Providentia

Do Cases of Amok Still Occur?

With the publication of Captain James Cook's journals of his extensive voyages around the world during the late 18th century, Europeans first became aware of a strange phenomenon that reportedly occurred among the various peoples of the Malay Archipelago.   Known by different names including mengamuk, pengamok, or simply amok: cases of uncontrollable violence erupting in formerly peaceful men with few, if any, warning signs continued to be reported even after Malaysia became a British territory.   In one typical case from 1891,  a Malay farmer named Imam Mamat suddenly erupted into violence after spending the day building a fence around his land.   After entering the house of his brother-in-law, Bilal Abu, with a spear and a golak [bladed weapon] in his hands, Mamat shook his brother-in-law's hand and asked for forgiveness.  He then shook his wife's hand and asked her forgiveness as well.  At that point, he immediately stabbed his wife in the abdomen with the golak.  According to the report:

She immediately fell and received two more superficial wounds...  Bilal Abu rushed to the rescue and received for his trouble a deep wound in the region of the heart and a superficial wound on the right side;  he fell never to rise again.  At this moment, Ngah Intan, wife of Bilal Abu, followed by four of her children, rushed to the door and jumped out, her eldest son Kassim receiving a stab in the back as he jumped out.  Imam Mamat jumped out [the house was on stilts] and, with two more spears picked up in the house, gave chase to Ngah Intan, who was followed by her three youngest children.  One little girl, Si Teh, received two wounds in the back, not dangerous ones.  A boy, Mumin received a deep wound in the side and the second little girl, Si Pateh, received a severe wound in the stomach [both children later died of their injuries].  Having satisfied himself with the children, he followed up with the mother, catching her 100 yards off, and killed her on the spot by a stab in the abdomen.

Imam Mamat walked down a stream and approached a friend, Uda Majid, who attempted to stop him by asking if he knew him.   Mamat replied, "Yes, but my spear doesn't know you."  He then stabbed him twice in the abdomen before killing another village man who was trying to restrain him.  Mamat then vanished into the jungle before attacking another family.   This time, he was successfully beaten back and sustained serious injuries to his face and thigh.   He died of his injuries a day later.  When asked why he had become violent, witnesses reported that Mamat "did not know what he was was doing, only his head went round and the devil told him to do it."   At the inquest into the deaths, fellow villagers said that the attacker was "on most friendly terms with everyone".     During his rampage, he had killed six people, including two pregnant women, and wounded four others. 

Although Malay cultural tradition holds that amok is caused by possession, Western psychiatrists writing about amok episodes describe it as a culture-bound syndrome most commonly found in Malaysia.  Episodes of amok behaviour have also been reported in Laos, the Philippines, Polynesia (where it is known as cafard or cathard),  Puerto Rico (mal de pelea), and among the Navajo (iich'aa).   According to the DSM-IV-TR, amok, much like pibloktoq, koro, and ataque de nervios, is classified as a dissociative trance disorder.  "Classic" symptoms found in most clinical descriptions of amok include:

• an initial period of social withdrawal lasting for hours or days
• sudden, unprovoked violence directed at anyone within reach, whether family, friends, or total strangers
• assaults continuing for minutes, hours, or even days until the amok person is killed or restrained
• in cases where amok sufferers survive, they typically fall into a deep sleep or stupor that can last for days
• after waking, the formerly amok person continues to be withdrawn or uncommunicative and is unable to recall the violence that occurred

A less common characteristic of amok cases involves the use of bladed instruments, such as the traditional Malay short sword (known as a kris).  Filipino amok cases have moved beyond the traditional edged weapons towards the use of automatic weapons (and grenades have been used during amok episodes in Laos). 

Amok case studies have been reported in the clinical literature for more than a century with subjects ranging in age from early adulthood through middle age.  Virtually all reported amok cases have been males with Malaysia clinicians arguing that latah (the sudden yelling of vulgar or obscene words) is the female equivalent of amok.   Since there has been at least one reported case of female amok and male latah cases have also been described, the gender lines are not so easily drawn.  While most amok cases were illiterate farmers or fishermen, there have also been incidents involving prosperous merchants, soldiers, skilled craftsmen, and even a member of Malaysia's royal family.   In all cases where amok sufferers managed to survive and avoid prison, they were able to return to their former lives with little or no repeat violence.

The actual cause of amok behaviour has perplexed psychiatrists and medical researchers for decades.  Although early psychiatrists have suggested that amok is linked to psychodynamic factors such as loss of social standing, hostility, and victim blaming, more recent investigators have described it as a behavioural syndrome with different potential causes including medical illness such as malaria or neurosyphilis.   Acute intoxication has also been suggested as a possible factor in some cases (despite alcohol being forbidden in the predominantly Muslim Malay culture).   Since most clinical amok cases have been diagnosed in prisons and psychiatric hospitals, it's hardly surprising that psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are commonly given.  Still, it is an open question whether these diagnoses can be used to explain the extreme violence in amok episodes.  

Although the actual amok syndrome is less well-known, the phrase "running amok" (or "running amuck") has become part of the common language for English speakers around the world.   Even in the United States,  "running amok" was raised as a legal defense in the Hawaiian Supreme Court case of Orlando Ganal.    Ganal, a Filipin0-American man, was charged in the shooting murders of four relatives on August 25, 1991.  After killing his victims he then set their Honolulu house on fire.   During his trial, Ganal insisted that he had "run amok" due to humiliation over his wife's infidelity which triggered his violent rampage.   While the argument failed to impress the court and Ganal was sentenced to life in prison, he later attempted to appeal the decision on the grounds that the prosecutor made sarcastic remarks trivializing the amok defense.    The Supreme Court rejected the argument and upheld his conviction.   I am not aware of the "amok defense" being raised in any other North American criminal trial (although automatism has certainly been used in many cases).  

