Everyone remember those 18 girls in LeRoy NY who were having tics and seizures?

[TheWraith]

And how people mocked the doctors' conclusion that it was mass hysteria?

So, turns out after two full environmental studies that there's absolutely nothing environmental about it. It was stress and mass hysteria.

A second study has again found that the twitches, involuntary sounds and seizures that beset a group of Le Roy students and attracted international media attention earlier this year had no environmental cause.

...

Of the 18 students — mostly girls — who suffered the Tourette-like symptoms, most are either back to normal or showing continued improvement. Of those seen at Dent Neurologic Institute, only one still exhibits any tics at all, said Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, a treating neurologist and vice president at Dent.

"Exactly what we thought would happen is exactly what happened," he said.

He predicted months ago that as soon as the media attention died down, so would the stress-related symptoms.

http://www.buffalonews.com/topics/mysterious-illnesses-in-le-roy/article901881.ece

[Brickbat]

1. Salem redux.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. "The Crucible".

[w8liftinglady]

3. Man,I was just thinking the same thing..."Witch Trials"

[4th law of robotics]

5. At least no one died this time

I guess that's a sign of progress.

[frogmarch]

8. I think it’s likely that

the Salem accusers were faking it.

Link to The Salem Witch Trials Papers (court documents):
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/BoySal1.html

Here’s an excerpt from the examination of Bridget Bishop. She was hanged on June 10, 1692.
(Emphasis mine)

The Examination of Bridget Byshop at Salem Village 19. Apr. 1692
By John Hauthorn & Jonath: Corwin Esq'rs

As soon as she came near all fell into fits9/b0
Bridget Byshop, You are now brought before Authority to Give acco.
of what witchcrafts you are conversant in

I take all this people (turning her head & eyes about) to witness
that I am clear.

Hath this woman hurt you speaking to the afflicted.

Eliz: Hubbard Ann Putman, Abigail Williams & Mercy Lewes
affirmed she had hurt them.

You are here accused by 4.or.5. for hurting them, what do you
say to it,

I never saw these persons before, nor I never was in this place
before.

Mary Walcot said that her brother Jonathan stroke her appearance
& she saw that he had tore her coat in striking, & she heard it tare.

Upon some search in the Court, a rent that seems to answere
what was alledged was found.

They say you bewitcht your first husband to death.

If it please your worship I know nothing of it.

She shake her head & the afflicted were tortured.

The like again upon the motion of her head.

The phrase “stroke her appearance” means that Jonathan supposedly struck the apparition of “witch” Bridget, tearing its coat, and the proof was that flesh-and-bone Bridget’s coat was shown to be torn.

If you read through the cases, you may come to think as I do that many of these finger-pointing puritans (I think most of them) were out and out liars.

I have ancestors from both sides. Some were among the accused, some were accusers, some spoke in defense of the accused, and three of my distant great-grandfathers were jurors.

EDIT: And I think the accusers who weren't lying were delusional. Funny thing is that the accusers could turn their "fits" on and off at will.

[HiPointDem]

10. I read something about the witch trials that looked at the property/land relationships of

accusers & accused & found evidence that accusers benefited economically from the trial. can't remember the specifics, though, but it was interesting.

[frogmarch]

11. Yes, it's true. It's also true that

puritans were litigious and sued at every opportunity. As I studied the Massachusetts court records from that era, it dawned on my that some of my ancestors spent much of their lives in court, either as plaintiffs or as defendants.

Some historians believe that often the motive was to confiscate the land and belongings of the accused. It's documented that the sheriff and others who held positions of power divided the land and belongings among themselves. What greedy, hateful people. It always makes me roll my eyes when I see puritans depicted in art and literature as being pure and decent, because many were not. The name "puritans" has nothing to do with their being pure of heart. It has to do with their dislike of the fancy, flowery language in some versions of the Bible.

[REP]

13. Ann Putnam Jr's repentance: "I desire to lie in the dust"

I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family in the year about ninety-two; that I, then being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom, now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood; though, what was said or done by me against any person, I can truly and uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill will to any person, for I had no such thing against one of them; but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded by Satan.

And particularly, as I was a chief instrument of accusing Goodwife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, and to be humble for it, in that I was a cause, with others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families; for which cause I desire to lie in the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those unto whom I have given just cause of sorrow and offense, whose relations were taken away or accused.

Many believe her parents put her up to it. Rebecca Nurse was a particularly harmless and well-loved woman - but she had a lot of property.

[frogmarch]

15. Yes, many accusers apologized, if you

can call blaming Satan for their actions apologies. The jurors signed a letter of apology in 1698 in which they too blamed the devil.

The Rebecca Nurse case is one of the most well known. It was really awful!

[doc03]

4. I would think Faux viewers would be afflicted with tics and seizures, It's like gloom

and doom over there 24/7.

[LiberalFighter]

6. Wouldn't that be something if they had those symptons?

We need to get the viewers to have them. Maybe just do a whispering campaign that those viewers come down with strange medical conditions.

[FarLeftFist]

9. They are. Except verbally. It's called ODS, Obama Derangement Syndrome.

[obamanut2012]

7. Of course it was

I said a while ago that as soon as they quit getting attention for their behavior, it would go away. They were feeding off one another and the attention -- like Salem.

Thanks for posting!

[NNN0LHI]

12. I started having tics and seizures just from reading about it

[Odin2005]

14. Flame me, but the skepticism towards the docs WAS justified.

It is a well known fact that very often women's medical concerns are dismissed as am mental health problem. It's a lot better now then many decades ago, but the problem is still there.

That does not mean that this wasn't mass hysteria, but medical officials need to be aware and sensitive about about "hysterical women" stereotypes.