Mystery Illness That Hit 18 Student Singers Is Diagnosed as Hysteria

A mysterious illness that struck 18 student singers and triggered the evacuation of 2,550 people during a concert at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium has been diagnosed as mass hysteria, authorities said.

Although all of the stricken youngsters were treated and released at local hospitals for ailments ranging from dizziness and nausea to headaches and fainting, Santa Monica fire officials were unable to find evidence of fumes or toxic substances that could have caused the phantom outbreak Thursday night.

“The Fire Department searched the auditorium with a . . . toxic fume detector and found no indication of a hazard,” said Fire Chief William Pajaras at a press conference Friday. “A full search was completed, and no physical cause was found. It’s tough to make it look like you’re not ridiculing the kids, but the mind can really play tricks.”

Reacting to Heat, Stress and Anxiety

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Supervisor Eugene Tucker suggested that the youngsters were “reacting to heat and stress (and) general anxiety from earlier in the day when one or two youngsters fainted.”

Health experts called the incident a classic case of mass hysteria, explaining that it usually afflicts female adolescents or preadolescents involved in psychologically or physically stressful situations.

“All it takes is one person with a real illness and sympathetic people around who are tensed up for some reason, and it spreads like wildfire,” said Shirley Fannin, associate deputy director of disease control programs for the Los Angeles County Health Department. “But the key is that there is no pathological or objective signs of illness.”

Dr. Gary Small, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the UCLA Medical School who has studied outbreaks of mass hysteria around the world, said the phenomenon is not uncommon among students.

‘Crowded Room’

“I observe a few cases a year, most of them around this time when there are more assemblies and graduation ceremonies,” Small said. “Assemblies can be places where there is not only physical stress because of the crowded room but also psychological stress. The children performing are excited about being in front of the audience, but they are also anxious that their performances will fall short.”

Small added, however, that even though there is no physical cause, the symptoms experienced by victims of mass hysteria are real.

“They feel real and seem real,” he said. “Mental anxiety or unconscious psychological conflicts are converted into a physical symptom.”

Margie Ashkar, whose 12-year-old daughter, Amanda, was one of those sent to a hospital Thursday night, was less than satisfied with such explanations.

“I feel that there was something, maybe in the earlier part of the day, that was present in the air that the children breathed,” Ashkar said. “I don’t believe it was mass hysteria.”

In a telephone interview, her daughter agreed.

“When I rehearsed in the morning, I smelled something like lacquer that was really weird,” the youngster said.

‘Felt Awful’

“I felt awful and sat with other kids who felt awful too. I was fine until the end of the performance. Every time I moved my head it hurt. I walked out and collapsed,” Amanda said.

The chain reaction occurred near the end of the first of two performances of the 40th annual “Stairway-of-the-Stars” program, which is produced by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and features 1,100 members of the district’s bands, choruses and orchestras from the 4th through 12th grades.

But anxiety among the performers apparently increased before noon when two girls fainted and a third complained of nausea during rehearsals at the auditorium. School officials said all three were friends and were seated near each other at the time.

Auditorium officials acknowledged that guard rails had been touched up with white water-based enamel paint in the morning, which could have left a lingering but harmless smell in the air.

Beyond that, “it was apparent these gals had not eaten all day, and they were involved in a performance that was stressful,” said Barbara Moran, director of cultural and recreational services for the city of Santa Monica.

“In fact, one of these young ladies had a medical problem that was conducive to having her faint,” she said. “Other youngsters followed the leader. It was a domino effect.”

Blood tests conducted on the youngsters at five local hospitals proved negative, Pajaras said.

Second Show

Based on information provided by the Fire Department and Santa Monica officials, Tucker said he decided to permit a second performance of “Stairway” Friday night at the Civic Auditorium. He acknowledged, however, that crowds were likely to be smaller.

Because authorities were concerned about a replay of Thursday night’s mass reaction, cameras were prohibited from the auditorium. “Part of the problem (Thursday night) might have been nervousness” from such attention, said Santa Monica Police Sgt. John Miehle.

A young violinist, on his way into the hall for Friday’s performance, said he hadn’t noticed any unusual smells the night before. “I think it’s like they said on the news,” the teen-ager said. “I think it was hysteria.”

Thursday’s outbreak was similar to one that took place in 1982 when 127 people attending a high school football game in East Los Angeles were sent to hospitals complaining of nausea, stomach pains and chills. The mass hysteria was apparently triggered by cheerleaders who complained of feeling ill after drinking soft drinks.

“People on both sides of the football stadium were drinking Coke from the same dispensers,” Fannin said of the incident. “On one side, 127 people went to the hospital.”

In Israel a year later, 300 students at six Palestinian girls schools fell ill, and health officials there suggested mass hysteria was the cause.

Times staff writer Patt Morrison contributed to this article.