Has amok changed over time?  While cases were more frequent in Malaysia and Indonesia before English and Dutch colonialism, the advent of psychiatric treatment means that amok episodes were increasingly more likely to be treated with lifelong incarceration in psychiatric hospitals or prisons.   Even the use of the term, "amok" has changed over time.  Although "classic" cases still occur,  Malaysians have extended the amok term to include any episode of sudden violence happening in Malaysia (whether committed by Malays or non-Malays).   Tempting as it is to use the amok label to cover episodes of "sudden murder" occurring elsewhere in the world (including the modern "spree killer" phenomenon ),  there are important differences..    Although sudden violence  happens throughout the world, the unique nature of amok seems to stem directly the existence of the amok tradition in local cultures. 

Will  amok episodes  continue to occur or will they gradually fade away as  with other culture-bound syndromes around the world?   Whenever new episodes of explosive violence occur, the "running amok" explanation will likely be raised to try explaining what happened.  Whether the lessons learned from dealing with amok sufferers will help with similar cases elsewhere remains to be seen. 

The Case of Anthony Tudor

For Sir Clive Wigram, private secretary to King George V, handling the king's correspondence was all in a day's work.   Even for Sir Clive, the strange-looking envelope that crossed his desk on February 1, 1931 was definitely out of the ordinary, though.  Not only did the envelope bear the official-looking seal of the long-defunct House of Tudor, but the words:  "By Royal Command" were embossed in gold on one corner.  But it was how the envelope was addressed that really caught Sir Clive's attention.  There, in curious medieval script, was written "George Frederick Albert Ernest Windsor, Esquire, Buckingham, Palace"  (which was hardly the proper way to refer to a sitting monarch).   

When Sir Clive broke open the envelope, the message inside, written on fine parchment, was certainly succinct enough.   Not only did the letter's author refer to himself as "King Anthony I" but he also claimed that he was the rightful king of England and that the present occupant of the throne was a "usurper, not of the Blood Royal".   Not only did "King Anthony" demand the crown, but also insisted that King George step down "on pain of transportation" (to Australia, presumably).

And so began a bizarre campaign by an otherwise-unknownformer police inspector named Anthony William Hall that would last for decades and confound Buckingham Palace, the House of Commons, the judiciary, and Hall's own family.

But who was Anthony William Hall and why did he claim to be the true king?   

According to census records, Hall was born in Cheswick, Middlesex in 1898 and his early childhood seemed completely unremarkable for a supposed king.   There was an older brother, Humphrey, but his being "feeble-minded" (as it was called in those days) likely meant that it was Anthony who was considered the oldest son as far as his younger brothers and sisters were concerned.    After serving in World War I,  Anthony returned home to England though he seemed decidedly restless on the family farm.   By all accounts, the broad-shouldered and sturdy Anthony decided that he wanted a more adventurous life and, after getting married in 1923, soon joined the Shropshire police force  in which he reportedly had a stellar career.  For a while, at least.

In 1926, Anthony received a small inheritance and, though accounts vary as to why, abruptly quit his police job before taking his wife, Ethel, and daughter to Canada to start a new life.   Soon after settling in Quebec, he founded an export business and quickly established himself as a prosperous businessman with dozens of employees and a big house in Montreal.   But people who knew Hall noticed a disturbing change in his behaviour as he became more preoccupied with his family tree.   Along with spending hours locked in his study while he pored over genealogy and history books, Anthony also spent a small fortune on frequent letters to Somerset House in London (then home to the  Registrar General of Births, Marriages and Deaths) for information about his family history.

Based on his research, Anthony concluded that he was a direct descendant of King Henry VIII by his second wife, Anne Boleyn.    This apparent ancestor had been born prior to Henry's divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.  Since this made him illegitimate, the unnamed child's claim to the throne was passed over in favour of Henry's legitimate children, including John's younger sister, Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I).   To avoid problems, the child was sent to be raised in Sussex by one of Henry's old retainers, John Hall.   This was the presumed beginning of the Hall family name  and, given his descent from Tudor kings, Anthony concluded that he was the rightful king of England.  

While the reasoning may have been convoluted, it was apparently enough for Anthony Hall to insist on being called either "Your Majesty" or "King Anthony" by everyone who knew him.   This was something that poor Hall's poor wife had difficulty handling.   After she became convinced that her husband was truly insane, Ethel returned to England with their daughter.

As for King Anthony, he apparently took his new bachelor status in stride and returned to England himself where he could launch his campaign to overthrow the "usurper" King George V.    As for the hapless king, he seemed amused at first  by this claim and as he reportedly said to Sir Clive Wigram, "I doubt King Anthony would want the job if he had it."     

Anthony was furious when George didn't bother with a reply to that first imperious demand sent  on February 1.   Having set himself up in a house in Hereford, he sent a second letter ordering King George to leave the realm or face the consequences.   This one got ignored as well, along with the next eight letters that followed.   

Realizing that King George would never respond to his demands, Anthony decided to escalate things by holding a reception at one of London's most expensive hotels.   It was there that he formally announced his campaign to be king with all the eagerness of a politician.    Anthony followed up this announcement by hitting what could be charitably described as a campaign trail.   Along with frequent rallies in London, he traveled from one end of the United Kingdom to another, appearing in his familiar trench coat, and declaring the changes he would make once he took over Buckingham Palace.

Sadly enough, King Anthony didn't get a lot of respect at these public appearances.   Along with frequent jeering, verbal abuse, and the inevitable pelting with rotten fruit and vegetables, he was also subjected to a mock crowning ceremony in Oxford and physically attacked on several occasions (followed up by an overnight stay in a police lockup).   

