The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic, also known as the “Laughter Plague of 1962,” was an outbreak of mass hysteria that occurred in Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania) in 1962. The laughter epidemic began on January 30 in a boarding school for girls in the village of Kashasha, near the border of Uganda.
It started with three girls, who began to laugh uncontrollably. Their laughter was described as genuine, almost as if they were telling jokes to each other. The laughter spread rapidly, affecting 95 of the 159 pupils, aged 12 to 18. Symptoms lasted from a few hours to 16 days, leading to the closure of the school on March 18.
After the school closed, the epidemic spread to the neighboring village of Nshamba, affecting 217 people, mostly children and young adults. The laughter was often accompanied by other symptoms such as pain, fainting, respiratory problems, rashes, and bouts of crying. The attacks of laughter were also reported to recur in some individuals several times throughout the day.
The school reopened on May 21, but it was closed again at the end of June after the laughter epidemic recurred. The laughter outbreaks continued to spread, affecting thousands of people in the region, and in some cases, lasting for several months.
The exact cause of the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic remains unknown. Some researchers suggest that it was a form of mass psychogenic illness (MPI), similar to the Dancing Plague. It’s thought that the stressful environment in the boarding school, coupled with the cultural and social factors unique to the region, may have contributed to the outbreak.
Other theories propose that the laughter epidemic could have been triggered by a viral infection that affected the emotional and behavioral centers of the brain, although no definitive evidence has been found to support this hypothesis.
The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic remains a fascinating example of how social, psychological, and environmental factors can interact in complex ways to produce unusual and unexplained phenomena. It also highlights the potential for seemingly innocuous behaviors, like laughter, to spread rapidly through a population, causing significant disruption to daily life.