The LeRoy, NY Outbreak of Outbursts and Tics
Reading the following from a book by Lampson Wright written in 1845, I was reminded of the recent outbreak of similar symptoms at Leroy Jr/Sr High School in Leroy, NY, near Batavia. Evidently this sort of thing has happened before, and this article would indicate it has nothing to do with environmental pollution, as this happened in 1802 in recently settled Vernon, Trumbull Co., Ohio. At the time, it was attributed to religious excitement, though Lampson mentions that people seemed to get it regardless of their religious interest, or lack thereof. The two differences are that boys also got it as well as girls, while in the LeRoy outbreak only girls were involved, and Lampson doesn't mention any verbal outbursts. Probably it really is a psychological phenomena, as the State Health Department concluded.
"In the fall of 1802 the Presbyterian
Missionary Society sent on a young man from New Haven by the name of
Chapman to labor in the new settlements. Soon after he commenced
preaching among us the young people were taken with what was then
called the religious exercise or the Presbyterian jerks. Its
influence was invariably amongst the young.
They would be taken with a sudden jerking or twitching of the head and shoulders, and then fall over backwards, and after lying a few minutes would up and at it again. They would be exercised with these spasms in going to and returning from meeting or while engaged in their common avocations, or when eating their meals or in whatever condition they might be in.
I have seen girls ten to twelve years of age when setting on their benches at School, fall over backwards and strike their heads on the floor with such violence, that under any other circumstances they would have received injury. But they would get up at once and talk and laugh about it just as though nothing had happened.
There were two cases of it in our family. My sister, then about 13 years of age was taken with the hic-cough in the night for which they gave her some remedies, but all to no purpose - in the morning she had the jerks the same as the others.
It did not seem to extend generally among small children, although there was one such case, and that was my brother, then an infant.
I cannot learn that more than one case proved fatal, and that was of a young man named John Teed of Kinsman. His convulsions were so violent that they uncapped a blood vessel, and he bled to death at the stomach or lungs.
The disease was not confined to our settlement. It extended among the presbyterians in Mr. Tait's congregation in the state of Pennsylvania.
I became acquainted with a Mr. Herriott of Shenango Township, Pa. who had been under its influence when young, and had not then, which was some 25 years afterwards, ceased to feel its effects.
I have seen him in meeting have the same jerks that they used to have when young, though not so severely. He would seldom have but one sudden jerk of the head and shoulders, and then it would seem to subside, & I expect that when he was somewhat excited he ceased not to feel its effects till the day of his death.
The cause of this strange phenomenon to me remained a mystery. It did not seem to be wholly caused by religious excitement, for many of its subjects made no such pretensions, although such excitement did not fail to have considerable bearing on the case - neither did it seem to be a proper disease or debility in the system, for they made no pretensions to sickness.
I do not pretend to say that it was confined wholly to the before mentioned denomination of Christians. But they were the prevailing sect in that section at the time, and so far as religious excitement had an effect, it was generally received from them - notwithstanding the same effect might have been produced by any order of people, or have existed without any such excitement.
Some called it witchcraft, some thought they were possessed of the devil, while others called it the "presbyterian jerks" by way of an offset to the falling Methodists."
They would be taken with a sudden jerking or twitching of the head and shoulders, and then fall over backwards, and after lying a few minutes would up and at it again. They would be exercised with these spasms in going to and returning from meeting or while engaged in their common avocations, or when eating their meals or in whatever condition they might be in.
I have seen girls ten to twelve years of age when setting on their benches at School, fall over backwards and strike their heads on the floor with such violence, that under any other circumstances they would have received injury. But they would get up at once and talk and laugh about it just as though nothing had happened.
There were two cases of it in our family. My sister, then about 13 years of age was taken with the hic-cough in the night for which they gave her some remedies, but all to no purpose - in the morning she had the jerks the same as the others.
It did not seem to extend generally among small children, although there was one such case, and that was my brother, then an infant.
I cannot learn that more than one case proved fatal, and that was of a young man named John Teed of Kinsman. His convulsions were so violent that they uncapped a blood vessel, and he bled to death at the stomach or lungs.
The disease was not confined to our settlement. It extended among the presbyterians in Mr. Tait's congregation in the state of Pennsylvania.
I became acquainted with a Mr. Herriott of Shenango Township, Pa. who had been under its influence when young, and had not then, which was some 25 years afterwards, ceased to feel its effects.
I have seen him in meeting have the same jerks that they used to have when young, though not so severely. He would seldom have but one sudden jerk of the head and shoulders, and then it would seem to subside, & I expect that when he was somewhat excited he ceased not to feel its effects till the day of his death.
The cause of this strange phenomenon to me remained a mystery. It did not seem to be wholly caused by religious excitement, for many of its subjects made no such pretensions, although such excitement did not fail to have considerable bearing on the case - neither did it seem to be a proper disease or debility in the system, for they made no pretensions to sickness.
I do not pretend to say that it was confined wholly to the before mentioned denomination of Christians. But they were the prevailing sect in that section at the time, and so far as religious excitement had an effect, it was generally received from them - notwithstanding the same effect might have been produced by any order of people, or have existed without any such excitement.
Some called it witchcraft, some thought they were possessed of the devil, while others called it the "presbyterian jerks" by way of an offset to the falling Methodists."
Comments
Post a Comment