In the meantime, Anthony's wife, the long-suffering Ethel, filed for divorce on the grounds that he had effectively deserted his family (presumably, she wasn't particularly interested in becoming Queen).   Though Hall defended himself in court ably enough, including a six-hour cross-examination of his wife, the judge agreed with Ethel and granted the divorce decree.    In granting the divorce, the judge denounced Anthony as being "tempestuous, undisciplined, and [of] erratic disposition."    Stung by the judge's words, he told reporters afterward that "I take a primitive view of marriage:  I do not recognize divorce."    An ironic statement considering his presumed ancestry.  

With the (non) divorce out of the way, Anthony Hall was able to throw himself into his campaign to be king with greater enthusiasm than ever.    In 1935, the "Royal Tudor Manifesto" he registered at the Royal College of Arms gained him international publicity.   .  Along with restating his claim to the throne, he also described the various changes he would make to the laws once he became king.   This included abolishing income tax, death duties, municipal rates, etc., none of which had been in effect during Tudor times and which, according to Hall, were blatantly illegal.     He also promised to establish a Ministry of Pleasure, to hold regular public picnics at Windsor Castle, to greatly expand London, and to redeem that National Debt (which had recently passed the  £7 billion mark).  Exactly how he was planning to do all of this after abolishing income taxes was left to the imagination.  Thousands of copies of the Manifesto were distributed across the U.K. , all at Anthony's expense, to ensure as many readers as possible.     

When  few people seemed to take him seriously, Anthony decided to relocate to London and a three-story mansion outside of Finsbury Park.   He also commissioned a jeweler on Bond Street to make him an official crown and a ceremonial mace.     And he didn't spare any expense, either.   The crown was lined with velvet and made up of thousands of semi-precious stones while the mace bore the formal inscription:  "Anthony I, King of England and Scotland, Prince of Wales"   (the jeweler's bill for making these items was over £20,000 in case you were wondering).    

Dressed in his royal regalia, including a "coronation robe", King Anthony had himself photographed and distributed thousands of copies, all signed, to various peers, diplomats, politicians, etc.    He also bombarded the Prime Minister's office, and just about every other elected politician in the House of Commons, with formal letters outlining his royal claim.   Since all the letters were on parchment, formally embossed with the Tudor coat of arms, the London firm that was supplying the parchment needed to re-establish their parchment-making department just to accommodate King Anthony.  

If it had just been Anthony Hall alone, the British government might have just dismissed him as a lone crank.   Unfortunately, Anthony's claims were being supported by a growing number of malcontents, most of whom simply wanted to stir up trouble or get the would-be monarch's support for their own pet causes.   Though most of the people who came to  King Anthony's public meetings dismissed him as deluded, they were still turning out in record numbers.    

After King George V's death in 1936, Anthony Hall became even more unhinged (if that seems possible).   Not only did he  move his headquarters to an even bigger mansion, but he also purchased a printing press that he kept in the basement.     While the actual details of how he managed it aren't clear, King Anthony used the press to start printing his own legal currency.  Not only were his one-pound notes larger than when the Bank of England was turning out, but also bore his signature as "Master of the Mint".    He then sold the notes at his various rallies for one shilling each (and promised that they would be redeemed at their full value once he became king).    When a South End court tried to fine Anthony for distributing his bogus notes, he simply declared that he would  confiscate all privately-owned banks and reopen them as branches of the Royal Mint once he assumed power.  

But it was his attempt at holding up the coronation of King George Vi that really marked the end for King Anthony.   When his letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl Marshall of England  were ignored, he then issued a formal coronation challenge to the King's Champion.   Unused since 1821, the challenge would have allowed him to claim the throne by besting the Champion in a formal duel of arms, though two constables sent from Scotland Yard persuaded him to drop the challenge and stay away from the coronation ceremony.

In the years that followed, King Anthony generated headlines repeatedly with other, equally grandiose claims.   In 1939, he claimed to be true king of Ireland  on the grounds that his mother's maiden name was "Eire."   That claim, along with his claim to the throne of Germany (don't ask), was put on hold with the outbreak of World War II when the Home Office rather forcefully told him that any activities deemed disruptive to public order would get him detained.   As a result, Anthony and his entourage retreated to a house in Herefordshire to wait out the end of hostilities.  

Not that this put the end to Anthony's legal troubles.   The house where he was staying had belonged to his mother and his sister, Mary, went to court to evict him.  Despite threatening to take the case to the House of Lords, the judge eventually ruled against the would-be monarch and ordered his eviction.   He and his sister were still fighting over the house when Anthony William Hall, one-time claimant to the throne of England, died in December 1947 and the age of fifty-three.   Since he had never had a son and his younger siblings were disinclined to pursue the throne, his curious campaign died with him and he was buried in the family plot near Little Dewchurch was plain old "Anthony Hall."   

While hardly the only pretender to the throne, AnthonyWilliam  Hall was certainly the most flamboyant.  As for his supposed lineage, no legitimate historian has ever supported Hall's claim and the general consensus is that he invented much of it.   But what could have made a hard-headed businessman throw away a marriage and a thriving business to dedicate his life to a fantasy?   It's easy to dismiss him as mentally ill though he didn't show any other symptoms that could be used to diagnosis what was happening with him.   In the end, he was simply a man with an obsession that cost him his family and his fortune.   

And there's never been a shortage of people like that.

After the End of the World

It was in 1954 when Dorothy Martin predicted the end of the world as we know it (and became part of psychology's history in the process).

Born in 1900 in Mount Shasta, California, she was a housewife living in the Chicago area when she first came to national attention.  Having a  longstanding interest in psychic phenomena and theosophy (including being "cleared" by a dianetics group), she first came in contact with advanced beings from the planet Clarion through her experiments in automatic writing.  Through these beings (the most important of whom was her personal mentor, Sananda), she was informed that they had been visiting Earth and monitoring fault lines in the planet's crust.   They warned her that a great flood would strike the Chicago area just before dawn on December 24, 1954. The flood would then form an inland sea stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and a subsequent cataclysm would destroy much of the West Coast from Seattle, Washington down to South America. A  flying saucer would come to rescue those who were true believers.

