Season 09 Episode 23: We All Fall Down

Summary

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Unexplained – Season 09, Episode 23: "We All Fall Down" (May 22, 2026)

Overview

In this unsettling episode, host Richard Maclean Smith explores the chilling true story of the 1980 Hollinwell Incident—a mass medical emergency that overtook hundreds of children and adults at a junior marching band competition in rural England. Through immersive storytelling, eyewitness recollections, historical context, and scientific investigations, the episode interrogates both rational and uncanny explanations for a mystery that, more than four decades later, remains unsolved.

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The Day of the Incident – Hollinwell, July 13, 1980

[01:43–10:46]

• Early on a summer morning, the Zingaris junior marching band, along with hundreds of children, parents, and teachers, gathered at Hollinwell Field for a highly anticipated competition.
• The atmosphere is festive, with food stalls, ambulance crews on standby, and families looking forward to a day in the sun.
• Marching bands, or "jazz bands," were a beloved part of working-class culture in 1980s central and northern England.

“With a bright clear sky above and the excited band confident in their routine, it was set to be the perfect day. But all that was about to change.”
—Richard Maclean Smith [03:10]

The Collapse

• Just after a performance, multiple children suddenly collapse.
• First aiders respond quickly, attributing the fainting to heat exhaustion.
• The situation quickly escalates as more children and, eventually, spectators begin to fall ill.
• Symptoms include unresponsiveness, confusion, headaches, “pins and needles,” stomach cramps, weak limbs, and, in some cases, water-filled blisters.
• Emergency services are overwhelmed, with new victims having to be laid outside when the first aid tent overflows.

“It was like a surreal battleground, with collapsed children dressed in bright military uniforms lying on the ground everywhere, surrounded by worried adults.”
—Richard Maclean Smith [12:03]

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The Panic and Chaos

[10:46–17:00]

• A cacophony of theories and Tannoy announcements rapidly intensifies the atmosphere of fear:
  • “Don’t eat the ice cream.”
  • “Don’t eat the sweets.”
  • “Don’t drink the water.”
  • “Stay off the grass, it’s been sprayed with insecticide.”
• Symptoms grow stranger: red, irritated eyes; burning sensations; odd tastes in the mouth; and even foaming at the mouth—as reported in the case of eight-year-old Claire Brown.

“A man stumbled up to the ambulance volunteers complaining of weakness in his arms and legs. He said it felt as if they had no bones in them.”
—Richard Maclean Smith [11:51]

• The field is evacuated, and mass hysteria overtakes the event, with people still falling ill even on their way home or hours later.

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Search for Answers: Theories & Investigations

[17:00–31:00]

Early Theories

• Official inquiry launched by police, public health officials, and local government.
• Food, water, soil, and grass samples collected for analysis.
• Wild speculation in the media:
  • Aliens: Quickly dismissed due to lack of any sightings.
  • Secret weaponry/microwaves: Inspired by Cold War fears and geopolitical timing with the Moscow Olympics.

Environmental & Chemical Theories

Pesticide/Fungicide

• A nearby farmer had recently sprayed crops with Calixin (containing toxic fungicide tridomorph, later banned in UK).
• No substantial residue found on-site; spraying was days before the event and some distance away.

Factory Fumes

• Fire at a plastics factory miles away also considered.
• Ruled out due to wind direction at the time.

Mine Gas

• Hollinwell Field is located above old mine workings, sealed off the week prior.
• Underground gases (methane, CO, hydrogen sulfide) probed as a potential cause for headaches and dizziness.
• Investigators ultimately find this unlikely.

The Official Report: Mass Hysteria

• After eliminating environmental causes, the inquiry controversially concludes the event was caused by “massive hysteria” exacerbated by heat, tight costumes, excitement, and repeated alarming announcements.

“Instead, it concluded something unexpected and highly controversial. That the event had been caused by mass hysteria due to a combination of the warm weather compounded by the hot and tight fitting costumes...”
—Richard Maclean Smith [25:27]

Public Reaction

• Victims, parents, and community members vehemently reject the mass hysteria hypothesis.
• Doubts raised: How did symptoms develop hours later? How did babies and animals fall ill if the cause was psychological?
• Fortrean Times reports suggest even horses and dogs collapsed.

