The government held an emergency meeting and share prices crashed after a Pokémon broadcast on Japanese television. For years, its effects went unexplained – until researchers started looking into it …
In 1997, an episode of a Pokemon cartoon started a medical mystery when hundreds of children across Japan experienced seizures. Within two days, 12,000 children had reported symptoms of illness. Ten-year-old Takuya Sato said: “Towards the end of the programme there was an explosion, and I had to close my eyes because of an enormous yellow light like a camera flash.” A 15-year-old girl from Nagoya reported: “As I was watching blue and red lights flashing on the screen, I felt my body becoming tense. I do not remember what happened afterwards.”
The phenomenon, headlined “Pokémon Shock” by Japanese media, became big news and was reported around the world. The cartoon’s producers were questioned by police, the ministry of health held an emergency meeting and share prices in the game dropped significantly.
To medical experts, the figure of 12,000 children requiring medical treatment made no sense. until it got the attention of researcher Benjamin Radford who said, “The mystery sort of faded away without an explanation, I wanted to see if I could solve the case.”
Although the cartoon’s transmission did cause hundreds of children to experience a relatively rare condition known as photosensitive epilepsy, the vast majority only became ill after hearing about the programme’s effects. Some news shows screened repeats of the offending clip, but this time, the symptoms (headaches, dizziness, vomiting) were, says Radford, “much more characteristic of mass sociogenic illness [MSI] than photosensitive epilepsy”.
According to Radford: “MSI is complex and often misunderstood, but basically it’s when anxiety manifests itself in physical symptoms that can be spread through social contact. It is often found in closed social units and the symptoms are real – the victims are not faking or making them up –People can literally make themselves ill from nothing more than an idea.”
Famous cases of Mass Sociogenic illness (MSI) in history
MSI, known more colloquially as mass hysteria, is a well-documented phenomenon with cases spread throughout history,
In July 1518, a woman stepped onto the street’s in Strasbourg, and began dancing. She continued compusively for day’s, during which time others joined in. Over the following month, she was joined by other dancers and musicians. As many as 400 people danced uncontrollably and apparently unwillingly for days on end, some of then even died from their exertions. The mania lasted for about two months before ending as mysteriously as it began.
What began as an isolated fit of the giggles in a group of 12-to 18-year-old schoolgirls led to an outbreak of uncontrollable laughter which rose to epidemic proportions in Tanzania in 1962. This laughter outbreak became so severe that if affected about 1,000 people and led to the closing of at least 14 schools.
Probably the most famous case of mass hysteria in America was after a radio broadcast of HG Well’s War OF The Worlds in 1938. The broadcast was heard by 6,000,000 people, some of whom believed that the story of the invading Martians was real. This may be one of the earliest examples of mass hysteria induced by electronic media and a dramatic illustration of the power of mass communication to impact people’s fears and feelings.
In the UK there was similar mass panic in 1992 when an episode of Ghostwatch featured a live broadcast from a house in London which was being investigated for paranormal activity. In the immediate aftermath, more than 30,000 terrified or angry callers bombarded the BBC’s switchboard and newspapers featured heavy criticism of the show. Six cases of children aged 10-14 exhibiting symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder were recorded,
Let’s Talk About It
Have you ever laughed uncontrollably? what was the reason, if any?
Are you influenced by what you see or hear in the media?
Where do you get most of your news from?
Has anything you have seen or heard affected you physically?
What are your thoughts on what you have just read?
What are some of your favourtite programmes to watch?
