a crowded train, a walk in the hot sun. But if there is a problem, there is a solution to it. There are ways to protect oneself from this loss of energy. To start off, we should be aware that one is loosing psychic energy. Next, it is important to want to retain this energy. This intention is enough to shield oneself."

How spiritual healing can protect you?

Sangeeta adds, "Not everyone is vulnerable to a psychic attack. If you are well grounded, and your 'spiritual immunity' is high, you will be protected from all kinds of psychic attacks. If you identify a place or person that drains your energy (whether or not it is unintentional or malicious), the simplest way to deal with it in the short term is by staying away from the person/place/object. You can also visualise a bright, golden sphere surrounding your body that diverts all negative energy. One very simple way of protection is salt. Salt crystals are powerful protectors of energy and one of the best ways to protect yourself using salt is to put a fistful of pure, uniodised sea salt in your bath water. Crystals like obsidian and tourmaline can be placed at a spot or carried around as they absorb negative energy. Smudging a house (or yourself) with dhoop or smoke of frankincense is another way to energise and strengthen your auric field and prevent psychic attacks."

Mandaar Naik, a tarot reader believes in the power of spiritual healing and faith. He says, "Every living body in the universe is surrounded by invisible energy, which we often refer to as an 'aura'. It's channelised with each other, knowingly or unknowingly. All of us draw energy from each other, as well as send it. However, there are some people who are knowingly or unknowingly drawing energies from other people. Such individuals are like 'energy/psychic vampires'. To avoid becoming a victim, one can turn to Reiki, chanting mantras and practicing meditation. You can also use tantras eg. Shiv-Swar shastra are tools to shield one self from such people."

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Victims of Cambodia Khmer Rouge Tuol Sleng Genocide Still Haunts

 

At night, we can see a black shadow walking," says Kim Sok, a 25-year-old guard at the museum, which served as the main prison for the 1975 to 1979 Khmer Rouge regime. "We just stay close together so we can take care of each other."

Here, at prison code-named S-21 under the supervision of former mathematics teacher Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, more than 15,000 prisoners were tortured before being hauled to a killing field on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. After the UN-backed Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal began on Tuesday to try Duch for crimes against humanity and war crimes, nowhere seems as haunted as his notorious former prison.

 Belief in spirits is widespread throughout Cambodia and there is particular fear of those who died violently without a proper Buddhist burial. "Many people, including tourists, told me they've seen spirits disguised as a monk, a prisoner and children," says Ith Simorn, 48, who lives in a house across from the ramshackle museum.

Consisting of four buildings and a dusty field, Tuol Sleng was a high school until the Khmer Rouge made it the centre of a network of 70 prisons throughout the country. Documents at Tuol Sleng reveal leaders ordered suspected enemies of the regime to be tortured into signing statements that they were agents of the CIA, KGB and of neighbouring Vietnam.

In all, up to two million people died in Cambodia under the regime because of overwork, starvation, execution and torture.

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Was Jesus Christ once a Buddhist Monk?

Was Jesus a Buddhist? Certainly he was many things--Jew, prophet, healer, moralist, revolutionary, by his own admission the Messiah, and for most Christians the Son of God and redeemer of their sins. And there is convincing evidence that he was also a Buddhist. The evidence follows two independent lines--the first is historical, and the second is textual. Historical evidence indicates that Jesus was well acquainted with Buddhism. If Jesus did not go to India, then at least India went to Judea and Jesus.

The real historical question is not if he studied Buddhism, but where and how much he studied Buddhism, especially during his so-called "lost years." Historical accounts aside, many textual analyses indicate striking similarities between what was said by Jesus and by Buddha and between the prophetic legend of Jesus and ancient Buddhist texts.

The conclusion is that, although not identifying himself as a Buddhist for good reasons, Jesus spoke like a Buddhist. The similarities are so striking that, even if no historical evidence existed, we can suspect that Jesus studied Buddhist teachings and that the prophecy and legend of Jesus was derived from Buddhist stories.

 

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My Aunt Mai and the Neglected Boy

Source: Your Ghost Stories

This an old story that happened a long time ago back in Laos. This was the story that happened to my aunt, my mom's sister. My aunt Mai was the eldest unwed girl in her village at the age of 17. So she was the mother figure to a lot of the children in the neighborhood.

