On 30 January 1962, an isolated fit of laughter started by three schoolgirls in a classroom in Kashasha village began to spread. Within a matter of weeks the symptoms of laughing, crying and agitation affected 95 of the 159 pupils, forcing the school to close on March 18. However, this did not solve the problem. The school reopened on May 21 but closed again shortly afterward as 57 further students were stricken.
Individual attacks could last from a matter of minutes to a period of hours and recur as many as four times, with symptoms persisting for an average of 16 days. No fatalities or long-term after affects were reported, although the attacks were temporarily debilitating and sufferers were unable to attend classes for a number of weeks.
The girls were highly agitated and often resisted any restraint. None of the teachers, two Europeans and three Africans, were affected.
The Spread of the Laughter Epidemic
The girls sent home from the Kashasha school appeared responsible for the spread of the epidemic. Within 10 days of the school closing, laughter attacks were reported at Nshamba, the home village for several of the Kashasha girls. 217 of the 10,000 Nshamba villagers, mostly school age boys and girls, were afflicted.
A further outbreak occurred at Ramasheyne girls middle school on the outskirts of Bukoba, close to the homes of other Kashasha pupils. This school closed in mid June after 48 of the 154 students suffered laughter attacks.
Kanyangereka village, 20 miles from Bukoba also suffered, with one of the Ramasheyne girls seemingly the source of the outbreak. This incident initially involved the girl’s sister, brother, mother in law and sister in law before spreading to other villagers and two local schools.
The End of the Laughter Epidemic
Before fading in June 1964, this infection of laughter spread rapidly forcing the closure of 14 schools and affecting approximately 1,000 people in tribes bordering Lake Victoria in Tanganyika and Uganda. Quarantine of infected villages appeared the only successful method of impeding the epidemic's progress.
What Was the Cause of the Laughter Epidemic?
Scientists searched for toxic gas or a virus in the blood of the afflicted that might have caused the laughter epidemic but found nothing that could offer an explanation.
The laughter spread along the lines of family, tribal and peer association with the closer the relationship between victim and witness, the more likely it was the witness would become infected.
The conclusion drawn was that it was of psychogenic, hysterical origin.
The laughter epidemic initiated in Bukoba District, Tanganyika in 1962 was a form of mass hysteria.
Sources:
Laughter: A Scientific Investigation by Robert Provine (Viking, 2000)
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