Martin had already become involved with a local flying saucer cult known as "The Seekers" and they responded eagerly to her messages from Sananda and the other Clarions. Their efforts to warn the public of the coming disaster were published in a local newspaper story under the headline: PROPHECY FROM PLANET. CLARION CALL TO CITY: FLEE THAT FLOOD. IT'LL SWAMP US ON DEC. 21, OUTER SPACE TELLS SUBURBANITE (it didn't make the front page for some reason).  The two-column story was accompanied by a photograph of Martin with a pencil and pad in her hand and described her experiences in communicating with the "superior beings" who had relayed the warning. It was this newspaper article that first attracted the attention of social psychologist, Leon Festinger.

As later written in the seminal classic When Prophecy Fails (published in 1956), Festinger and his colleagues, Stanley Schacter and Henry W. Riecken, first interviewed Martin in October, 1954 . Given that she was making a prediction about a specific future event which had already become the focus of media attention, the researchers decided to carry out a field study examining apocalyptic belief.  They also viewed it as an ideal test of Festinger's fledgling theory of cognitive dissonance.

Mrs Martin and her fellow Seekers (in the book, her name was changed to Marian Keech) strongly believed in her prediction and had already started making arrangements for their departure for Clarion. The three researchers and their fellow cohorts were able to infiltrate the group and provide a fascinating look at what happened before and after December 21.  When the Seekers' attempts at "telling the world" were largely ignored, their efforts at proselytizing ended in September when Dorothy Martin was reportedly told by two strange visitors to end all warning efforts and "await further orders."  The exact number of Seekers involved in the movement was never made clear but their mailing list ran to hundreds of names.

There was a surprising lack of effort on the part of the Seekers to recruit new members and the researchers had difficulty in infiltrating the movement. The Seeker meetings mainly involved readings of Dorothy Martin's teachings, sharing of mystical experiences, and writing letters urging President Eisenhower to reveal the "secret information" that the U.S. Air Force had collected on flying saucers. Plans to relocate to the mountains were scrapped in favour of waiting for Sananda and the other "Guardians" to transport them from the Seekers' headquarters in Dorothy Martin's house in Chicago.

Then came December 20 when the final group of fifteen to twenty Seekers met in the Martin home to await their salvation. Based on Dorothy Martin's messages from Sananda, the aliens would come at midnight to take them to their new home. To prevent being burned by contact with the alien spacecraft, the Seekers were instructed to remove all metal from their bodies (including zippers and bra straps). The book describes with some detail the suspense as midnight approached and passed and the group became increasingly disappointed. Finally, at 4:45 am, Dorothy Martin received another message stating that the cataclysm had been called off by the "God of Earth."   Apparently their group had impressed God with their faith and the human race was spared as a result.

Now came the hard part of telling the world. Dorothy Martin and her supporters were dismayed at the negative reaction that they received from the newspapers and wire services that they contacted. Martin took news of earthquakes in Italy and California as confirmation of her predictions of disaster but there was little else in the weeks that followed. As media interest trickled off, the group slowly dwindled. Dorothy Martin received other messages but they became even more incomprehensible with time.

Responding to complaints from her neighbours, police warned Dorothy Martin that would be arrested and possibly committed to a psychiatric hospital if she persisted with her activities. She went into hiding and eventually joined a dianetics centre in Arizona.  The book ends with the group being entirely dispersed although that was not quite the case.

Discussing the social psychology surrounding persistence of belief in failed prophecies, Festinger and his colleagues proposed the following five necessary conditions: 1. There must be conviction. 2. There must be commitment to this conviction. i.e, believers have to have taken an important action that is hard to undo (such as quitting a job or selling a house). 3. The conviction must be amenable to unequivocal disconfirmation, i.e, there must be a way of testing the conviction 4. Such unequivocal disconfirmation must occur. 5. Social support must be available subsequent to the disconfirmation (Groups of believers can support one another better than isolated believers).

Despite failures to replicate these findings with other apocalyptic groups (and there are more of those around than you might think), When Prophecy Fails represents a fascinating inside look at the mechanics of belief and how it interacts with human behaviour.

Dorothy Martin lived in Peru for several years before returning to Arizona. In 1965, she founded the Association of Sananda and Samat Kumara. Under her new name of "Sister Thedra", she continued to act as a channel for Sananda and was prominent in the UFO contact community until her death in 1992.   The association that she founded is still active.

Indian Activists Seek Nationwide Law to Stamp Out Witch-Hunts

In a recent incident which has become all-too common in parts of India, four  women were lynched by a mob in the village of Siskari in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand.  The women, all of whom were between 45 and 60 years of age, had been the target of a harassment campaign stemming from locals accusing them of using "black magic" to kill a village resident some time ago.  According to police reports, all four women were dragged from their homes and beaten to death by a mob of masked men armed with sticks.  Over twenty-four people have since been arrested by police.

This killing is only the most recent example of the anti-witch hysteria that remains prevalent in Jharkhand and other economically depressed parts of the country.   This July alone, a mob in India's Assam state beheaded a woman accused of making villagers fall ill.   Around the same time, a couple and their four children were burnt to death in Odisha for allegedly bringing disease to the village and evidence of another man , burned to death in a similar incident, was also found.  According to recent statistics from the Times of India newspaper, 123 people were killed by mobs in Jharkhand between May 2016 and 2019 alone.   And this may well be an underestimate given that many anti-witch attacks go unreported.       In 2016, there were 134 killings nationwide according to National Crime Records statistics (and, again, this may be an underestimate) with thousands of other deaths taking place over the past decade.  The overwhelming majority of these victims were women or members of low-status ethnic minority groups.

