Peruvian Meteor Mystery

As noted earlier in this blog, a meteor reportedly crashed into a remote area of Peru last August, setting off a wave of illness among the local people. Doctors visiting the area since, however, say the number of illnesses were exaggerated and put much of the incident down to "mass hysteria" encouraged by breathless media reporting.


Scientists point out that arsenic is a component of the subsurface of the area, so if some explosion did occur-- and scientists are still not sure anything actually happened-- small amounts of arsenic may have entered the environment and caused some of the reported sickness. That, presumably, may have started the wave.


The mass hysteria hypothesis brings to mind Orson Welles' 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast, which reportedly led some people to commit suicide rather than face Martian invaders. There are other examples as well. The Salem witch trials resulted in the hanging of nineteen people, based largely on the stories of two little girls. A similar fear of witchcraft in medieval Europe brought about the torture and execution of thousands, mostly women.


Did a meteor streak across the sky in Peru last summer? That's entirely possible; such visits are not terribly rare. Did it reach the surface and unleash mayhem? That's less clear.