There was a young boy at the age of 6 that Mai took care of day in and day out, because his parents were constantly arguing and violence was involved. Divorce is considered to be a disgrace and one would rather die than have a divorce back then.

One night, the little boy ended up at Mai's front door, shivering. Mai took him in and warmed the boy up. The boy said his parents were arguing all night, then it was silent and he noticed that he was home alone. Now these were not regular insulated homes, the homes, back then, were just huts made of banana leaves and twigs.

The entire village must have heard them arguing that night, but ignored it. Morning came and the boy's parents still did not come to claim the boy. Mai took the boy next door to his house and knocked on the door, yet no one opened. Night came and Mai heard voices coming from the little boy's house. So she took the boy and went next door. She kicked the door open and to her surprise she saw another woman in the arms of the boy's father. Mai apologized for intruding but explained the reason why she was there - to bring his son home.

Days turned into weeks, no one in the village heard or seen of the boy's mother since that night. The mother's parents came to the house demanding to speak with their daughter but the boy's father would say she had left with another man. The village knew the mother was not the type to do such a thing, and gossips filled the community that he had murdered her but there wasn't enough evidence to prove it. The father went around the county with his new bride, leaving his only son to Mai to take care of. The boy was not sad, did not mention he missed his mother, nor did he shed a tear for her... Mai got concerned.

One morning, Mai went to pick up the boy from his house. The boy came out of the house, waved in the direction of his father - his father who wasn't looking at him - and came out of the house with a smile. Mai asked him why he was so happy. He said his mother is taking him away from here. Mai was confused, she asked, "Where IS your mother?" The little boy replied, "Dad loves her a lot now, every day he carries her on his back." Mai's mouth dropped. The boy said, "Just look at them, aren't they happy" as he looked into the house toward his father. Mai looked inside, she only saw the father's back turned facing them with his new wife cooking - no sign of the mother.

My aunt said a week after that the little boy mysteriously passed away. Some said it was due to an illness that he contracted and since they lived in the rural, nothing could save him but my aunt said it was because his mother came to get him away from his horrible father.

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Why flatworms may hold the secret to immortality

British scientists believe they may have identified how humans could potentially live forever - and it’s all about flatworms Experts at Nottingham University have been examining how two species of flatworms are able to regenerate themselves again and again – raising hopes that scientists could find ways of alleviating the effects of ageing in human cells.

Flatworms, known as planarian worms, have long fascinated scientists with their apparently limitless ability to regenerate

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Buddha Image appears in Skies of Indonesia

Source: STOMP



Is Seeing believing? A Singapore traveller who was travelling to indonesia spotted this image formed by the clouds in the skies of Indonesia.

It was claimed to be original and has not been photoshopped. would you believe it to be real?

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Japan's tsunami city Ishinomaki is still haunted after 1 Year

A year after whole neighbourhoods full of people were killed by the Japanese tsunami, rumours of ghosts swirl in Ishinomaki as the city struggles to come to terms with the awful tragedy.



One reconstruction project appears stalled because of fears the undead spirits of those who perished last March will bring bad luck.



"I heard people working to repair the store became sick because of ghosts," Satoshi Abe, 64, said, gesturing to a half-repaired supermarket. "People died everywhere, here and there. The city is full of such stories," he said.



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Thousands of dead fish washed up in Pasir Ris

Light glinted off the bodies of thousands of fish in Sungei Api Api river yesterday morning.

The mesmerising sight surprised many residents who lived near the river in Pasir Ris.

The mass of swimming fish also caused the water surface to ripple.

"I thought it was raining at first," said Mr Mohammed Rahim Dasmin, 46, who passed the 1.2km river while cycling to work at 7.30am.

The storekeeper has lived in the area for more than 10 years, but it was the first time he had witnessed such a sight.

Housewife June Chua, 60, was on her way to the market when the crowd gathered at the river caught her attention.

Distracted, she walked over and was amazed to see the sight of thousands of fish.

"It was very beautiful," said Madam Chua.

However, a different sight - and smell - greeted her when she passed the site again in the evening to pick up her grandchildren from school.

Then, the stench of dead fish washed up along the river bank hit her even before she saw them.

Another resident, Madam Wati Mansor, whose home faces the river, compared the pungent smell to that of a fish market.

"I was cooking chicken for lunch and thought to myself, 'Why is the smell of fish so strong?'"

