In 1962, in the African Republic of Tanganyika, on the territory of which Tanzania is now located, a very mysterious phenomenon took place, which has not yet received a intelligible explanation and excites the minds of many researchers. Scientists call it "mass hysteria" and "mental epidemic". It all started on January 30 in the village of Kashash in the center of the country. Three female students at a local Christian girls' boarding school suddenly started laughing during class, and apparently they did it involuntarily. In less than an hour, 95 out of 159 pupils aged 10-17 were laughing uncontrollably in the educational institution, while for some reason this attack did not extend to teachers and other adults.
Some teenagers stopped laughing after a few hours, others laughed continuously for up to two weeks. The school, of course, had to be closed, but everything has just begun. The so-called "epidemic of laughter" instantly spread to nearby villages and towns, reaching almost to neighboring Uganda. The number of minors who started laughing out of nowhere was more than a thousand, and just because of "mass hysteria" several dozen schools were temporarily closed.
Eyewitnesses said that the spectacle was truly surreal and insane. The children, they say, although they laughed at the top of their voices, their eyes were full of pain. Schoolchildren resisted when adults tried to hold them, and calmed down only when they were completely exhausted. But even after that, many of them continued to giggle hysterically, which was more like desperate sobs. Coming to their senses, young Africans did not remember what happened to them and often refused to talk about it.
According to various sources, the epidemic lasted from six months to two years. And then it also inexplicably ended by itself. Orthodox scientists believe that a viral infection, mass psychosis, or the simple desire of adolescents to draw attention to themselves could have caused it. However, not everyone believes in materialistic explanations for this phenomenon. At the very beginning of the epidemic, local shamans concluded that children were possessed by evil forces. Healers tried to carry out rituals to drive out evil spirits, but to no avail. It is noteworthy that the identity of patient zero, that is, the person who started the epidemic, is unknown. It is, obviously, one of the three girls who began to laugh first in the Kashashi school, but the names of these African women are mysteriously lost in history, never reaching our days …