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A comment on The Mystery of 18 Twitching Teenagers in Le Roy. Parent comment

Re:The Mystery of 18 Twitching Teenagers in Le Roy by cperciva on Wednesday March 07, 2012 @11:29PM (#3678586)
One doctor has come up with a fringe diagnosis, and is treating for it, with some success, but international experts on his diagnosis say it's basically impossible.

As he comments, it's hard to distinguish between his treatment and the placebo effect. Given that his treatment is mostly harmless (unless you're a bacterium), does it really matter?

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Re:The Mystery of 18 Twitching Teenagers in Le Roy by pessimizer on Thursday March 08, 2012 @12:49AM (#3678737)
At a similar event at Qawa Primary School on the Fijian island of Vanau Levu, the girls were cured by:

"[...]a Hindu priest (pandit) who asked the Hindu elephant god for help in appeasing the disturbed spirits of [an accidentally partially bulldozed sacred pool near the school playground] during a public Om Shanti ceremony."

from: OUTBREAK! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior by Hilary Evans and Robert Bartholomew.

http://www.anomalistbooks.com/book.cfm?id=37

I think the key is to be very solemn and convincing, and to either honestly believe you're effecting a cure, or never let on that you're bullshitting.

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