If there is something has accompanied us from the very beginnings of humanity, is the belief in a higher power, and in its counterpart; practically all religions have a being that represents a supreme evil, and that is capable of exerting its influence upon us, either directly or through its lackeys. This malevolent influence has been blamed throughout our history of diseases, misfortunes, and strange behaviors; it was not until the Renaissance period, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, when the fields of Medicine and Religion were separated and medicine began to be seen as purely empirical and scientific. But even today, alleged demonic possessions are blamed for diseases such as schizophrenia and sleep paralysis. And although much has been talked about whether they are real or not (personally I am skeptical, as all my readers will know), there are cases that certainly stand out from the others, both because of the symptoms shown by those affected, and because of the number of victims. One of these recent and remarkable cases is the subject of today's article, the mass demonic possession in a Peruvian school:
Medical Mysteries: Mass Demonic Possessions in Tarapoto, Peru
I don’t know about you, but I miss school; that time practically without responsibilities, when our biggest challenge was to learn how to divide between two figures. I fondly remember those mornings playing hide and seek, football or cards, while we discussed who would win in a fight between Goku and Sub-Zero while passing songs to our Nokia 6265 by infrared. But they were simpler times, before the globalization of the internet and the rise of social media; now, due to the greater amount of distractions we have, the new generations are not distracted with anything, as it was clearly demonstrated in April of 2016 in the Elsa Perea Flores School, in the city of Taropoto, in Peru.
There, a group of children without much to do and surely with no battery on their phones (how else would they interact with each other?) decided that a good way to spend recess would be playing with an Ouija board. This was the beginning of what seems like the plot of one of those redundant horror movies on SyFy channel, but it was very real. The children began to exhibit symptoms of apparent demonic possession; seizures, unintelligible cries, vomiting and fainting, which also spread throughout the school. After a few days, more than 80 children were already possessed, all between the ages of 11 and 14, and manifesting the same signs as their peers.
The influx of children flooded the hospitals of the region, but it was of little use to take them to health centers: most of the doctors had no idea what was happening, and no medical treatment seemed to alleviate the symptoms. The religious authorities, on the other hand, were quite sure of what had happened; a case of massive and contagious demonic possession, probably due to the action of demons and evil spirits attracted by the children who innocently used an Ouija board without knowing its possible consequences. In addition, rumors emerged that the school had been built on top of an old Mafia cemetery, where they buried their victims (apparently, plots of land are cheaper if there are corpses of indigenous people or mob victims buried beneath).
Where you see an abandoned cemetery, others see a great real state opportunity
But that is not all. The particularity that stands out the most, besides the number of affected children, is that the majority said they had seen a man of great stature, dressed all in black and with a long beard, who pursued them with the intention of strangling them; some children even shouted for help while they grabbed their necks and said they could not breathe. When the symptoms disappeared, few remembered what had happened. Eventually the school had to close temporarily, and everything ended as quickly as it started. But is it possible that everything was really because of demonic possession? Were a group of children with an Ouija board able to open the very gates of hell and attract a multitude of tormented souls? Should children find other ways to distract themselves, preferably one with less likelihood of being possessed? Well, let's get to the subject at hand, and discover the truth behind everything.
If you are a recurrent reader of my blog, perhaps you have already found some similarities between this case and another about which I have written previously. I am talking about the Dance Epidemic of 1528, which like this series of apparent possessions, began suddenly, affected a population without distinction of sex or race, spread rapidly and inexplicably, had no possible medical treatment and ended suddenly. And just as in that case, the real culprit behind this phenomenon is no other than Mass Hysteria. The religious authorities may not agree with this diagnosis, but hey, you trust good old Dr. Mike (and a multitude of psychological studies), right?