The 47-year-old housewife said the foul smell lingered in her second-storey flat throughout the afternoon.

Ms Haydee Allanigue was jogging around her estate in Pasir Ris and was about 100m from the river bank when she detected the odour of dead fish.

Like many others, the 33-year-old Pasir Ris resident was puzzled.

"I know it's fish, but why are there so many here?" she asked.

When The New Paper arrived at the scene at 5.30pm, workers were already clearing away the fish.

A 31-year-old foreman, who wanted to be known only as Mr Wanz, claimed that his team had been hard at work since about 8am.

"I have no idea when we're going to finish," he said.

Used in cooking

He believed that the dead fish is ikan tamban, a species commonly used in cooking.

In a joint statement, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and National Environment Agency (NEA) said they were informed of dead fish at the mouth of Sungei Api Api this morning.

When they arrived at the site, dead fish were also found along the beach at Pasir Ris.

They were likely to have been washed in by the tide and some of them were deposited on the river bank of Sungei Api Api.

PUB assures the public that this incident has no impact on drinking water quality.

The water from the river is not used for drinking.

NEA is investigating the cause of the incident.

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Mayan Light Beam Photo (Gods's Message or iPhone Glitch?)

When Hector Siliezar visited the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza with his wife and kids in 2009, he snapped three iPhone photos of El Castillo, a pyramid that once served as a sacred temple to the Mayan god Kukulkan. A thunderstorm was brewing near the temple, and Siliezar was trying to capture lightning crackling dramatically over the ruins. In the first two images, dark clouds loom above the pyramid, but nothing is amiss.

 However, in the third photo, a powerful beam of light appears to shoot up from the pyramid toward the heavens, and a thunderbolt flashes in the background. Siliezar, who recently shared his photographs with occult investigators, told Earthfiles.com that he and his family didn't see the light beam in person; it appeared only on camera. "It was amazing!" he said. He showed the iPhone photo to his fellow tourists. "No one, not even the tour guide, had ever seen anything like it before."

The photo has surfaced on several Mayan doomsday discussion forums. But was the light beam a sign from the gods — a warning about Dec. 21, 2012, the date that marks the end of the Mayan calendar cycle, and when some people fear the world will end? Or is it simply the result of an iPhone glitch?
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Human fossils hint at new species

The remains of what may be a previously unknown human species have been identified in southern China.

Image copyright to BBC

The bones, which represent at least five individuals, have been dated to between 11,500 and 14,500 years ago.

But scientists are calling them simply the Red Deer Cave people, after one of the sites where they were unearthed.

The team has told the PLoS One journal that far more detailed analysis of the fossils is required before they can be ascribed to a new human lineage.

"We're trying to be very careful at this stage about definitely classifying them," said study co-leader Darren Curnoe from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

"One of the reasons for that is that in the science of human evolution or palaeoanthropology, we presently don't have a generally agreed, biological definition for our own species (Homo sapiens), believe it or not. And so this is a highly contentious area," he told BBC News.

Much of the material has been in Chinese collections for some time but has only recently been subjected to intense investigation.

The remains of some of the individuals come from Maludong (or Red Deer Cave), near the city of Mengzi in Yunnan Province. A further skeleton was discovered at Longlin, in neighbouring Guangxi Province.

The skulls and teeth from the two locations are very similar to each other, suggesting they are from the same population.

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The Philip experiment

The Experiment

In the 1970's, a group of Canadian parapsychologists wanted to attempt an experiment to create a ghost, proving their theory that the human mind can produce spirits through expectation, imagination and visualization.

The actual experiment took place in Toronto, Canada, in 1972, under the direction of the world-renown expert on poltergeists, Dr A. R. G. Owen.

The members of the experiment proposed an idea... by using extreme and prolonged concentration, they could create their ghost through a collective thought form: Non-physical entities which exist in either the mental or astral plane. In order to create this ghost and make it as 'real' as possible, it needed a life story; a background in which the ghost could 'relate' to.

They named the ghost they were attempting to bring into focus "Philip Aylesford" and created a tragic story, explaining to the fullest and in great detail, his life, and the few actions that lead to his tragic death.

