Heathrow hysteria club
Discussion
20 odd people feeling really quite foolish, hopefully
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c5ypl5grg24t?post=...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c5ypl5grg24t?post=...
WindyCommon said:
20 compo-seeking opportunists
As detailed in the excellent, and well-reviewed, book on Kindle, this type of incident is not uncommon. A package was dropped in one of the sheds at another London airport and the lid came off a container. Nothing abnormal there; they could be clumsy. However, it was marked as 'Hazardous - radioactive material. Seek medical advice if exposed.'
A number of workers became nauseous. More were distressed, and symptoms included sore/watering eyes. Officers discovered the address of a nuclear power power plant was on the package. I phoned the number on the From address and was told the containers were en route to the power stations and were empty. They had not been anywhere near 'excessive' (whatever that meant; I felt it best not to mention the word in other communications) radiation. My sergeant, who'd been in control rooms for over a decade, reckoned he'd seen around half a dozen similar incidents, mainly with school children.
One of the local supervisors went into the shed and replaced the container into the package. It took some time for those affected to recover.
I researched such incidents and they have a fascinating history, going back to pre-medieval times, before compensation lawyers felt the latest Mercs and Teslas were an essential. If might be that some at Heathrow were acting. It might be that they reacted as humans have over many, many years.
Derek Smith said:
WindyCommon said:
20 compo-seeking opportunists
As detailed in the excellent, and well-reviewed, book on Kindle, this type of incident is not uncommon. A package was dropped in one of the sheds at another London airport and the lid came off a container. Nothing abnormal there; they could be clumsy. However, it was marked as 'Hazardous - radioactive material. Seek medical advice if exposed.'
A number of workers became nauseous. More were distressed, and symptoms included sore/watering eyes. Officers discovered the address of a nuclear power power plant was on the package. I phoned the number on the From address and was told the containers were en route to the power stations and were empty. They had not been anywhere near 'excessive' (whatever that meant; I felt it best not to mention the word in other communications) radiation. My sergeant, who'd been in control rooms for over a decade, reckoned he'd seen around half a dozen similar incidents, mainly with school children.
One of the local supervisors went into the shed and replaced the container into the package. It took some time for those affected to recover.
I researched such incidents and they have a fascinating history, going back to pre-medieval times, before compensation lawyers felt the latest Mercs and Teslas were an essential. If might be that some at Heathrow were acting. It might be that they reacted as humans have over many, many years.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Absolutely. Most people realise the placebo effect can help alleviate pain, thinking you've taken a tablet to reduce the pain when you haven't. No doubt it works just a well in reverse, thinking you've breathed in poison gas or whatever, can give you the symptoms you expect to get.
Sounds like a Nocebo effect (or just hysteria) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoceboNow reported as irritation from a canister of CS gas
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgy9e0zpp3o
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgy9e0zpp3o
Derek Smith said:
WindyCommon said:
20 compo-seeking opportunists
As detailed in the excellent, and well-reviewed, book on Kindle, this type of incident is not uncommon. A package was dropped in one of the sheds at another London airport and the lid came off a container. Nothing abnormal there; they could be clumsy. However, it was marked as 'Hazardous - radioactive material. Seek medical advice if exposed.'
A number of workers became nauseous. More were distressed, and symptoms included sore/watering eyes. Officers discovered the address of a nuclear power power plant was on the package. I phoned the number on the From address and was told the containers were en route to the power stations and were empty. They had not been anywhere near 'excessive' (whatever that meant; I felt it best not to mention the word in other communications) radiation. My sergeant, who'd been in control rooms for over a decade, reckoned he'd seen around half a dozen similar incidents, mainly with school children.
One of the local supervisors went into the shed and replaced the container into the package. It took some time for those affected to recover.
I researched such incidents and they have a fascinating history, going back to pre-medieval times, before compensation lawyers felt the latest Mercs and Teslas were an essential. If might be that some at Heathrow were acting. It might be that they reacted as humans have over many, many years.
There's a great episode of the Sideways podcast on this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4MM9sdpl...
Other notable events include the Salem Witch Trials, which is now considered to be an event of mass hysteria (I seem to remember a girls around 4 or 5 yerars old was accused of being a witch). Mind you, at that time America was basically a theocr\cy run by religious extremists....
Then there was the dancing plague of 1518 in Strasbourg. Again, definitive cause unknown (though they had endured many years of famine and were also a deeply religious people).
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