MASS HYSTERIA STRIKES CHICAGO
Looting and Riots Strain Police Resources

Mass rioting and looting late last night left Downtown ravished and burning. Police rushed to the scene in full riot gear, but were unable to prevent much of the property theft and damage. Helicopters soared overhead driving the crowd toward the Lake Michigan shoreline, where it was hoped that the esplanade would provide a safe space to calm the crowd down without further property damage. Wild stories were rampant of a huge creature raining scales of silver and gold, and of strange lights shooting back and forth through the air. Stories varied from a giant reptile or bird-headed monster stalking through town. Different groups of people claimed alternately that the "monster" disappeared in a shower of gold, or that it was driven into Lake Michigan by the helicopters.

Searches have not yielded much except hoaxes and false complaints which turned out to be nothing more than a bulb-fitted gas balloons, kites, and blurry images from cell phones and unsteady cameras, as well as some doctored images. Scientific experts investigating the scene pinned the entire panic on a rare form of ball lightning that strikes drought-affected areas. Ignorance, leading to fear amongst some odd individual witnesses of this phenomenon, is said to be responsible for the spread of the mass hysteria and panic.

The hysteria might die its natural death as did the mass hysteria generated by the Monkey Man in New Delhi in May last year, but not before taking its toll on human life, sanity and rationality. Several deaths were reported when the monkey man had struck but these were caused more out of the panic the creature generated rather than through the beast itself. Several manhunts, police patrols, border checks and monetary rewards later, the entire episode was decreed to be little more than "a case of mass hysteria fuelled by rumours, fear, pranksters and a few New Delhi monkeys."

Chicago authorities are asking people to remain calm and stay home until investigations can be concluded. Mayor Daley could not be reached for comment.

Strange Sights in Jackson Park

Yesterday evening, multiple reports of glowing orange spheres and triangular UFOs were reportedly seen in and around the Jackson Park area. The first reports came from former police officer Stan Flemming who suspected kids were playing with illegal fireworks in the park. Flemming reported seeing glowing orange spheres and triangular formations of lights in the sky above the park.

"The bright orange-red lights formed the shape of a boomerang...with a larger grouping in the lead, followed by a single light. It was moving very slowly. It was there for two or three minutes...When it disappeared, I thought it was a UFO," stated Patricia King, who had been in the park with her sons earlier that evening. "To our surprise, we were hustled out of the park early," King reported. "The park usually closes at 10 p.m. We were told to leave at 9:00. The park rangers announced over the loudspeaker, 'The park is closed. Leave now. The park is closed. Leave while you can.' Later, we saw the lights from our apartment."

Further reports quickly came in from others in the area. People were "looking up at what they said were orange balls of light. They were very scared...In fact, my 80-year-old father-in-law was shouting on the phone at one point. My wife and I did what we could to calm him down," Billy Dee of Wisconsin reported. Other reports included a large cylindrical "UFO" with eight lights, and four bright lights coming from the northwest and heading southeast.

CULT RITUAL EXPOSED BY COPS
Daring Heroes Stop Cult Ritual, Save Hostage

A cult ritual was exposed in Jackson Park on the South side late last night, as police stormed a warehouse nearby. The cultists were said to be holding a ritual wherein a human sacrifice was likely. A man appears to have been abducted for use in the ritual, but was saved by police who infiltrated the cult and stopped the ritual in time. Fourteen people have been arrested, and another several critically wounded are in the hospital.

In the United States stories of cult ritual sacrifices peaked in the late 1980s. However, this was based upon an urban mythology developed around tales of babies slain for Satan. Some "experts" claimed that there was a vast hidden network of multi-generation "Satanic cults." Many so-called "survivors" came forward to tell horrific accounts of abuse often based upon "repressed" or "recovered" memories.

But these cult stories were proven false. Unlike the ritual murders of India, the American version lacked objective physical evidence. The FBI and other law-enforcement officials later admitted the stories were unfounded. The Chicago police believe that this was an isolated incident.

