In Slavic mythology and Christianity, a demon is a malicious spirit, a demon. With the development of church traditions, the concept of a demon in folk demonology developed and expanded. According to popular beliefs, demons can not only appear to people, but also enter them. In Russia, the latter gave rise to such a phenomenon as obsession, demonic possession or hysteria.
Doctor N. Krainsky in the book "Corruption, whoopers and demoniacs as a phenomenon of Russian folk life" (Novgorod, 1900, p. 213) writes: "From the 16th century to the present time, the cribbing is a phenomenon of Russian folk life, playing and playing in it is far from the last role”.
The hysteria was spread throughout Russia.
“Very often in different localities there appeared raging people and whoopers: in particular, they settled where there was some miraculous icon or relics of a saint - in general, places glorified by religious holiness. They were called klikushi because they called out or clicked on someone, that is, they indicated that someone had spoiled them. Their seizures also intensified during the liturgy”(M. Zabylin).
All ages from 12 to very old age were susceptible to hysteria. The most typical form of a seizure is that the clicker begins to “scream at voices,” utters meaningless sounds with different intonations. Her cry resembles sobs, animal voices, dog barking or crowing, very often it is interrupted by loud hiccups or gagging sounds.
Sometimes the klikusha immediately starts shouting out certain words, for example, she can scream that devils have been planted in her, that she has been "spoiled", while she often shouts out the name of the one who allegedly spoiled her. A seizure is usually not limited to one cry. The "corrupted" falls to the ground, begins to beat and rush around with irrepressible force; foam appears from the mouth, the eyes become cloudy. This lasts from 10 minutes to 2-3 hours.
Similar phenomena took place in the West, and just like in Western Europe, in Russia they were sometimes epidemic in nature.
“In the village of Bukreevsky, Yekaterinoslavskaya province, in the spring of 1861, a disease appeared in people, from which sick people fall unconscious to the ground and some of them laugh, others cry, some bark like a dog and cuck like a bird, and in a fit of illness tell how they are spoiled and who in a few days will be struck by such a disease, and some of the predictions soon came true.
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There are 7 souls affected by this disease”. One of such epidemics of hysteria, which developed in 1879 in the village of Vrachevo, Tikhvin uyezd, Novgorod province, even ended with the burning of a peasant woman Ignatieva suspected of "spoiling people".
The conviction that Ignatieva was a sorceress found support in several cases of nervous diseases to which the peasant women of the area where Ignatieva settled were exposed. (Bekhterov V. Hypnosis. Donetsk, 1999, p. 230-231).
Not understanding the true cause of hysteria, the people have developed their own measures to treat this ailment. One of the generally accepted methods of calming whoopes was to put on a plow collar, with preference given to one that was removed from a sweaty horse. In the opinion of the peasants, a woman, lying in a yoke, would be more willing to indicate who spoiled her.
Frankincense was considered a good remedy, collected from 12 churches and boiled in a cast iron 12 times in one morning and spooned into shtoffs: this infusion was given to the patient to drink. In addition to incense, baptismal water, consecrated in the ice holes of rivers and lakes, was recognized as healing and even having a decisive effect on the fracture of the disease and the expulsion of the demon.
No less effective was the "scolding" of hysteria by priests. According to popular beliefs, based on a peculiar interpretation of the origin of hysteria, a person suffering from this ailment cannot be cured by medical intervention: "damage" can be removed by the same sorcerer or witch, or some other, stronger sorcerer, or, finally, by miraculous healing with the manifestation of divine grace.
The attitude towards clickers was special. Often they were credited with the gift of prophecy. In reality, the ability to clairvoyance is explained by the sharpening of their feelings during a seizure, or by their particularly strong suggestibility.
It is noteworthy that among the whoopers there were many healthy women who pretended to be "spoiled" in pursuit of certain goals. And in this regard, the tsar's decree on the capture of the hustler and bringing it to the search orders dated May 7, 1715 is very indicative.
Despite the decree of Peter I and the official recognition that corruption does not exist, hysteria in Russia did not stop. This prompted the Empress Anna Ioannovna to confirm the decree on May 20, 1731. However, neither he nor the subsequent decrees had any effect.
So, in 1820, in the village of Sibirtseva Ust-Tarthe volost of the Cannes district, an investigation was carried out, initiated at the request of the entire rural society, that the peasant woman Daria Gorchakova and the soldier Afimya Fessstrashnikova spoil women and girls. Of the spoiled 13 people, they often went into a rage, hiccuped, screamed like a bird, barked like a dog and bit their hands.
According to the conclusion of the Cain's doctor, "the madness that happens to this woman does not come from damage, but from illness, sorrow, lamentation, grief, excessive joy and with all the emotional disturbances."
So for the first time it was said about the true reasons for this phenomenon.
V. Bekhterev wrote: “Hysteria, being a kind of hysterical psychosis, is largely due to its origin in the everyday life of the Russian people. It is obvious that the peculiar superstitions and religious beliefs of the people give a mental coloring to that morbid state, which is known as corruption, hysteria and demoniacal possession."
And more: “Hystericalism itself is nothing more than a kind of hysterical obsession, which takes on a peculiar form thanks to the views of common people, who admit the possibility of“spoiling people”in various ways by imaginary sorcerers and witches, which leads to the development of attacks of hysteria with various convulsions and antics and shouting out the names of persons who, in the opinion of the sick, have spoiled them, especially during the most solemn prayers in churches”(V. Bekhterev, pp. 235, 229).