Get ready for “Pope-mania” as Pope Francis prepares to make his six-day trip to the United States next week — visiting the cities of Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York.
With his arrival on Tuesday, the mass excitement has led to major road and highway closings, school closings and apartment rental listings for thousands of dollars for a single week.
In Philadelphia, over a million dollars are being spent on port-a-potties alone.
Pope paraphernalia — including magnets, bobbleheads and even pope-themed foods like a cheese block replica of Francis — are being sold off the shelves.
As odd as the craze may seem to some, it’s nothing compared to other causes of mass hysteria — some of which caused death and illness.
Here are five of the most bizarre:
Dancing Plague of 1518
In 1518, a woman in Strasbourg, France decided to get crazy dancing in the streets.
Despite the fact that no music was playing, she could not stop herself from feeling the rhythm.
According to the BBC, about 400 people joined a short time later — and literally danced themselves to death over the course of a month.
Most of the victims died of heart attacks and exhuastion, but the dancing did not stop. At the time, many people believed that only more dancing would cure the uncontrollable urge.
A possible explanation of this is extreme stress, because in the day there was a shortage of food and many people were dying of starvation.
There was also an influx of diseases such as smallpox, and many people were completely overwhelmed.
Mumbai Sweet Water
In 2006, hundreds of people travelled to Mumbai to experience the “miracle” of the water of one of the most polluted creeks in India.
Known for its sewage and foul smells, locals who drank the water in late August claimed it tasted sweet. This phenomenon lasted only a day, and despite health warnings, people who visited the creek gathered the water in bottles and garbage bags for later use.
According to the BBC, many saw it as a blessing from Makhdoom Ali Mahimi, who was a 13th Century Sufi saint.
A possible explanation is that rain water over the previous few days accrued near the creek, and flowed on top of the salt water because of differences in density.
Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic
If you’ve ever had a laughing fit, it most likely won’t compare to this laughing epidemic of 1962 that started in what is now Tanzania, Africa, close to Lake Victoria.
It is believed to have started with a single joke in a school, and the laughter didn’t end for months later. As laughter is contagious, it spread quickly through nearby villages.
According to Christian F. Hempelmann, who was a Purdue University linguistics doctorate at the time, the cause of this phenomenon was most likely stress, and not simply exuberance for life.
He said that this could happen again. The problem is that excessive laughing can cause health issues such as respiratory problems and rashes.
Penis Panic
This syndrome, known officially as “Koro,” most commonly affects men in Africa and Southeast Asia.
According to Medical Daily, these men have a debilitating fear that their penis is shrinking and will completely disappear.
Men who suffer from this believe that if their penis shrinks enough and disappears, they will die.
The stress from this syndrome alone can cause all sorts of other health-related issues such as excessive sweating and dizziness. Some people afflicted with the symptom go to extreme measures to “prevent” losing their penis, such as metal clamps, hooks, and fishing lines.
The Toxic Lady
In 1994, Gloria Ramirez, a woman who resided in Riverside, California, was brought to an emergency room suffering from effects of cervical cancer.
The first nurse who took blood fainted, noting a foul smell. A second nurse noted several strange pieces of a manila-like substance floating in the blood, and also fainted.
After a third nurse fainted, the entire emergency room was evacuated, under the belief that Ramirez had a case of toxic contamination. Over a dozen people reported illness.
Ramirez eventually died from kidney failure.
At the time, county officials called Ramirez’s death “the most baffling in local history.” One explanation is that Ramirez may have been ingesting dimethyl sulfoxide, which is a by-product of paper-making and often used to treat painful bladder symptoms and other medical conditions.
The chemical could have built up as a result of her kidney failure, and the oxygen given to her during the rush to the hospital may have combined with the dimethyl sulfoxide to form the manila-like substances in her blood.