While Jharkhand remains the province with the highest number of reported attacks on suspected witches,  belief in witchcraft is extremely strong across much of India.   Not only is it believed that witches are born with the power to heal or curse, but they are often sought out to help cure illnesses or lift curses.    Given the lack of proper medical care in many of the poorer communities, any death or misfortune (including illness, famine, or drought) can be blamed on suspected "black magic" practitioners.   There are numerous self-styled practitioners who boast supernatural powers and who are widely respected and feared in their local communities.  Also, given that most  accused witches are single women living on valuable land claimed by their families, cases of family members accusing them of witchcraft to force them off the land are hardly uncommon.    With the stigma surrounding mental illness in much of India, anyone displaying "odd" behaviour or signs of mental illness may also be accused of witchcraft.

As Shashank Shekhar Sinha, an author and expert on local cultures told reporters, evidence suggests that these killings may be on the rise given changing economic conditions.   "This has to do with the politics of development," he said, in describing why the witch-hunts are so prevalent in Jharkhand,  "Coal mines and industries are being set up in the area, and a lot of people are migrating into the region. In this model, the adivasis [tribal communities] are losing their lands to these development projects. They are losing their lands and at the same time they are not benefiting from development projects."     With anger directed against newcomers who are seen to be taking away jobs needed by villagers, land-grabbing and rumour campaigns are an effective way of forcing out undesirables, many of whom are either killed or driven off their land which is then claimed by other villagers.

While many individual states have introduced legislation to stop witch-hunting, human rights are pushing for a nationwide law that will address all anti-witch harassment, including the sexual violence and public humiliation that accused witches often face.  "The current approach has been very piecemeal, where you only talk about the legal aspect of the problem. The laws are inadequate in covering the entire range of crimes associated with witch hunting," said Sinha.   Along with making these kind of hunts illegal, Sinha stressed the need for public awareness campaigns, especially among the locals who are most likely to target suspected witches.   Victims of anti-witch violence also need to be able to access medical services, including counseling to help with their trauma.   Accused witches also need real legal protections, especially if they are being accused by their own family members   

Perhaps the most critically important change to be made involves better enforcement of existing laws.   Even in cases involving death of accused witches, police investigations often reach a dead end, whether due to lack of effort on the part of police or simply because villagers refuse to speak out to protect the accused.

https://www.dw.com/en/indias-witches-victims-of-superstition-and-poverty/a-49757742

Rumours of Human Sacrifice Lead to Violent Clashes in Bangladesh

A wildly successful rumour alleging that human sacrifices are needed to finish a controversial bridge in Bangladesh has led to widespread violence, including at least two deaths.   Still under construction, the new bridge crossing the Padma river in Bangladesh is expected to open in 2020 and is hoped to boost the economy in the regions directly affected.   But fake rumours that the bridge will need "human heads" for its construction has  been spreading quickly on social media sites in recent months.   In one recent version of the rumour, over 100,000 human heads are claimed to be needed and that the perpetrators plan to snatch children to be used as sacrifices.    

Despite denials by government agencies and concerned social media users, the protests sparked by these rumours have already become fatal.   At least two people were killed by mobs in different parts of Bangladesh after being accused of kidnapping children for sacrifice.   Others have been assaulted or arrested by police for their own protection.   In a statement to the press, a police superintendent in Laxmipur district said that, "Those who were beaten up and we have held for the allegation of child-snatching, are either mental-patient or homeless persons. The “child-snatching” claim is just a rumor."

Rumours of human sacrifices have surfaced in the past, usually in association with any large construction project.   One Facebook user shared his memory of a similar rumour that sprang up in the 1970s with the construction of another large bridge.  "I was a school student then," he said.  "My friends used to discuss the under construction Kanchpur Bridge. Allegedly human bones were required to make the joints of the bridge strong. At least 500 human bones were required for a bridge this big. Human children were being targeted and claims were being sent to the schools. Our school also received such a letter. The teachers are sending 1 or 2 children to the Bridge construction workers. We were pretty worried and scared. If we were also sent. We could not sleep at night. So many worries in our little heads!"

Though Bangladesh is primarily a Muslim country, Hindu myths and legends continued to be passed on across generations.   This includes stories of human heads being mounted on bridges to appease demons before a bridge could be built.  Human sacrifice was also said to have been widely by the ancient Pundra kingdom in what is now Bangladesh.   Even in an era of social media, these ancient beliefs remain strong.  "People are used to these myths carried down from generations to generation," said one source.  "So they fall for such rumors without verifying, even if in this age of technology."

Government sources are already threatening reprisals against anyone knowingly sharing sacrifice rumours.   They also accuse "vested interests" of trying to undermine the bridge project.  Under Bangladesh's new Digital Security Act, anyone spreading rumours in electronic form is liable to up to three years in jail or BDT 300,000 (USD 3,550) in fines or both.   Eight people have been charged so far and more arrests are expected in future.  

School in the Philippines Closed Due to "Evil Spirits"

Classes at an integrated school in the Philippines have been suspended after twenty students collapsed in class and began showing symptoms suggesting that they were possessed.    

According to one teacher at the Father Gratian Murray Integrated School in Bacolod City. the first incident occurred earlier this month when a female Grade Eight student collapsed in class and reportedly began speaking in a male voice.    After the student began rambling about a 2016 accident that occurred nearby, she was taken to a medical clinic and then to a chapel until her parents could take her home.   Three other girls began experiencing similar symptoms though classes continued as usual.

On the following day, a group of students who were praying the rosary at a school field also collapsed.  “Their bodies weakened, and they were hysterically shouting,” said head teacher Ariel Sablaon.   Following reports that the symptoms were due to demonic possession, the school principal called in a priest to see the affected children and determine whether an exorcism was needed.   After the priest dismissed possession claims, ten of the children were sent to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Barcolad for observation.

