*Given that the planet's been rapidly overrun by social media, my hunch would be that we're just getting started with extraordinary manias of this kind.
*So far, the blessed part of viral hacktivism is that people rarely leave the keyboard and do much; but portable smartphones and ubiquity oughta change that. Next time a school full of teenage girls starts fainting en masse, they'll all be texting and streaming live video.
http://www.anomalistbooks.com/evans-bartholomew.html
(...)
Ohio Chorus Fainting Fits 464
Oklahoma Chorus Collapse 464
Operation Rid Fox 465
Orson Welles Martian Panic 465
Paderborn Outbreak 471
Palestinian Poisoning Panic 471
Paranormal Phenomena 474
Parent Hysteria (Mass Hysteria by Proxy) 477
Phantom Aircraft Waves 477
Phantom Florida Gas Poisoning 499
Phantom Hat Pin Stabber 501
Phantom Pregnancy Attacks 501
Phantom Slasher 502
Philippine Devil Hysteria 503
Phillip Knightley’s Hook Hoax 504
Photocopied Ghost Scare 505
Pigsty Hysteria 505
Pittsburgh Furnace Scare 506
Plédran Demon Attacks 506
Pokémon Illness 508
Popish Plot, The 509
Portuguese Martian Invasion Panics 515
Possession 515
President Johnson “Cult” 517
Profanity and Blasphemy 518
Psychosomatic Illness 519
Puritanism 520
....
via @pickover