A regular morning at your average Peruvian school, apparently
Let’s recall, mass hysteria are basically anxiety attacks that affect a large number of people at the same time, and manifest themselves both mentally and physically. Just one person showing symptoms in front of a public and in a sufficiently dramatic way is enough for the condition to spread like wildfire, being able to cause convulsions, nausea, vomiting, fainting, dysarthria (difficulty speaking), and an incredible variety of symptoms that, at the moment of a medical examination, seem to have no physical cause. Indeed, hysteria is a psychosomatic condition, that is, of mental origin, making true the old adage of "everything is in the mind".
It is caused mainly by large amounts of stress, either by one or several causes; a strong enough trigger can produce the symptoms in a single individual, and from there it is transmitted to a crowd. It is more common in young people, and its manifestations depend to a large extent on the beliefs of the individual; It can be assumed, therefore, that the trigger was surely the Ouija game, where, conditioned by the strong religious beliefs present in Latin American countries, and in the face of great stress, perhaps caused by upcoming exams or by remembering he had forgotten to delete the web browser history, one of the children began to present the symptoms described above, and his companions followed him. In short, all it took was one individual who believed to be possessed for his body to follow his beliefs, and upon seeing him and thinking that he was possessed by demons, the rest of the school followed him.
Just think about it; your immortal soul in exchange for the answers of that next exam
Mass hysteria is a more than likely explanation for other similar cases of alleged demonic possessions en masse, and for other phenomena of seemingly supernatural causes and religious background. Of course, there will always be cases that even the best psychiatrists cannot explain, but as I like to say, the fact that we have not yet found a logical and reasonable explanation does not mean that we will never do it; Science advances, and with it our understanding of the mind and psychology. However, it is not a bad idea to stop using Ouija boards in schools, at what point did it stop being fun to play hide and seek?
References:
- Eighty children treated in hospital after outbreak of 'demonic possession' in Peruvian school where pupils say they had visions of 'a man in black' trying to kill them
- Peruvian School Kids Claiming To Be Possessed By A Demon Have Got The World Completely Baffled
- Nearly 100 schoolchildren 'possessed by the devil' have 'contagious visions' of man in black trying to kill them
- Dozens of School Children in Peru Possessed by Demon, Suffer Contagious Seizures: Facts
- A Classic Case of Mass Hysteria in Tarapoto, Peru
- What is mass hysteria?
That is pretty freaking creepy! Reminds me of the Salem Witch Trials in the late 1600s. It is thought that their mass hysteria/paranoia was brought on by a fungus!
Indeed, goes to show that everything eventually has a logical explanation, even if it's 400 years later. I believe there was a case similar to this one in Brazil, as well, in which the culprit was also a hallucinogenic fungus.
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You deserve a lot more upvotes for this post. Very, very interesting. It seems to me the line these days is ultimately drawn by a persons or their families beliefs. I am not religious, but the human race is far from having all the answers, but at least we are still learning. I personally believe in science before religion, but that doesn't mean I can't be wrong.
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! I share your thoughts; there may be some things out there that we can't explain yet, but at least we should do our best possible effort to find an explanation backed by logic and science.
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Well.. I teally thought that you are gone 😢 glad to have you back😉 always nice to read your post, many resources elaborate nicely and always with fun in it 😉
Hope that you can make the regular post again one day. How's your school? Are you a doctor now?
Thanks for your words @cicisaja! Much appreciated.
I'm doing fine, I haven't graduated yet, hopefully next year. Feel free to call me Doctor though, it sounds better than med student Mike lol.
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Okay Doctor 😉 it's a pray and wish you know😊
I love these series! Mass hysteria is really fascinating and strange! It's so crazy how it can transmit from person to person, like we are connected in some way none can really describe...
That's indeed one way to see it! We humans are social animals, and in some ways it could even seem sometimes that we are guided by a sort of hivemind. Maybe that's where evolution is taking us, who knows? Only time will tell.
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Wow.... This is a great post. You surely didn't disappoint after all. I'll be looking towards more of your post. I really love your narrative style and will try to learn from it. You really simplify all the big doctors vocabularies and explained every details in simple English. But I have a question though, what is Ouija board or game?
Great work Dr. @mike961