Was Ripon school gripped by mass psychogenic illness?

What doctors used to call mass hysteria usually occurs among close-knit groups as anxiety weaves its way through, causing physical symptomsOn 15 February 1787, a young woman at a Lancashire cotton mill decided to scare one of her co-workers with a mouse. The prank made medical history. Terrified of the rodent, the woman on the receiving end had a fit that lasted hours. The next day, three more workers suffered violent fits. The day after, six more.Alarmed and mystified at the epidemic, the owner