The Uncontrollable Laughter: Unraveling the Mystery of the 1962 Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic

In 1962, a small village in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) experienced a strange phenomenon that came to be known as the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic. It began in January of that year, when three girls from a mission-run boarding school in the village of Kashasha started laughing uncontrollably. The laughter was so intense that it caused them to collapse, and it continued for hours on end. The school sent the girls home, hoping that the laughter would subside, but it only spread from there.

Soon, dozens of students at the boarding school were infected with the laughter, and it quickly spread to the surrounding villages. People were falling to the ground, convulsed with laughter, and unable to stop. The epidemic lasted for several months, and at its height, it affected hundreds of people.

At first, medical professionals thought it might be a form of mass hysteria or mass psychogenic illness, where a group of people experience real physical symptoms that have no clear physical cause. But the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic was different from other instances of mass hysteria because it only affected one particular region and seemed to spread spontaneously from person to person.

One theory is that the epidemic was caused by stress and anxiety in a region that was experiencing significant political and social upheaval. Tanganyika had recently gained independence from Britain, and there was a great deal of uncertainty about what the future held. The laughter may have been a release valve for the tension and anxiety that people were feeling.

Another theory is that the epidemic was caused by a toxic substance in the environment, such as mercury or carbon dioxide. But there is no evidence to support this theory.

Whatever the cause, the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic was a bizarre and unsettling phenomenon that has never been fully explained. It is a reminder of how little we understand about the human mind and the mysterious ways in which it can react to stress and uncertainty.