The Contagious Giggles that Spread Through a Tanzanian Village

Imagine an epidemic of giggles coursing through your town. I'm not talking an occasional guffaw or laugh, but something unceasing and unyielding. For residents of Kashasha, this was a reality. The very real complications that arose from this certainly bear exploration.

Our story starts in Kashasha, a village on the western coast of Lake Victoria. Tanganyika has just won its independence and a few years will see it unify with Zanzibar to become Tanzania. A boarding school for girls sees giggles set upon three girls, ages 12 to 18.

Out of 159 students at the boarding school, 95 would get the giggles. We aren't talking just little titters when hearing something funny in class. This is nonstop, uncontrollable laughter. If you've heard the term mass hysteria, this is a textbook definition.

Uncontrollable giggles can have external factors. While stress affects each person differently, mass hysteria can come about for several reasons. Consider the recent independence of Tanganyika coupled with the rising academic requirements for these girls and you have a recipe for disaster.

While an occasional laugh lets you feel the joy of living, uncontrollable giggles have other complications. Symptoms include pain, fainting, respiratory problems, anxiety, rashes, and crying. Restlessness also occurs, thanks in part to the continuous laughter being experienced.

Peals of laughter echoed throughout Kasasha. For some girls it lasted mere hours, however, the average duration sat at seven days. Further, the outbreak of giggles lasted for 48 days, an astonishing amount of time all things considered. The laughing epidemic spread to neighboring villages, lasting for 18 months in total.

When the giggles finally died down, it left quite an impact in its wake. Over 1,000 people were affected by the mass hysteria epidemic. 14 schools closed as a result. The girls' school in Kashasha ended up being sued by neighboring villages for spreading the epidemic.

Mass hysteria has a documented history through the sands of time. The same timespan saw similar incidents breaking out throughout Tanganyika and Uganda. Another recorded laughing epidemic was reported in Bukoba, a neighboring village to Kashasha. Further, bouts of running mania were found in Kigezi and Mbale, both villages in Uganda.