Ketereh national secondary school (SMK Ketereh) in Kelantan, started screaming, with some claiming to have seen 'a face of pure evil'. Professor Simon Wessely a former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, suggested it was a form of 'collective behaviour'. Robert Bartholomew, a medical sociologist, suggested it was due to the stricter implementation of Islamic law in the school. The school responded to the outbreak by cutting down the trees around the school, believing they were home to supernatural spirits. Starehe Girls' Centre, Kenya (October 2019) – 52 students were isolated with an unknown disease, showing symptoms of a high-pitched cough, sneezing and low-grade fever, a number that later rose to 68. As the number rose, the school's administration shut the school down and instructed parents to pick up their daughters. Specimens collected from the affected students showed only two cases of rhinovirus, a virus that is the predominant cause of the common cold. After carrying out psychological assessments on the students, a team of mental health specialists dispatched by Kenya's Ministry of Health to the school concluded that the 'mysterious' disease was a case of mass hysteria. See also Body-centred countertransference Conversion disorder Folie à deux (from the French for "a madness shared by two") Hysterical contagion Psychochemical weaponry References Further reading Bartholomew, Robert E. (2001). Little Green Men, Meowing Nuns and Head-hunting Panics: A Study of Mass Psychogenic Illnesses and Social Delusion. McFarland. Bartholomew, Robert E; Evans, Hilary. (2009). Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior. Anomalist Books. Craft, Amos Norton. (1881). Epidemic Delusions: Containing an Exposé of the Superstitions and Frauds which Underlie Some Ancient and Modern Delusions, Including Especial Reference to Modern Spiritualism. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Fleischer, Jeff. (2011). The Latest Craze: A Short History of Mass Hysterias. Fall River Press. Mackay, Charles. (1856 edition). Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. London, New York: G. Routledge and Sons. Verma, S. K; Srivastava, D. K. (2003). A Study on Mass Hysteria (Monkey Men?) Victims In East Delhi. Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 57: 355–360. External links Six hundred girls in Mexico experience collective hysteria Sri Lanka Mass Hysteria Mass hysteria – Skeptic's Dictionary Mass Delusions and Hysterias: Highlights from the Past Millennium – Skeptical Inquirer Group processes