“Many who were at the Hollinwell showground were not convinced by the explanation. Why, they asked, would some children and adults not become afflicted until several hours after they had gone home? And how could babies get hysteria?”
—Richard Maclean Smith [28:52]

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Revisiting the Mystery: Modern Re-examination

[31:00–36:20]

The BBC Investigation (2022)

• BBC reporters consult Dr. John Wright, forensic scientist at Nottingham Trent University.
• He discovers that chemical toilets at the site had been heavily cleaned with bleach and strong disinfectant, producing a strong chlorine-and-ammonia odor.
• Weather conditions may have intensified chemical reactions, possibly generating a cloud of chlorine gas—a WWI-era chemical weapon.

“The forensic scientist suspected that the cleaning products, intensified by the weather, might have reacted to produce a cloud of near-lethal chlorine gas, the very same dense, pale green gas used extensively as a chemical weapon in World War I.”
—Richard Maclean Smith [35:30]

• Chlorine gas poisoning symptoms match many of those reported: coughing, eye and skin irritation, foaming at the mouth, and blisters.

Lingering Effects and Unanswered Questions

• Claire Brown, affected as a child, has suffered decades of health problems (infertility, kidney loss, cancer), still wonders about the cause.
• The episode also highlights the “nocebo effect”—when expectation of illness, prompted by suggestion, can create genuine symptoms absent any physical cause.

"Either way, 45 years after the event, it seems the true cause of the Hollinwell incident is destined to remain stubbornly unexplained."
—Richard Maclean Smith [36:55]

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• Describing the Scene:
  “It was like a surreal battleground, with collapsed children dressed in bright military uniforms lying on the ground everywhere...”
  —Richard Maclean Smith [12:03]

• Capturing Doubt:
  “Unsurprisingly, the mass hysteria finding of the official Hollinwell report was not well received by many of the people who’d actually been there.”
  —Richard Maclean Smith [26:41]

• Modern Reflection:
  “Certainly experts studying the nocebo effect ... might beg to differ.”
  —Richard Maclean Smith [36:38]

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Key Moments (Timestamps)

• Arrival at Hollinwell Field: [03:10]
• First collapse during band routine: [06:40]
• Escalation of symptoms & public panic: [10:46–13:44]
• Arrival of emergency services, field evacuation: [13:45–16:00]
• Official investigations & early theories: [17:00–23:45]
• Mass hysteria verdict and community backlash: [25:00–28:52]
• 2022 BBC & Dr. Wright’s chlorine gas theory: [32:55–36:00]

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Conclusion

Despite exhaustive investigations and re-examinations, the true cause of the Hollinwell incident remains elusive. The official conclusion of mass psychogenic illness is disputed by witnesses and some experts, while modern chemical analyses offer plausible—if still unconfirmed—alternative explanations. The episode not only details a uniquely unnerving mystery but also reflects on the gaps between science, memory, and belief in making sense of the unexplained.

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Transcript

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Richard Maclean Smith]

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[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

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[Richard Maclean Smith]

We invented a podcast.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

Well, we didn't invent it, we just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

[Robert Smigel]

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guests, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

