A STRANGE MANIA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 65, 31 October 1911, Page 7

A STRANGE MANIA.

A correspondent in Asia Minor sends “The Times” an-account of an extraordinary form of mania that afflicts a Greek community in that ,part of the world. “Come and see rlio girls dancing in .the beanfield,” said a Greek ploughman to the writer one hot afternoon in June. The Englishman naturally asked why they were dancing when they should he picking beans, and the reply was:— “They are dancing because they can’t help themselves, poor things. St. George has got tuem in Jus power, and keeps tiicm hopping.” That evening no saw the malady in operation. . Two of the afflicted girls were dancing as if they had been bitten by the tranatula spider; a tiiird was tnrowing herself in a terrifying way on the cement floor, and a fourth was moving her arms as if she were doing physical drill. The staring, anxious eyes, and laboured breathing of the girls, showed that they were in great distress. Soothing suggestions, aided by medicine, produced calmness. The girls, however, were convinced that what they suffered from was not a disease, but a spiritual prompting of St. George. This experience caused the writer to investigate the outbreak, and he found that the manifestations began annually about a week before the feast of St. George (May 7th). Persons of all ages and both sexes were affected. The epidemic reached its height on that day, but continued with diminishing intensity till the end of June. As tluj_people did not deem it a disease, they did not call in medical aid. The spirit of St. George being the cause of the marvel, it was believed that many of the “possessed” became “seers” and mediums for the working of miracles. At the village of \ eni slier, the centre of the outbreak, the epidemic culminated in most painful scenes in church on St. George’s Day. There v.; i - about a hundred possessed people iu the church, and their shrieking, groan.ing, and convulsions made a fearful pandemonium. Some struck their heads on the floor or on the walls, and others climbed up to the galleries, and even up the high altar-screen, which had little on its surface to support hands and feet. It is suggested that medical science and psychical research investigators should look into the phenomena, of which at present there does not seem to be any adequate explanation.