Mass hysteria

As defined by Abby McPhail, mass hysteria referred to "a shared madness". Oliver Morgenstern added that the term was used to describe events where "an idea [could] spread like a virus".

Morgenstern researched a number of events which he believed to be examples of mass hysteria. In North Carolina in 2002, a group of cheerleaders all suffered identical seizures with no obvious physiological cause. In Portugal in 2006, girls started experiencing symptoms of a fictional virus they’d seen in a teen soap.

The temporary disappearance of the Royal Hope Hospital in 2008 was attributed to being a case of mass hysteria, even by those who were inside the hospital, such as Oliver Morgenstern. (AUDIO: Hysteria) In reality, the "disappearance" of the hospital was caused by the Judoon transporting it to the Moon, using a H₂O scoop. (TV: Smith and Jones)