Hello, it's Richard McLean Smith here. Very excited to announce that this May I'll be heading to CrimeCon 2026 in Las Vegas, the world's number one true crime event. And I'd love to see you there. From May 29th to the 31st, thousands of true crime fans, investigators, journalists, podcasters, experts and survivors will gather at Caesars palace in Las Vegas for an unforgettable weekend of live talks, exclusive panels, deep dives and behind the scenes conversations. I'll be appearing throughout the weekend on Creator Row, so please come and say hello. And if you'd like to join me for my live session, Treasure, Betrayal and Death in Vegas, the Ted Binion Mystery. I'll be speaking at 10:20am on the Saturday morning. To get tickets, head to crimecon.com and use promo code unexplained for 10% off. I hope to see you there. It was early morning, Sunday, July 13, 1980, as a coach full of excited children dressed in majorette uniforms rumbled along the M1 in central England. The Zingaris, a junior marching band from Claycross in Derbyshire, were on their way to the Hollinwell annual show to take part in a marching band competition. The children chatted noisily as the band's founder and leader, Judy Vaughan, watching over them like a hawk, went through their set list again in her head. Just after 8am, the bus decelerated suddenly and made a slow, lumbering turn into a field littered with parked cars and buses. The children cheered in unison, forcing Judy to raise her voice to tell them to calm down and wait in their seats until the bus had come to a complete stop. Ordinarily, Hollandwell Field, located near the small Nottinghamshire mining town of Kirby in Ashfield, was little more than a large patch of grass surrounded by farmland. But that Sunday, it teemed with activity and noise, with several hundred children, teachers and parents having gathered there for the show. Portaloos were being refreshed. Generators started up to run the many food stalls selling hot dogs, candy floss and ice cream, While the local St John's Ambulance Brigade added the finishing touches to their tent. The Hollinwell band competition would involve 500 children from 11 junior marching bands. With a bright clear sky above and the excited band confident in their routine, it was set to be the perfect day. But all that was about to change. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard Maclean Smith. Marching bands are especially popular in northern and central England, largely in former mining communities. Very much in vogue in the 1980s, junior bands were often called jazz bands. Despite playing an eclectic range of tunes, the name was More because the whole enterprise was thought of as jazzy. The kids loved getting dressed up and wearing sashes with all their medals. Coaches began arriving early at the Hollinwell Showground, each full of children aged between five and 15, wearing bright majorette uniforms. The jazz band competition would begin with an inspection in which each band was judged for the neatness of their outfits. Then each group was given a slot to perform a 15 to 20 minute long display or on which they would be judged again. It was going to be a long day. Luckily, it was shaping up to be a pleasant one, being sunny with just a few clouds here and there. As Judy ushered the Kids off the coach. She urged them all to visit the Porto Loos first before returning to get themselves ready for the inspection. A short time later, the band were all back and neatly assembled. Terry Bingham, the band's secretary, and Judy fussed over them, adjusting outfits and giving last minute pointers on routines they'd been practicing for months. As Judy reminded them, the event was highly competitive and every band would be giving it their all. The youthful excitement and tension in the air was palpable as the Zagaaris lined up for their inspection. After what seemed an age, the judges finally finished their assessment and the bands were ready to begin. Eight year old Claire Hughes from Kirby and Ashfield played the tambourine in one of the bands and had come to the event with her grandad. They both watched on as one of the top bands began performing an elaborate routine. It had just gone 11:15 as the band marched from the arena that the lead girl began to stagger slightly, then suddenly collapsed to the ground. Then a loud gasp rang out from the crowd as one by one five of her fellow band members then collapsed behind her. Parents and carers sprinted over to help and found the children either unresponsive or strangely dazed. Pulling them up, they carried them hurriedly to the St. John's Ambulance tent where water and first aid were swiftly administered. Tight fitting uniforms were loosened and the children cooled down as best as possible. Before long they'd all come round having seemingly just collapsed from heat exhaustion from having been kept standing to attention for over an hour, then performing an energetic routine under the blazing sun. But then more children started to collapse. Foreign. Coding is everywhere right now, but it's not just for apps anymore. Now it's making its way into website creation. WIX has introduced WIX Harmony, a vibe coder for websites that lets you type what you want and generate a site ready to use right away, complete with forms, payments, security and more built in. And WIX Harmony doesn't require AI for everything you can. You can still click and edit anything manually or select an element and have Aria, your AI agent make the updates for you. It's a smart solution to the frustration of repeatedly prompting AI just to make small changes. Try it for [e-mail] Harmony that's Wix W I X.com Harmony.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called hey Jonas.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

We invented a podcast with.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

Well, we didn't invent it, we. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts pretty. Yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts starting a trend, but this one's extra special.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

So how did we.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

How do we actually come up with the name hey Jonas? Guys, I honestly don't remember.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

I think it was on a call

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

about what we should call it and,

[Richard Maclean Smith]

well, we were thinking.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes, I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that. Guys, listen to hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

[Robert Smigel]

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letter help make you funnier this week. My guests, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

Where does your group perform?

