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Finally, Sergeant Max
Allison of the Seattle police crime laboratory stated that the pitting reports consisted of "5 per cent hoodlum-ism, and 95 per cent public hysteria." By April 17, the pitting suddenly stopped. The following week, hundreds of windshield pitting incidents were also reported in
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Within a week, the news and the so-called "pitting epidemic" had reached metropolitan
Seattle. As the newspapers began to feature the story, more and more reports of pitting were called in. Motorists began stopping police cars to report damage. Car lots and parking garages reported particularly
119:(not "mass hysteria" as reported). Although natural windshield pitting had been going on for some time, it was only when the media called public attention to it that people actually looked at their windshields and saw damage they had never noticed before.
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holes, pits and dings, leading residents to believe that a common causative agent was at work. It was originally thought to be the work of vandals, but the rate of pitting was so great that residents began to attribute it to everything from
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Medalia, N.Z.; Larsen, O.N. (1961). "Diffusion and Belief in a
Collective Delusion: The Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic".
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Some reported seeing glass bubbles form right before their eyes, believing it to be the work of sand fleas.
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The "Seattle
Windshield Pitting Epidemic" as it is called has become a textbook case of collective
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By April 15, close to 3,000 windshields had been reported as affected, which prompted mayor
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Originating in
Bellingham in March, police initially believed the work to be vandals using
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Studies in
Behavior Pathology: The Experimental Approach to the Psychology of the Abnormal
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175:"Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954"
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141:"Mass Delusions and Hysterias: Highlights from the Past Millennium"
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Some thought that a new million-watt radio transmitter at nearby
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was producing waves that caused physical oscillations in glass;
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Several hypotheses for the widespread damage were postulated:
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The story of the
Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic
232:"Pock-Marked Windshields Baffle Canadian Scientists"
35:in April 1954; it is considered an example of a
334:Mass psychogenic illness in the United States
240:. Associated Press. April 20, 1954. p. 1
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158:"Reports Of Damage To Car Glass Taper Off".
100:to ask for help from Washington Governor
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324:April 1954 events in the United States
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293:Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic
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200:"Hundreds See Windshields Pitted"
16:1954 American mass delusion event
23:is a phenomenon which affected
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80:Jim Creek Naval Radio Station
304:What Pitted Seattle's Glass?
139:and Erich Goode (May 2000).
248:– via Newspapers.com.
208:. April 19, 1954. p. 1
31:, and other communities of
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339:Washington (state) culture
319:20th century in Seattle
237:The Bellingham Herald
106:Dwight D. Eisenhower
145:Skeptical Inquirer
137:Robert Bartholomew
162:. April 16, 1954.
160:The Seattle Times
102:Arthur B. Langlie
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242:. Retrieved
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184:1 February
123:References
41:windshield
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65:Anacortes
46:sand flea
117:delusion
53:BB guns
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