Mass hysteria
As defined by Abby McPhail, mass hysteria was "a shared madness". Oliver Morgenstern added that the term was used to describe events where "an idea [could] spread like a virus".
Morgenstern researched a number of events which he believed to be examples of mass hysteria. In North Carolina in 2002, a group of cheerleaders all suffered identical seizures with no obvious physiological cause. In Portugal in 2006, girls started experiencing symptoms of a fictional virus they’d seen in a teen soap.
The temporary disappearance of the Royal Hope Hospital in 2008 was attributed to being a case of mass hysteria, even by those who were inside the hospital, such as Oliver Morgenstern. (AUDIO: Hysteria) In reality, the disappearance of the hospital was caused by the Judoon transporting it to the Moon via a H₂O scoop. (TV: Smith and Jones)
Some claimed that the Bubble Shock! incident was the result of mass hysteria caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. (TV: Invasion of the Bane)
When residents of Lavender Lawns claimed that they had seen the ghost of a nun, Sylvia Gribbins put the claims down to hysteria. (TV: Eye of the Gorgon)
One of the old dears has a nightmare, she tells her friend she's seen a ghost, then, next thing, what do you know? They've all seen one. It's hysteria, Miss Smith. It's as simple as that.
The BBC News website claimed that the huge fireball over Cardiff caused mass hysteria. They used the headline "Cardiff Mass Hysteria". (TV: The New World)
