Buzz
For centuries, extreme forms of human terror have had two significant effects on the body. On one hand, fear has caused temporary blindness, muteness, deafness, or paralysis—referred to as Conversion Disorder, where mental anguish transforms into physical symptoms. On the other hand, terror has sometimes been fatal, even for strong men and experienced soldiers. The lethal variant of this terror is often linked to magical or supernatural causes, though not always.
10. Magical Terror in the New Testament
Numerous instances of Conversion Disorder occurred during and after World War I. Essentially, psychological terror manifested in physical harm. Soldiers suffering from shell shock (PTSD) might suddenly lose the ability to speak or hear, with no clear medical reason. Further back, in Puritan New England, the fear of witches led to paralysis or even the cessation of urination.
One of the most remarkable (and surprisingly little-known) examples of Conversion Disorder appears in the New Testament. In Acts, St. Paul faces off against a magician named Bar-jesus on Cyprus. He denounces Bar-jesus with what seems to be a curse: ‘Thou enemy of all righteousness … behold, the hand of the Lord [is] upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.’ Paul also ‘looks intently’ at him (the Greek word is atenisa, used only twice in the Bible). As a result, Bar-jesus, a magician terrified of the Evil Eye, is struck temporarily blind. ‘And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.’
9. Voodoo Death
‘I have witnessed more than one battle-hardened Haussa soldier slowly dying because he believed he had been cursed; no food or medicine could stop the decline or improve his condition.’ This was the account of soldier A.G. Leonard, describing Voodoo Deaths among the tribes of the Lower Niger in West Africa. Similarly, missionary John Roscoe observed similar phenomena in East Africa during the 1920s. After a hunt, three tribesmen were attacked by a leopard. Two recovered, but the one with the smallest wound believed he was doomed. Convinced that magic had caused the leopard’s attack, he passed away within a day.
Voodoo Deaths consistently exhibit the same symptoms. The victim loses all hope, possibly foams at the mouth, and then succumbs, often within one to three days. Besides alleged bewitchment, eating forbidden foods was thought to be another cause. A particularly striking instance occurred in Australia, where ‘double proof’ of the power of magic was observed. After an indigenous man was cursed and appeared to be dying, a missionary convinced the person who had cast the curse to tell the victim it had all been a joke. Upon hearing this, the victim revived, though he had nearly died from sheer belief.
8. What to do when caught in the jaws of a lion
What exactly happens in the body during extreme fear? When attacked by a predator and facing imminent death, humans and animals alike can activate an ancient survival mechanism known as ‘tonic immobility’ or ‘playing possum.’ In this state, when seized by a predator, the brain’s caudal ventrolateral region triggers a response that, on the outside, appears as total collapse. The body becomes numb to pain, goes limp, and may fall to the ground with limbs splayed and neck thrown back. Eyes close, the body trembles, and it may even defecate, remaining motionless. In short, it seems dead.’
The words quoted come from Jeff Wise, a modern-day adventurer and expert on the science of fear. Wise shares some fascinating examples of this odd evolutionary response. He explains that ‘many predators will not consume prey that appears dead,’ citing the example of missionary David Livingstone, who literally found himself in the jaws of a lion. The lion, apparently unimpressed by the ‘dead’ explorer, dropped him and moved on in pursuit of hunters who were clearly alive. Wise adds that ‘if quiescence lasts too long … heart rate and blood pressure can drop drastically, even leading to death.’
7. Sudden Death
Voodoo Death generally takes at least a full day to claim its victim. However, in many other instances, people have been claimed by terror in just hours, minutes, or even seconds. The trigger seems to be an abrupt overstimulation of the vagus nerve, which leads to the heart. This phenomenon, known as ‘Vagal Inhibition,’ can be brought on by a surprising range of factors. Fear is one such trigger, but other events like mental and physical shock may also play a role. Bernard Knight notes that a simple tap on the shoulder, immersion in cold water, or even tooth extraction have been known to trigger this reaction.
Cricket players who have been struck by balls have fallen victim to Vagal Inhibition. In one case in Birmingham, a young girl lost in the weeds was discovered to have died from it, as was a 12-year-old girl whose dog ran in front of a car (though, ironically, the dog was unharmed). The same fate befell a man in Pakistan who was attacked by racist thugs in his car, although he managed to drive away unscathed.
6. Dead on his feet
Let me take you on a chilling journey, like something straight out of Sherlock Holmes or Jonathan Creek. Over 200 years ago in London, a boy was discovered dead in a locked room, with no marks or injuries on his body. According to The Times in July 1811, a nine-year-old had gone missing for several days after failing to return home from school. Then, ‘last Tuesday morning he was found dead in one of the vaults of St George’s chapel, Paddington. The boy was standing against the wall of the vault, with his bag and schoolbooks still on his shoulder. Several coffins were in the vault. It is speculated that the boy had been drawn there by curiosity to witness a funeral and, having accidentally been shut in, died from fright.’
Considering how many adults perished from the terror of ghosts during this time, it’s not surprising the boy met his end in such terrifying surroundings. Was his death caused by Voodoo Death or Vagal Inhibition? The boy was clearly trapped long enough for Voodoo Death to take effect. However, the fact that he was found standing, bag still on his shoulder, suggests he died within mere seconds or minutes.