SEARS TOWER MYSTERIOUSLY DAMAGED
Observation Deck Windows Smashed

Heist Suspect Disappears Without a Trace
Police unclear on how escape effected

Triple Murder Unsolved: Cult Connection?
Husband and Father claims wife was part of "defunct" cult

Ray Stark: Homicide Cop turned Hero

Last night's raid on a warehouse leading to arrests of fourteen cult members was due to the incredible talents of Homicide Detective Ray Stark. Investigating a homicide crime, he stumbled onto facts seemingly unconnected. Yet this detective saw connections which most would have brushed off as coincidence. Detective Stark was unavailable for comment, but Sergeant Watkins stated that Stark has been an invaluable part of the team since joining the force several years ago.

Ray Stark, Detective

Mass Hysteria: A Psychological Perspective
by Julie Bakhshi, M.D.

Mass hysteria often occurs when a group of people collectively suffers from some kind of psychological stress and anxiety. The form the hysteria assumes is often dictated by the culture of the group in question, its literacy level and economic standing, media reactions and coverage, rumours, the social and political context and reinforcing actions by the authorities.

Incidents of such mass hysteria are not new, having taken place throughout the world at various times. Typically, mass hysteria occurs as episodes of collective delusions characteristically affecting small, tightly-knit groups in enclosed settings. These collective delusions are typified as the spontaneous, rapid spread of false or exaggerated beliefs within a population at large, temporarily affecting a particular region, culture or country. However, now that information is more quickly disseminated, often the hysteria spreads further and more quickly than in previous times. The cause of mass hysteria is often a baseless belief that begins small but, like a hurricane, travels and becomes more devastating as it picks up speed. Mass hysteria often occurs when a group of people collectively suffers from some kind of psychological stress and begin releasing existing feelings that are kept in check under normal conditions.

For an individual to be caught up in mass hysteria, they must first in a suggestible state and secondly must be exposed to a repeated suggestion. Many of those involved in the hysteria were originally drinking before the bar closings of the night, leaving them in a highly suggestible state. Further, once the mob psychology takes over, individual rationality, logic and discerning ability takes a backseat. Instead, there is surrender to the collective consciousness that is successful in whipping up and overplaying volatile, uncontrollable emotions that, once they have been fuelled, acquire a momentum and dynamics of their own. This momentum creates fear and suspicion and leads to a consequent loss of life as well as property because individuals cease to be persons but become one with the group. So it is the mind of the mob that is at work and individual will is subordinated to this collective hysteria.

Artists Conception of "terror"

Are "Mass Hallucinations" Real?

Those who claim "mass hysteria" or "mass hallucinations" to a wide variety of phenomena are not covincing. Not only do they not account for the physical traces left (scars, burned soil, radar tracing, etc.) but they also misusing concept. First, this concept does not provide any clue on patterns internal logic. Second, mass hysteria/hallucination is actually a residual notion to describe situations where, if no other explanation is available, it must be caused by hysteria/hallucination. Mass hallucination occurs, for instance, when a professional illusionist or magician performs, yet it involves a mass of observers seeing the same thing, at the same time, from the same angle, and being in the same social situation (i.e. audience paying for a good show). The theater personnel behind the curtain do see the trick because of their different angle and different social position (i.e. are used to work with illusionists and special effects experts). Witnesses who saw the events of last night saw it from different locations, and from different social background and context. The mass hallucination "explanation" is actually a fallacy.

Mass hysteria involves behavior and not perception per say. This is a crucial difference. During the Salem witch-hunting, only a few girls ever claimed to see the "devil" (and confessed later on that they were lying), the hysteria occurred because those who believed in their story put together Inquisition-type interrogations, trials, and executions, but they never claimed to see the "devil" themselves. In fact, the typical occasion when mass hysteria can be induced is when an "authority" or believable source is behind the claim, like during the airing of the Orson Wells radio broadcasting of the War of the Worlds in the 1930s.

It becomes apparent that alternative explanations are needed, even if they do not elucidate what people actually saw, they could shed some new light on the rioting and looting that took place last night.