According to hospital psychologist, Dr. Joeanne Marie Jomalesa, the cause of the outbreak has still not been determined though she is not prepared to rule out mass hysteria.  "We have to verify it first because we don’t know if it’s related to a spiritual aspect or a psychiatric case. We need to get into the details first before we evaluate and proceed with the intervention phase wherein we can be able to talk to the students,” she said.  She also pointed out that cases of mass hysteria could often affect a group of persons  coping with unusual excitement or anxiety and trigger  irrational behavior, beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness.

Belief in demonic possession is widespread across much of the Philippines.   Similar outbreaks occurred in 2018 involving schools in the province of Cebu.  Apparently triggered by the sighting "black figure" on school grounds, students began collapsing with reports of violence and abdominal pain.  In 2017, Father Ambrosio Nonato Legaspi, chief exorcist of the Philippines, gave a public warning about "cursed rosaries" being distributes by  “Illuminati satanists” to entrap unsuspecting Catholics.   Similar alarms have also been raised about wearing Halloween costumes and other "potentially satanic" activities that could attract possession. 

 

 

The Kitty Genovese Murder

Kitty Genovese's murder on March 13, 1964 shocked the world.

While the 29-year old bar manager was returning to her home in the Kew Gardens section of Queen's, New York, she was brutally attacked and killed.  Her assailant, Winston Moseley, was a serial offender who would later confess to two other murders.  In describing the murder, the New York Times reported that thirty-eight of Genovese's neighbours had watched the killing but did nothing.  The Times article was quick to emphasize that "Twice the sound of their voices and the sudden glow of their bedroom lights interrupted him and frightened him off. Each time he returned, sought her out and stabbed her again. Not one person telephoned the police during the assault; one witness called after the woman was dead."   Later investigations would show that very few of the thirty-eight neighbours who had heard some part of the attack were really aware of what was going on (many thought it was just a lovers' quarrel). Only one eyewitness would admit to even seeing a knife.

Still, the idea that Kitty Genovese's murder was fully observed by numerous neighbours who "didn't want to get involved" quickly took on a life of its own.  Public outrage against the "Bad Samaritans" who allegedly watched and did nothing was fierce.  One Times letter writer insisted that the names and addresses of the delinquent thirty-eight be published in the paper to expose them to the world.  The years following the Genovese murder and Moseley's conviction saw more than a thousand books, articles, plays, and several television movies based on the tragedy.  Headlines about the callous, unfeeling New Yorkers who ignored Kitty Genovese's dying screams led to wide-scale soul-searching over declining social values and the dangers of urban life.  

In a later critique of the Times coverage, Jim Rasenberger stressed that only six or seven people were actual eyewitnesses, not the thirty-eight that the Times originally claimed.  When the New York Times later came under fire for misrepresenting the actual facts of the murder, they stood by their version of events.  In a 2004 interview, Times editor, A. M. Rosenthal went on record as stating that "there may have been 38, there may have been 39, but the whole picture, as I saw it, was very affecting.”   Rosenthal also wrote his own book on the case titled Thirty-Eight Witnesses.  

Whatever the actual facts, a brutal murder did take place which had a profound impact on New York City life.  Publicity over the Genovese murder and other high-profile crimes helped spur the implementation of 911 as a universal help number by 1968.  Community activists responding to the murder also organized the first Neighbourhood Watch program, eventually leading to the formation of chapters across the country.  Political pressure later led to the passage of "bad samaritan" laws in some jurisdictions (with limited success). 

Academic psychologists took a keen interest in the murder and what it seemed to indicate about human nature. In 1968, social psychologists Bibb Latane and John Darley launched a series of classic experiments investigating bystander intervention in emergencies.  Using New York University students, they varied experimental conditions under controlled circumstances to investigate factors that seemed to increase the likelihood of bystanders helping.  Simulated emergencies ranged from a theft to smoke filling the interview room to cries of distress from an adjoining room.  In a finding that they would later term the bystander effect, Darley and Latane found that individuals were slower to respond as the number of others that the participants thought were present increased.  Participants who were alone in a room during the simulated emergency were far more likely to respond and response time was significantly slower in groups ranging from two to six participants in size.  The only other factor that seemed to affect responding dealt with the size of the participant's home community, i.e., participants who grew up in large cities were less likely to respond than participants who grew up in smaller towns (make of that what you will).

Essentially, responsibility for acting in emergencies diminishes as more people are involved in the decision-making process (hence the term diffusion of responsibility). Latane and Darley suggested that people often looked to the people around them to see how they react to the emergency.  If other bystanders seem unconcerned, then people are less likely to react (their term for this was pluralistic ignorance).  Participants often found themselves in a classic approach-avoidance conflict (another of those pesky social psychology terms) in which they were torn between a desire to act  and not wanting to appear foolish by jumping to conclusions.  The researchers also proposed specific decision-making models to increase the likelihood of emergency responding:  notice the incident, interpret it as an emergency, decide on level of personal responsibility to intervene, carry out the required behaviour.  Variations on this model have since been incorporated into standard first-aid training classes

Despite the controversy surrounding the Latane-Darley findings, questions as to the actual prevalence of "bystander apathy", and the failure by later researchers to replicate these results consistently, the bystander effect has become one of the most well-recognized concepts in modern psychology.  As such, it has been taught to introductory psychology students ever since (myself included).  The spectre of Kitty Genovese is often invoked in newspaper accounts of similar crimes in which bystanders failed to intervene.  Latane and Darley documented several of these accounts in a 1970 book that they later wrote on their research.  

So, next time you're witnessing someone in danger, don't look to others for guidance.  Take the lead and, possibly, save a life.