[Robert Smigel]

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Renee Stubbs]

The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garros, every match, every upset and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chin, she won.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

I mean, she went down a three to Rybakina.

[Renee Stubbs]

But I'm delighted she's an outsider to win the French for me and she likes clay. Listen. Lena Rybakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and actually can win on any surface because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your courtside seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Podcast Announcer]

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart, Women's Sports.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

Photographer Neil Lancashire happened to set up his store close to the ambulance tent. He watched with alarm as one and then a second group of kids were stretchered in by St. John's Ambulance volunteers. Then he heard muttering among some of the spectators. Perhaps it wasn't exhaustion at all, they wondered, but food poisoning. Just then, as if echoing what the photographer had just heard, an announcement suddenly boomed from the tannoy system. Don't eat the ice cream. There may be a problem with the ice cream, it warned. No sooner had the announcement been made than another group of children in uniform keeled over. As parents and teachers swarmed around the fallen children, another tannoy announcement blared across the field. Don't eat the sweets either. There might be a problem with them too. Just then, on the far side of the field, another group of children collapsed. Following that, one of the food vendors wondered aloud if it might in fact be something to do with the water, provoking another urgent announcement over the Tannoy. Don't drink the water. There may be a problem with that too. And sure enough, another group of children collapsed, seemingly in response. Screams were heard as the crowd became ever more distressed, wondering who might be affected next. Neil, the photographer snatched up one of his cameras and started taking shots of the mayhem steadily unfolding around him. By then, so many children had collapsed there wasn't room for all of them in the first aid tent, so new patients were laid on the ground outside. But first responders had been so focused on the children no one had noticed that spectators were also now falling to the ground. Some started to complain of headaches and feeling pins and needles in their tongues and lips. Others clutched at their stomachs, feeling cramps. A man stumbled up to the ambulance volunteers complaining of weakness in his arms and legs. He said it felt as if they had no bones in them. Enid Holmes, the secretary of another marching band, tended to one of her troop. Pulling their jacket off, she was horrified to see strange blobs had appeared on their back and legs, which on closer inspection seemed to be water filled blisters. Later, other people would mention that their eyes and noses had begun to sting. Some complained of a bad taste in their mouths or a burning sensation at the back of their throats. A few people said that the grass looked dusty and in places appeared to have a weird blue colour. Then another tannoy announcement rang out. Stay off the grass. It's been sprayed with insecticide. Then another group of children collapsed and the event was hurriedly called off. As one paramedic and his partner raced towards the Hollinwell showgrounds in their ambulance, the radio squawked out an endless request for all hands to make their way to the annual show. Having assumed they were heading towards a major road traffic accident, they were surprised when they pulled onto Hollinwell Field and found something else entirely. It was like a surreal battleground with collapsed children dressed in bright military uniforms lying on the ground everywhere, surrounded by worried adults. When the paramedic stepped out of his ambulance, he noticed something else. A strong and peculiar odour in the air. Eight year old Claire Brown and her grandad watched, stunned as more and more ambulances came through the gate. It was only then that they and the people around them sensed the full seriousness of the situation. Then the police arrived too and began clearing the site. Sin Gari's bandleader, Judy Vaughan, rounded up what was left of her troupe and ushered them onto their coach. Elsewhere, club secretary Terry Bingham was driving six of them who'd all come down with various ailments to the local hospital. But as Terry drove, he started to feel unwell too, and a sharp pain began to spread across his chest as the Dzingari's coach pulled out onto the road. For a few minutes all seemed to be well with the remaining children. Then Judy heard crying coming from the back of the bus. Judy made her way down the aisle and soon found the sick girl lying across two seats. She had red, irritated eyes and said it was too sore to sit up. Then a cry came out from elsewhere on the bus from another girl with the exact same symptoms. In a panic, Judy immediately had the coach driver turn them around and drive them straight to the hospital. Once there, the various members of the Zingaris were examined by medical staff, but were all eventually discharged