Step two was contacting Philip. In September 1972, the group began their "sittings" and after some initial problems the group attempted to duplicate the atmosphere of a classic spiritualist séance. They dimmed the room's lights, sat around a table and surrounded themselves with pictures of the type of castle they imagined Philip would have lived in, as well as objects from that time period.

Within a few weeks, Philip made contact. Although he did not manifest in spiritual form, appearing as an apparition or ghost, he did make contact through a brief rap on the group's table. "Philip" answered questions that were consistent with his fictitious history, but was unable to provide any information beyond that which the group had conceived. However, "Philip" did give other historically accurate information about real events and people. The Owen group theorized that this latter information came from their own collective unconsciousness.

The sessions took off from there, producing a range of phenomena that could not be explained scientifically. His "spirit" was able to move the table, sliding it from side to side. On more than one occasion, the table chased someone across the room. All hands were clear of the table when this occurred.

In conclusion the experimenters were never able to prove the 'how' and the 'why' behind Philip's manifestation. Was Philip a direct result of the group's collective subconscious or perhaps did they conjure an actual entity that simply latched onto the story?

While some would conclude that they prove that ghosts don't exist, that such things are in our minds only, others say that our unconscious could be responsible for this kind of the phenomena some of the time.

Another point of view is that even though Philip was completely fictional, the Owen group really did contact the spirit world. A playful (or perhaps demonic, some would argue) spirit took the opportunity of these séances to 'act' as Philip and produce the extraordinary psychokinetic phenomena recorded.

Whatever caused the manifestation it seems that it adapted itself to the expectation of the audience, playing the role of the spirit they intended to contact. Since all was based on fiction it could not be the spirit of Philip so what else could it be?

Conclusion

The Philip experiment has been very extraordinary to say the least. It seems to proof that séances can indeed create the type of manifestations that are often reported by participants of such activities. The atmosphere in such a 'sitting' might make people more sensitive for noticing weak noises and signs that normally are overlooked as communication or interaction with non-physical entities.

During the Philip experiment the participants where convinced that some kind of interaction was going on.

With knocks and rasps heard coming from the table, the group's questions where answered and eventually the table moved, danced and reacted on the group's presence.

If this would happen in any ordinary séance it would definitely cause anxiety, fear, excitement and would easily contribute in having people believe in ghosts, spirits, demons and non-physical intellectual entities that are capable of communicating with us.

Since the 'Philip' group did expect some kind of manifestation as result of their experiment, their intention and expectation might have contributed to the final result. The intentional creation of the right atmosphere might also have helped to make possible the phenomena. However the resulting interaction with 'Philip' has been rather basic, no voices, no floating bodies, only knocks and moving objects, classical manifestations of ghosts. A real interactive conversation with a ghost was never accomplished.

Would it not be great to be able to communicate openly with ghosts, it could teach us a lot about them, what they are, what attracts them to communicating with us etc. This does not seem to have happened in the Philip experiment and as I am aware it never happened. The reason might be that it just can't be done. We might want to, but from the spirit's point of view it might not be possible. Of course without such a bi-directional conversation we are limited in what we can know about ghosts and spirits.

The result of a communication based on a table that 'raps and knocks' is highly depending on the expectation of the participants. Since the group determines the direction of the conversation, it is likely that the outcome will be approximately what it is expected to be. It does not come close to a real discussion. The manifestations in the 'Philip' experiment only proved that something was manipulating the table and impersonated the ghost of 'Philip' which of course in it's own right is amazing.

In the 'Philip' experiment, questions were asked aloud, that would mean that the spirit was able to hear and/or understand spoken language. Since the team could not hear directly the answers of the spirit (although sometimes a soft whispering was noticeable), the replies came as knocks and rappings from the table, of course this is nothing close to an interactive communication. In a real discussion both parties can lead the direction of the conversation and can choose the topics that are being discussed. When one party can only reply with yes and no then the conversation is limited to the topics that the leading (verbal) party comes up with. Which might be very determined indeed.

Lets assume that the effects witnessed during the experiment were real and that objects like tables can be manipulated invisibly. Of course we still don't know how but if it can be done then science will eventually find out how to replicate these effects.

There will likely be a time that we will have devices that can manipulate objects over distance in such a way that you cannot tell the difference between extraordinary psychokinetic phenomena produced by a ghost and the consequence of operating a super duper high tech device. The result will be spooky effects that cannot easily be explained if you do not know of the existence of such a technology.

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