The Last Alchemist

Alchemy has a very long history.

First believed to have been practiced in Ancient Persia, the ancient dream of endless wealth and immortality has enticed practitioners for thousands of years. While attempts to transmute lead into gold or create the elixir of life have always ended in failure, the lure was enough to entice famous scientists such as Roger Bacon, Tycho Brahe and Isaac Newton to give it a try. Still, by the 18th century, there was enough skepticism for alchemy to be dismissed as a fantasy by the scientific community.

Which brings us to James Price...

Born in 1752, his original name was actually Higginbotham but he changed it to Price when a wealthy relative left him a legacy. After distinguishing himself at Oxford by earning various degrees, he became a member of the Royal Society at the age of 29. Although Price seemed set for an eminent career in science, he began to concentrate a more unconventional line of research: transmuting base metals into precious metals (particularly turning mercury into gold).  Which was a pity, since, as I've already mentioned, whatever respect alchemists claimed in previous centuries had long since evaporated by Price's time.

After telling a few of his friends that he had been successful in his strange research, Price became the subject of some fearful whispering among fellow chemists. It was this public skepticism that caused Price to begin a series of public demonstrations of his transmutation process. The process centered on a special "powder of production" that could transform mercury and other base metals into gold or silver "under special circumstances". He conducted seven public experiments beginning on on May 6, 1782 and ended on May 25th. With various peers, baronets, clergymen and chemists in attendance, Price mixed borax, nitre, mercury, and other assorted chemicals and produced small amounts of gold and silver that he later presented to King George III.

The initial reaction was certainly positive. Oxford University bestowed a Doctor of Medicine degree on Price and there was tremendous demand for the written account of his experiments. Anyone remembering the cold fusion debacle a few years back can appreciate the tremendous enthusiasm resulting from the news of Price's discovery. The notion of endless wealth being produced for England through alchemy was certainly intoxicating (setting aside the fact that gold was mainly valuable because it was scarce). Since James Price was a respected and wealthy scientist who came from a distinguished family, the possibility that he might have faked his results seemed unthinkable.

Unfortunately for Price, the Royal Society remained skeptical.They insisted that Price repeat his experiments under controlled conditions to rule out the possibility of error. Price's hesitation made them even more suspicious. He attempted to downplay his earlier success and insisted that his powder of production was too expensive to make in large quantities. He added that the process of creating gold wasn't as cost-effective as he had previously assumed and that the cost of ingredients was greater than the cost of the gold produced. While his experiments were of scientific value, Price insisted that there would be no point in repeating them.

The president of the Royal Society, Joseph Banks, flatly told Price that his scientific reputation was at stake as well as the reputation of the Royal Society itself.   Price, in return, began to insist that he was the victim of persecution and that his reputation should rule out any thought of deceit. By then, even Price's friends had become distressed by his refusal and finally persuaded him to produce more of his powder of production for the Royal Society to examine. He left London in January, 1783 and returned to his Guildford laboratory. Although he had promised to return in a month, nothing more was heard from him for six months when he finally returned to London. Inviting as many members of the Royal Society as he could to his Guildford laboratory, he arranged for a demonstration on August 3rd of that same year.

Price's reputation had already been damaged by his long delay and even most of his friends had deserted him by the time of his demonstration. That only three members of the Royal Society showed up on August 3rd probably told Price all he needed to know. After greeting his guests cordially, he stepped away from them and drank a vial of what would later turn out to be laurel water. When he began to collapse, his visitors tried to help him but it was too late.  Before they could arrange for medical attention, James Price was dead.

An investigation would later find that Price had recently written his last will and testament and wrapped up his affairs before calling for the demonstration. Despite intense speculation over why Price had staked his professional reputation (and his life) on his strange fixation with alchemy, no real explanation was ever found. It's probably likely that he had deceived himself into believing that he was successful and, little by little, resorted to deception to avoid disgrace. Suicide may have been the only solution for the mess that he had created for himself.

James Price's suicide marked the end of alchemy in the United Kingdom (though it lingered on in other parts of the world). His sad fate represents an object lesson in how easy it is to be seduced by the prospect of fame and fortune as well as how hard it is to admit that you're wrong. Too many other would-be discoverers have learned this the hard way.

The Man Who Had Visions

It's hard to think of the right word to describe Emmanuel Swedenborg.  Complex doesn't even come close.

Born in 1688, Swedenborg's father was a bishop who often claimed to see spirits and made claims of miraculous cures (he also did exorcisms). His religious upbringing didn't prevent Emmanuel Swedenborg from traveling extensively and immersing himself in the natural sciences.  Despite a stuttering problem that made him extremely reluctant to speak in public, he devoted the next two decades of his life to projects in astronomy, physics, and mineralogy including various attempts to reconcile philosophy and the physical sciences (he even proposed early versions of a flying machine and a submarine). After turning down an appointment as professor of mathematics at Uppsala University (his stuttering made the idea of public lectures unthinkable), he turned to the life sciences in 1736.

Traveling to medical centres in France and Italy, he went on to do extensive research in anatomy and physiology. It was Swedenborg who first proposed that the cerebral cortex could be divided into specific regions that controlled different parts of the body. These specialized "cortical territories" were highly interconnected and enable the brain to function as a coherent whole. He also identified the role of cortical region at the back of the frontal lobes in voluntary muscle control, and even suggested that the frontal lobes of the brain were linked to intellectual functions (including imagination, memory, and thought).

Although many of Swedenborg's discoveries were revolutionary, the mainstream medical community in other countries didn't really become aware of them until the late 19th century (his treatises on the brain weren't fully translated for decades). By then, most of his astounding discoveries had been made by other researchers working independently. His lack of an academic post worked against him as well but Swedenborg might still have become one of the pioneers of medical science if he had persisted in his research. Unfortunately, all of his scientific activities had ended by 1743.

