Excerpt: > And what’s more: “This is a small, close-knit community in a foreign country that has a history of being hostile to the United States,” he says. “Th

Excerpt: > And what’s more: “This is a small, close-knit community in a foreign country that has a history of being hostile to the United States,” he says. “That is a classic setup for an outbreak of mass psychogenic illness.” A small close-knit community that is already anxious and on its edge could also describe Salem right before the witch trials. I remember reading a hypothesis about some fungal spores possibly causing real hallucinations, but this could be another possibility.