Mass hysteria outbreak reported in N.Y. town: What does it mean?
"Why did 12 teens from the same town in upstate N.Y. all begin to experience odd symptoms at once? Doctors say it's an outbreak of mass hysteria. Last fall, 12 teenage girls from LeRoy Junior-Senior High School - located in a town about an hour outside of Buffalo, N.Y. - began to show symptoms similar to those of Tourette's syndrome, including painful shaking and jerking their necks, Gothamist reported. Doctors were initially baffled. The condition was so bad for at least one of the girls that she has yet to return to school. School and state officials investigated the outbreak and school building for several months, and concluded no known environmental substances or infectious agents were found that could have caused the symptoms in the teens. "We have conclusively ruled out any form of infection or communicable disease and there's no evidence of any environmental factor,'' Dr. Gregory Young of the New York Department of Health told MSNBC."
"Sanchez, a cheerleader at the high school, took a nap one day last October then woke up with uncontrollable tics and stutters. Sanchez and another girl on the show with symptoms, 16-year-old Katie Krautwurst, said doctors told them their condition was stress-induced. "They told us it was traumatic, but I really don't think any of us had that traumatic of a life before,' Krautwurst said on Today.
Tourette's is genetic so it's unlikely to be that since the symptoms don't emerge all at once. Also, Tourette's symptoms are 4X more prevalent in boys, so it is highly improbable to be Tourette's because all the symptoms are in only girls.
"A day after the girls' interview, Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, a neurologist at the DENT Neurologic Institute in Amherst, N.Y. who has treated several of the girls, decided to come forward to offer an explanation to quell the curious masses. Mechtler's diagnosis? The girls may have a conversion disorder - also known as mass hysteria."
Conversion disorder is a condition in which the person experiences blindness, paralysis, or other neurologic symptoms that can't be explained by another disease. In other words, a catch-all diagnosis by doctors effectively shrugging their shoulders. The article continues, "the disorder often occurs because of a "psychological conflict. Mechtler told USA Today that when a conversion disorder occurs in a large group, its known as a "mass psychogenic illness," because it affects groups of people in the same environment, such as in a classroom or office. "This is a unique situation, and it is unusual," Mechtler told USA Today."
Other Tourette's symptoms include motor and vocal "tics", twitches, blinks or vocal exclamations that the sufferer cannot control. Tourette's is also characterized by behavioral symptoms like excessive-complusive disorder and attention-deficit disorder. Tourette's sufferers may also be overly aggressive towards others.
Conversion disorder is marked by numbness, blindness, paralysis or fits. Also, outbursts, shaking and tics.
Now, the medical establishment said that what is happening in Leroy is unusual. The people in the town said it was unusual, so much so, that the school department held a meeting for the area's concerned parents. It is unusual.
The Leroy NY made me think of our nations' most famous case of mass hysteria with demonic influences underlying it, also incited by teenaged girls, was Salem Massachusetts. It happened in 1692 and it is known as the Salem Witch Trials.
"The traditional story about the beginning of the Salem Witch trials tells of a "circle of young girls" practicing voodoo and fortune telling under the direction of Samuel Parris' Indian slave, Tituba. It is commonly suggested that the girls were interested in fortune telling because they wanted to know the occupation of their future husbands."
"According Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum's account in Salem Possessed, the outbreak at Salem began in the winter of 1691 when the girls of the village, aided by Tituba and John Indian, a West Indian slave couple, attempted to tell their futures by using a makeshift crystal ball."
We know that this is occult activity, better known as a neon advertisement for satan to enter. (2 Kings 17:17; Lev 19:31; Is 8:19...)
Research indicates the Salem girls' symptoms emerged quickly, similar to the Leroy NY girls'.
In this research it states, "Mary Beth Norton's work, In the Devil's Snare. According to historical fact, both Abigail and her 9-year-old cousin Betty began showing signs of illness in mid-January 1692. When their behavior turned erratic, Samuel Parris called neighboring Reverend John Hale of Beverly to observe the two girls and their afflictions. Reverend Hale writes that the girls, "were bitten and pinched by invisible agents; their arms, necks and backs turned this way and that way and returned back again so as it was impossible for them to do of themselves and beyond the power of any Epileptic Fits or natural Disease to effects." Parris and other local ministers turned to prayer and fasting in hopes that Abigail and Betty would return to health. When the girls' strange behavior continued, Parris summoned Dr. William Griggs to examine them. Dr. Griggs determined that the girls were under the influence of an "Evil Hand."
The emergence of strange behavior related to demonic possession in Salem in 1692 as now in NY 2012 are similar. We look to the bible to see what demons can do. The Gadarene demoniac described in Mark shows how they can change the physiology of the one they possess:
Mark 5:1-20 is one of the most specific passages in the bible on demon possession and its effects. Some of the details about demons the Bible reveals in this passage are: (source)
--Devils enjoy or need to be near dead human bodies or tombs (vs. 2, 3, 5).
--They can cause unusual strength in the one they inhabit (vs. 3-4).
--They can make a person unreasonable or immune to sensible persuasion (vs. 4).
--They cause excessive crying (vs. 5).
--They cause sadistic and masochistic behavior (vs. 5).
--They have an affinity for heights (vs. 5).
--They recognize Christ as "the Son of God" and appeal to Him (vs. 6-7).
--They know they deserve torment and dread it (vs. 6-7).
--They have names (vs. 9).
--More than one can possess the same body (vs. 9).
--They desire to remain in the same geographical region or "country" they inhabit (vs. 10).
--They would rather indwell an animal body than none at all (vs. 12).
--They can cause animals to kill themselves (vs. 13).
--They desire to be in a body (vs. 13).
Mark 9:17-29 gives us even more details about devils:
--They can cause dumbness and deafness (vs. 17, 25).
--They cause rabid animal like behavior (vs. 18).
--They can indwell from childhood (vs. 21).
--They cause suicidal behavior (vs. 22).
--They resist leaving a body and violently "rent" it while leaving (vs. 26).
--There are different kinds of devils. Some have more power than others (vs. 29).
--Some can only be removed by prayer and fasting of believer (vs. 29).
Lessons from this incident: Demonic possession happens. It happened then, it happens no. Secondly, Ron Graham wrote an excellent article this week about the fallen angels, the Nephilim, and their human offspring, the human hybrids. In the article, he said, "But the dimension of the malevolent supernatural is invading our world and they are becoming more and more brazen with their antics, allowing many people to see things they don’t want to see, or hear things no human can explain."
That is well said. Whatever is going in in NY, and medical science has ruled out disease and drugs, then perhaps we can remember that the days before Jesus returns will be like the Days of Noah, which in addition to being totally evil and cultural, moral, and spiritual decay were days that were permeated with demonic activity (Gen 6:1-2; 4,6).
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