when doctors failed to establish any genuine cause of their symptoms. When 8 year old Clare Brown finally made it home with her grandad, she ran out to play in the back garden, having seemingly escaped any harm from the showground. It was a few hours later, as Claire played under the soft afternoon sun, that she found the light feeling suddenly too bright and the sound of the birds chirping in a nearby tree eerie and distorted. Claire staggered across the lawn and tottered unsteadily into the kitchen. Glancing up, her mother was aghast at what she saw. The little girl was swaying and foaming at the mouth, her eyes red, raw and streaming. Claire was rushed to hospital immediately, where she was kept in for the night for observation. By the end of that Strange Sunday, around 400 victims from Hollinwell Field had received medical attention. Due to the sheer numbers, every hospital in Nottinghamshire had ended up receiving affected people for observation and treatment. As police moved in to investigate, public health officials from Kirby and Asheville's District Council began taking samples of food and drink from all the stalls, as well as sampling the water, soil and grass. An official inquiry was immediately set up. Speculation about the cause of the incident was rife with theories ranging from the mundane to the extravagantly bizarre. Are. One contended that aliens had landed in the field next to the event causing the outbreak of an unknown illness. But no one had caught even the slightest glimpse of anything strange in the skies over Nottinghamshire, so that theory was soon replaced by another. For some time, it had been speculated that top secret weaponry involving the beaming of microwave radiation had been used by the government of the Soviet Union to covertly destabilise their opponents. After the incident at Hollinwell Field, some began to wonder if the UK had employed the exact same thing targeting the 1980s Summer Olympic Games, which were due to start six days later on July 19 in Moscow. The official inquiry certainly had its work cut out. There were a number of key facts that didn't seem to make any sense. Why did many of the victims collapse in a relatively small part of the field? And why did it happen to small groups of people, typically five or six at a time, rather than everyone at once? Why? Of the 193 hospitalised children from marching bands, were the overwhelming majority girls, 137 of them, while only 37 were boys. And what had caused nine patients, including two babies, to have symptoms so concerning they were detained in hospital for one or two nights? As it turned out, the symptoms and their timing were not consistent with food poisoning. The water from the single drinking pipe at the site was also found not to be contaminated, and very few children had drunk from it anyway. Perhaps the crowds at Hollinwell had somehow been exposed to a toxic chemical. Wondered some, but blood and urine taken from victims all tested negative for toxic substances. The only seemingly solid clue was that doctors noted a few patients did show symptoms of inhaling something toxic. Cingari's bandleader Judy Vaughan, noticed that the band's uniforms began to emit a very strong chemical odour when she washed them later that day. Despite leaving them soaking overnight and changing the water several times, the unpleasant chemical smell had not shifted. Not long after, Terry Bingham, the band's secretary, returned home complaining of a pain in his chest. He too was rushed off to hospital. After being examined by a doctor, he was given a sealed letter to take to his GP back at home. Irritated that they wouldn't tell him directly what it said, Terry is said to have steamed the letter open to read it for himself. He was horrified to discover the hospital's conclusion was that his symptoms were most likely the result of exposure to a poison. Vibe coding is everywhere right now, but it's not just for apps anymore. Now it's making its way into website creation. WIX has introduced WIX Harmony, a vibe coder for websites that lets you type what you want and generate a site ready to use right away, complete with forms, payments, security and more built in. And WIX Harmony doesn't require AI for everything. You can still click and edit anything manually or select an element and have Aria, your AI agent, make the updates for you. It's a smart solution to the frustration of repeatedly prompting AI just to make small changes. Try it for [e-mail] Harmony that's Wix W I X.com Harmony hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called hey Jonas.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

We invented a podcast.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

Well, we didn't invent it, we. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty. Yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts, but this one's extra special.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

So how did we.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

How do we actually come up with the name hey Jonas? Guys, I honestly don't remember.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

I think it was on a call

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

about what we should call it and.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

Well, we were thinking.

[Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, Nick)]

I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes, I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing a bit for the podcast. People could call in and say, hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that. Guys, listen to hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

[Robert Smigel]

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week. My guests SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Renee Stubbs]

The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garros, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chin, she won.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

I mean, she went down a three

[Renee Stubbs]

to Rybakina, but I'm delighted she's an outsider to win the French for me

[Richard Maclean Smith]

and she likes clay.

[Renee Stubbs]

Listen, Lena Rybakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and I actually win on any surface because if she's serving well, good luck. Consider this your courtside seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts presented by

[Podcast Announcer]

Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

[Richard Maclean Smith]

The possibility that people at the Hollinwell annual show had been exposed to some kind of chemical poison was on the minds of the official investigators too. On questioning the surrounding farmers, one was found to have sprayed his crops with the chemical Calixin, which contained the fungicide tridomorph. This fungicide has since been found to be so toxic when inhaled or ingested, with symptoms including skin and eye irritation. It was banned from use in the UK in 2000, but the spraying had been carried out three days before the event, several fields away from the Hollinwell site, and little to no evidence of tridomorph was found on the grass and soil samples. The next theory examined was whether a fire at a plastics factory some miles away had spread toxic fumes over the field. But again, that cause was ruled out too, since the wind had been blowing in the wrong direction at the time. Then another line of inquiry emerged. There are over 150,000 abandoned mines across the UK, and mine workings often extend for long distances underground and were not always properly mapped across England. It's said that more than 130,000 residential and commercial properties across England are within just 20 metres of an abandoned mine shaft. Often there are few, if any, signs at the surface that the old mine workings are present below. And Nottinghamshire was once a cornerstone of the British coal mining industry, with some of the nation's largest and most productive deep mined coal reserves carved out from underneath it. Once abandoned, underground mines can accumulate gases like methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide that can sometimes seep up from below. Residents in homes above such areas have reported experiencing headaches, breathlessness, dizziness, dry coughs and anxiety caused by rising gases. During the inquiry into what became known as the Hollinwell Incident, it was confirmed that there were Indeed, old mine workings underneath Hollinwell Field. Staff from the National Coal Board had even been at the site the week before the marching band competition. But yet again, investigators drew a blank. The Coal Board had merely been inspected, detecting a borehole that had been solidly capped and sealed before the workers left. In the end, incredibly, when the official report came out, it said that what had happened at Hollinwell was unrelated to any environmental hazard. Instead, it concluded something unexpected and highly controversial. That the event had been caused by massive hysteria due to a combination of the warm weather compounded by the hot and tight fitting costumes that many of the marching band children had been wearing. All of which had been exacerbated by the nervous excitement of participants and spectators and the alarming Tannoy announcements which had supposedly reinforced the panic. Unsurprisingly, the mass hysteria finding of the official Hollinwell report was not well received by many of the people who'd actually been there. Unexplained has covered strange stories of mass hysteria before, like the Dancing Plague of strasbourg in season eight, episode 27. But while that is thought to have been due to mass hysteria in motor behaviour, the Hollinwell incident was considered to be an outbreak of mass anxiety hysteria. Many might have heard of this type of outbreak happening at pop concerts, for example. It seems to happen most where there is a crowd of people in a state of nervous excitement combined with heat and long periods of waiting. Such cases are especially prevalent in groups of school children and factory workers, often with girls and women disproportionately affected. On average, 67% of victims report headaches. Around half feel dizzy, while nausea crops up 41% of the time and irritated eyes in 13% of cases. A mass hysteria event took place one October morning in 1965 at a girls school in Blackburn in northern England. Within a couple of hours, 85 girls from the school were rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital after fainting or becoming dizzy. Clinical and laboratory tests showed no evidence of food poisoning or air pollution. The day before the outbreak, the children had taken part in a three hour parade where 20 of them had seemingly collapsed. It was concluded that this, and along with the communal distress caused by a recent polio epidemic in the area, had combined to trigger the hysteria. Similarly, in 2009, there were a spate of what initially appeared to be poisonings at girls schools across Afghanistan, with dizziness, fainting and vomiting also recorded. But despite investigations by the United nations and the World Health Organization, no evidence of any toxins or poisoning was ever found. In the hundreds of blood, urine and water samples tested again, the conclusion was that the girls had experienced a mass psychogenic event. Some of the symptoms reported from the Hollinwell event did fit with the mass hysteria hypothesis, but not foaming at the mouth or skin blisters. Many who were at the Holland well showground were not convinced by the explanation. Why, they asked, would some children and adults not become afflicted until several hours after they had gone home? And how could babies get hysteria? There was even a report in the Fortean Times, the British magazine, reporting on strange phenomena and paranormal occurrences that several horses and dogs present at or near the event had also collapsed. With some voicing their concerns over the inquiry publicly, the area's local Member of Parliament at the time, Dennis Skinner, complained that the investigation had not been sufficiently thorough because it had only affected working class people who were also powerless to challenge it. The official report did concede that hospital tests on some patients showed slight evidence that a toxic substance had been inhaled or consumed. But what that toxin might have been was left unresolved and over time, the Hollinwell incident steadily vanished from news headlines and receded in the public consciousness. Then in 2022, a pair of reporters from BBC Radio Nottingham began to wonder whether there might have been another cause. Together they approached John Wright, a senior lecturer in Chemistry and Forensic science at Nottingham Trent University, and asked him to re evaluate the evidence from four decades ago in case a fresh perspective could shed new light on the puzzle. After sifting through all the available evidence, Wright concluded that the symptoms had to be due to some sort of chemical reaction. And there was one incredibly mundane, yet potentially lethal culprit connected to the on site toilets which had been given a cursory mention in the original report. In 2020, 34 year old Celia Seymour from Feltham in West London was reported to have died from a fatal asthma attack while cleaning her bathroom. It had been triggered by a gas that she unwittingly created after mixing large amounts of bleach and toilet cleaner together. Chemist John Wright had spotted that the original report on Hollinwell described how the toilet block consisted of six chemical closets along with the urinal which discharged into a pit close by. The report also noted that the toilets appeared to have been recently cleaned with an over liberal use of bleaching powder and a powerful disinfectant. A noxious aroma of chlorine and ammonia had also been reported emanating from the toilet block, which had only been 20 yards from where many of the children had been standing and performing. The forensic scientist suspected that the cleaning products intensified by the weather might have reacted to produce a cloud of near lethal chlorine gas, the very same dense, pale green gas used extensively as a chemical weapon in World War I. Symptoms of chlorine gas poisoning include coughing, nausea and watering eyes. If inhaled, it irritates the lungs, makes people foam at the mouth, and significant direct exposure can cause skin blisters. Claire Brown, for one, who was eight when she became a victim of the incident, has suffered a series of health problems over the years, including infertility, endometriosis, having to have a kidney removed, and breast cancer. She's pondered many times if any of it was related to that strange, Balmy Day in July 1980, or perhaps there hadn't been any type of poisoning at all. Certainly experts studying the nocebo effect, a kind of inverse of the placebo effect, in which the suggestion of illness alone can cause real physical symptoms, as explored in season seven, episode 23, the Bok, might beg to differ either way. 45 years after the event, it seems the true cause of the Hollingwell incident is destined to remain stubbornly unexplained. This episode was written by Diane Hope and Produced by Richard McCarthy. Thank you, as ever, for listening. Unexplained is an AV Club Productions podcast created by Richard Maclean Smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me, Richard McLean Smith. Unexplained, the book and audiobook, is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or a story of your own you'd like to share. You can find out more@ unexplainedpodcast.com and reach us online through X&BLUESKY@ unexplainedpod and [e-mail] unexplained podcast.

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