Mystery illness forces church evacuation in WETHERSFIELD, Conn

[Ian David]

Mysterious illness prompts mid-Mass evacuation

October 23, 2005

WETHERSFIELD, Conn. --A mysterious illness forced the evacuation of hundreds of parishioners in the middle of a Mass Sunday at a local church.

Police, fire and environmental crews responded to The Church of Incarnation during 11 a.m. Mass after getting reports that several people had fallen ill.

The symptoms included dizziness, nausea and, in one case, fainting, said Deputy Fire Marshal Jeffery Morrissette. About a dozen people were affected and at least two were taken to the hospital.

Some 400 people were evacuated while crews from the Department of Environmental Protection took air samples. Tests for carbon monoxide came back negative, but the church remained closed while authorities await results of further tests. A confirmation service scheduled later in the afternoon was moved to a church in Rocky Hill.

"Until the fire chief and health director are totally convinced that things are safe, obviously they're not going to let us return to the church," the Rev. James Moran told WVIT-TV.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2005/10/23/mysterious_illness_prompts_mid_mass_evacuation/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

[bbernardini]

1. Heh. Rev. James MORAN. n/t

[meganmonkey]

2. Are we just terrible or what?

I had the same reaction. If it was a reading comprehension test, I would have FAILED.

Moran

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

(i'm so happy to know I'm not the only one)

[Ian David]

3. More

Mystery illness sweeps through local church

<snip>

"The priest came up to the microphone and said the police wanted us to evacuate the church immediately," says Norma Mazzone, Parishioner.

Originally a 911 call was placed reporting an unknown medical condition about a parishioner. Then another call was placed about a different person.

<snip>


Even an EMT worker and a police officer felt ill when they arrived and went inside. Several other people complained of similar symptoms.

<snip>

Carbon Monoxide has been ruled out and the incidents were not centered around one area.

More:
http://www.wtnh.com/global/story.asp?s=4017336&ClientType=Printable

[goclark]

4. Please keep us posted..scary

[Ian David]

7. Church of the Incarnation Catholic Church

Incarnation Parish (ID: 51485)
Schedule | Weather | Map
Sponsor Directory | Local Yellow Pages | Local Classifieds | Update Listing

544 Prospect St
Wethersfield, CT 06109
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
United States - Archdiocese of Hartford

Sat: 5:15 p.m.
Sun: 7:30, 9, 10:15, 11:30 a.m.
Weekday: Mon thru Sat: 9 a.m.
Holy day & Vigil: 6:45, 9 a.m.; 5:15, 7:30 p.m.
Confessions: Sat: 4:15 to 5 p.m.

Fr John Edwards
http://www.disciplesnow.com/connect/site.cfm?site=51485&site_name=Incarnation%20Parish

[SoCalDem]

5. There is a mass-hysteria "illness" that has happened at sporting events

Maybe that's the thing here too..

[Ian David]

8. I was thinking the same thing, too. MASS hysteria DURING MASS

Bad puns aside, it does happen.

I would venture to guess that religious services are particularly conducive to mass-suggestion.

[hedgehog]

15. Clearly you are unfamiliar with a typical Catholic Mass

I'll grant you some are highly emotional, but generally they are fairly calm affairs.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. Mass Psychogenic Illness

otherwise known as mass hysteria.

that's my bet.

What causes an outbreak of mass psychogenic illness?
Many outbreaks of mass psychogenic illness start with an environmental "trigger." The environmental trigger can be a bad smell, a suspicious-looking substance or something else that makes people in a group believe they have been exposed to a germ or a poison.

When an environmental trigger makes a group of people believe they might have been exposed to something dangerous, many of them may begin to experience signs of sickness at the same time. They might experience headache, dizziness, faintness, weakness or a choking feeling. In some cases, one person gets sick and then other people in the group also start feeling sick.

http://familydoctor.org/648.xml

[Ian David]

9. It's probably too soon to conclude that, but I'd put a couple bucks on it.

Could also be demonic possession (the Vatican just started a new class to teach exorcism last week.)

[Ian David]

10. Strange near-miss coincidence...

<snip>

"Miers has attended services before at the Church of the Incarnation, which Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, attends and to which several people in Miers' family belong. When in Washington, she attends St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House, which Bush also attends."

(Church of the Incarnation is an Episcopal church in Dallas. She then went to her own church's services.)

more:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/12/215220/99

Unfortunately, these are different churches in different states...

[hedgehog]

13. Nothing strange about it

I think if you'd check, you'd find most Catholic and Episcopal parish names are selected from a pair of Top 40 lists. that tend to overlap.

[goclark]

16. I saw it happen to a group of elementary students

standing on bleachers practicing for graduation.

They started dropping like flies.

We never found out what the cause was.

What I don't understand why the rescue team got sick. When I saw it happen, no one else got sick but the group standing together.

[A Simple Game]

11. Don't know if it was a high mass or not, but,

The incense at a high mass used to get to me every time.

That and the length of the mass.

[Ian David]

12. History of Incarnation Church

Parish History

Incarnation Church
Established 1963
2100 households

On September 12, 1963, Incarnation parish, Wethersfield, was established and named by Archbishop Henry J. O'Brien. Father John J. Crawford was appointed first pastor. The first parish Mass was celebrated on September 15 at the Samuel Webb Junior High School. A fund drive for a church began in April 1964. By fall, ground was broken and church construction went forward. Archbishop O'Brien dedicated the Church of the Incarnation on January 23, 1966.

Built on the site of an ancient Indian burial ground, the church was exorcised of demons in 1973.

Incarnation Church
544 Prospect Street, Wethersfield CT 06109-3696
Telephone: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Deanery: Suburban Hartford
Vicariate: Hartford

http://www.archdioceseofhartford.org/cgi-bin/history.pl?textdata=304




Sorry, I made-up the part about the burial ground and exorcism.

[leftofthedial]

14. the lord moves in mysterious ways

[hedgehog]

17. I have to ask everyone

If this had happened at a mosque, would you be making joke about it? Moran is an Irish name. Excuse me for being thin skinned, but it seems to me that for some people, it's open season on Irish Catholics.Just sayin', is all.Some people are making good point about what probably happened, but others are using this as a chance to throw mud.

[leftofthedial]

18. I'm not joking about "Moran"

:shrug:

[alittlelark]

19. Cognitive Dissonance can produce similar symptoms.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

20. Had the same kind of symptoms plus a pounding headache and

to leave work. There was a serious water leak and the conference room was filled with a mold smell, the weird thing is I don't test positive for a mold allergy. It could be something that simple.

[alittlelark]

21. yeah... it's possible.

soul - searching Cognitive Dissonance is too complex.