5. The Original Nightmares on Elm Street
Even in modern, more secular societies, Sleep Paralysis Nightmares can be utterly terrifying. Victims awaken unable to move or speak, only to be assaulted by a sinister entity. Two nineteenth-century works on nightmares, by John Waller and Robert MacNish, both emphasized how such experiences could literally frighten people to death. Waller mentioned a young carpenter, plagued by severe nightmares throughout his life, who was discovered dead in his bed one morning.
Much later, during the 1970s and 80s in America, a series of unusual deaths were reported among Hmong immigrants from war-torn Cambodia. Over and over, apparently healthy men in their thirties were found dead in their beds, some wearing expressions of sheer terror. Shelley Adler, author of *Sleep Paralysis*, concluded that these men feared ancestral spirits, believing these spirits were angry due to the Hmong's inability to perform the necessary rituals in America. This pattern of deaths inspired Wes Craven to create his iconic film *Nightmare on Elm Street*.
4. Witchcraft
The term ‘Voodoo Deaths’ is commonly associated with so-called primitive tribes from Africa, South America, or Australasia. However, these types of deaths also occurred throughout white Christian Europe, continuing well into the nineteenth century, and possibly beyond. One such incident occurred during a notorious vampire panic in Medvegia in 1731, where a young woman named Stanoska died from sheer terror after experiencing nightmares in which the spirit of a recently deceased villager appeared to be strangling her.
Given our understanding of witchcraft and Conversion Disorder, it wouldn't be surprising if a significant number of people died from their fear of witches. On April 14, 1621, Elizabeth Sawyer of Edmonton was accused of committing various crimes through supposed witchcraft. On April 19, she was hanged at Tyburn. One piece of evidence used against her was the death of Agnes Ratcliff, a neighbor who believed she had been cursed after a dispute with Sawyer over a pig. Ratcliff’s husband described her having fits, foaming at the mouth, and eventually collapsing in her bed, where she died within four days. The famous play of that year, *The Witch of Edmonton*, could not explain this, instead portraying Ratcliff as beating her own brains out in a fit of madness. But in reality, she must have perished from Voodoo Death. She was killed by her belief in witchcraft, and this contributed to the wrongful conviction of Sawyer soon after.
3. The Ghost of Lady Alington
It seems that even ghosts were capable of scaring people to death in the heart of London’s Mayfair during the 1930s. In August 1934, a coroner’s inquest was held regarding the death of Frederick Walker Wallace, who had been found dead at the home of his employer, Lady Alington. Wallace, who had worked as Lady Alington’s caretaker for 18 years, had recently confided in a visiting Police Officer about his fear of seeing Lady Alington around the house, despite her having passed away in early July. On Saturday, August 4, Wallace was discovered hanging in the basement boiler house. A message scrawled on the basement door read: ‘Farewell, fellow tradesmen, he is not dead but sleeping.’
After seeing Lady Alington’s ghost for some time, Wallace became increasingly terrified of being left alone in the house as its sole caretaker. Not long after the cook and chauffeur had departed, Wallace attempted to hang himself. Or, rather… he tried to hang himself. The coroner rejected the idea that Wallace had seen a ghost, insisting that 'ghosts are, of course, a delusion or illusion of the mind.' However, the coroner had to acknowledge that Wallace had not died from the hanging attempt itself, but from shock. Searching for a non-supernatural explanation, he argued that the shock from the attempted suicide had caused Wallace’s death. In truth, the likely cause was yet another visit from Lady Alington, triggering vagal inhibition. Ironically, she may have returned to save his life.
2. The Tower of London Ghost
There is much evidence suggesting that untimely, unnatural, or traumatic deaths lead people to return as ghosts. Thus, it’s no surprise that the Tower of London, known for its history of such deaths, is a frequent site of ghost sightings. From soldiers to residents, many have witnessed apparitions there, even when tourists were absent.
In January 1816, a resident family at the Tower complained about disturbing noises in their house, while sentries guarding the Royal Regalia reported hearing loud knocking and eerie groans. One Thursday night, a sentry guarding the door was heard screaming in terror and found unconscious. Upon regaining his senses, he recounted that a small figure had slipped under the door, growing to human size before transforming into the shape of a ghostly dog. This soldier was left paralyzed by fear for several days, and by the end of the month, he had died. He might have survived the Napoleonic wars, but like many other hardened soldiers reduced to childlike fear by ghosts or supernatural forces, he ultimately perished from terror.
1. The Ghost which killed a sceptic
The fear of witches among the general populace in Britain remained incredibly strong throughout the nineteenth century. The sheer level of terror induced by suspected witches can be measured by the horrific violence that was directed toward them, despite the fact that the 1736 Witchcraft Act had officially made witchcraft accusations illegal. The only thing that seemed to rival witchcraft in the public imagination was the fear of ghosts.
It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that ghosts truly exist. This realization came with tragic swiftness to Mrs. Rollinson in the spring of 1855 in a house in Sheffield. Harriet Ward, a lodger in the house, claimed to have seen a ghostly figure in the kitchen-cellar. As often happened in these times, the tale of the haunting spread quickly, attracting a large crowd outside the house. The residents decided to cover the cellar window with a blind to prevent curious onlookers, but most were too afraid to enter the haunted area themselves. Mrs. Rollinson, who had been a sceptic, boldly descended into the cellar to perform the task, but suddenly screamed and fainted, claiming she had seen something on the stairs. After regaining consciousness, she stated that a woman in white had rushed past her. Mrs. Rollinson passed away by noon the following day, less than twenty-four hours later.
