@viggy40 22 November 2021

An epidemic of laughter

Tanganyika, today is known as Tanzania, is one of the oldest known settlements on the planet, with evidence of our ancestors who lived here for millions of years. In addition to witnessing the oldest people on Earth, Tanganyika has (relatively) recently witnessed an unusual and unique event - the Epidemic of Laughter. On January 30, 1962, three girls who were going to school in a small village in the village of Kashasha started laughing. Of course, this was not unusual because it is almost impossible to find a school where children do not laugh… But in this case, laughter has become a serious problem. In some children the laughter lasted only a few hours, while in others it lasted up to 16 days! The epidemic spread to neighboring villages. It affected almost 1,000 children. To this day, the real reason why children laughed uncontrollably incessantly is not known. Laughter seems to be spreading at random, like a virus. The epidemic of laughter was everything, just not funny. It completely disabled the children from doing anything, causing severe pain, fainting, breathing problems, rashes, as well as occasional bouts of crying.