Which was when the visions started...

While he had been a religious man all his life,  Swedenborg was fifty-five when first began experiencing a strange spiritual crisis. After taking a leave of absence from his research and traveling to the Netherlands, he was haunted by strange dreams that he faithfully recorded in his journal. In one story that was often retold years later, Swedenborg was eating in a London tavern when "a darkness fell upon his eyes and the room shifted character. Suddenly he saw a person sitting at a corner of the room, telling him: "Do not eat too much!".  Frightened by what happened, he hurried home. Later that night, the same man appeared in his dreams. The man told Swedenborg that He was the Lord, that He had appointed Swedenborg to reveal the spiritual meaning of the Bible, and that He would guide Swedenborg in what to write.  He reportedly became so agitated that the physician who was treating him had six men guard him as he slept.

After arranging for a government pension to support him, Swedenborg devoted himself to his strange visions and the religious books that he wrote based on what he experienced (and which he later claimed were dictated to him by an angel). He spent the remaining years of his life traveling between London, Stockholm, and the Netherlands and wrote fourteen books on various spiritual topics. The visions that he described took him from Heaven to Hell and across the solar system (and meeting the inhabitants he found there). Most of his works were published during his lifetime and he quickly developed a reputation as a mystic (or a lunatic depending on who you asked).His books were remarkably consistent and his descriptions of the nature of Heaven, Hell and the universe has had a tremendous influence over the years. Although some of Swedenborg's writings were bizarre (he claimed that the moon was inhabited by a race of creatures who spoke through their stomachs), his sincere manner and reputed psychic ability won over many doubters. Other critics were more skeptical (Immanuel Kant wrote that Swedenborg should be in a madhouse and two of his supporters were tried for heresy in Sweden), but Swedenborg's crusade continued.

The bulk of his spiritual writings focused on God's plan to initiate His kingdom on earth but he denied that anything he wrote was theological (they were based on his personal experiences after all). In later years, Swedenborg became increasingly deranged and lived on a diet of milk and bread. Evil spirits continually harassed him with temptations although he was comforted and protected by good spirits. Although  already a lifelong bachelor, he became so frightened of women that he would never see them alone. By the time of his death in 1772, Swedenborg was one of the most well-known mystical writers of his time and his works have since been translated into numerous languages. His works inspired later writers including William Blake, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Henry James Senior (father of William and Henry James), and Carl Jung.  Swedenborg's supporters founded the New Jerusalem Church in 1778 (a branch in the United States was founded in 1792). Despite the inevitable schisms over interpretations of his writings, he still has a devoted following and the Swedenborg Society (founded in 1810) is actively engaged in disseminating his works.

The question of why an accomplished scientist like Swedenborg made such an abrupt change in his later life from science to mysticism has baffled later writers and researchers. While it's tempting to link Swedenborg's experiences to the mystical visions and religious grandiosity often experienced by schizophrenics and patients with certain neurological conditions, the available evidence doesn't really indicate a clear diagnosis. If there was a neurological basis to these visions, then it would be especially ironic that it would occur in someone who might well have become one of the great pioneers in brain research had his life not take such a strange direction.

Scientists Challenge Social Media Giants to help Combat Vaccine Misinformation to End "Unnecessary Crisis"

In the wake of massive anti-vaccination campaigns being waged around the world, the World Health Organization has identified vaccine hesitancy as a major public health issue jeopardizing countless lives.  Recognizing the role that social media sites play in spreading vaccine misinformation, a group of global scientists are calling on companies such as Google and Facebook to help spread the word about vaccine safety.    A recent issues of the  Journal of Health Communication has published the Salzburg Statement on Vaccination Acceptance outlining the major health benefits resulting from vaccine use internationally.  This includes the total eradication of diseases such as smallpox as well as the millions of lives being saved yearly through vaccination campaigns intended to control Hepatitis B, meningitis, measles, and polio.   Not only is vaccination saving lives but it also makes good economic sense given that every dollar spent on vaccination is repaid many times over in reduced demand on health care services, lost time from work, and overall health improvement in most populations.

But the rising incidence of vaccine hesitancy threatens to reverse many of these gains.   In 2017 alone, 110,000 people around the world died of measles, an otherwise preventable disease.   And most of these deaths occurred in children younger than five years of age.   In that same year, measles vaccinations across European nations fell below the 95 percent threshold needed to maintain herd immunity.  As a result, measles cases have surged across much of Europe with dozens of children having died already.

"We are alarmed that the WHO this year declared vaccine hesitancy a top-ten international public health problem," says Scott Ratzan, founding editor of the Journal of Health Communication, in a recent news release.  "This is a man-made, dangerous and wholly unnecessary crisis." 

In the United States, measles outbreaks have occurred in eleven states with more than one thousand measles cases being reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   Though the United Nations has already implicated vaccine-averse parents in the crisis, finding real solutions continues to be a challenge.    

Meanwhile, Facebook groups such as  Stop Mandatory Vaccinations continue to share inflammatory posts outlining perceived dangers of vaccines, including videos from parents blaming vaccines for health problems in their children.  Such groups mainly serve as an "echo chamber" to help anti-vaccine advocates collect more false stories about vaccines to bolster their arguments.   That many of these stories are exaggerated and most studies finding health problems in vaccines have been discredited hardly seems to matter to the anti-vaccine lobby.   While Facebook has already told media interviewers that it is fighting misinformation, little has been done to date.    Other platforms, including  Pinterest, and YouTube, have already acted to censure people knowingly spreading misinformation,

Though the anti-vaccine campaigns will likely continue, medical authorities and social media companies are doing what they can to ensure the actual facts about vaccination are getting out.    Ultimately, every social media user  needs to be skeptical about any new information they hear and be certain about the facts before passing it on to others.   

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