On September 29, 1982, seven people ingested poisoned Tylenol pills. All seven soon collapsed and died shortly after. The victims were: Mary Kellerman (age 12), Mary Reiner (age 27), Mary McFarland (age 31), Paula Prince (age 35), Adam Janus (age 27), Stanley Janus (age 25), and Theresa Janus (age 19). The last three victims were all family members. Adam Janus was the first of his family to collapse, and he was then rushed to the hospital only to die hours later. After his death, his family returned home to mourn. Stanley and his wife, Theresa, both then ingested Tylenol which resulted in their deaths as well. This rose red flags for the authorities, as there were three deaths on the same day in the same family. Investigators later concluded that they all died in the same house and that they had all taken Tylenol from the same bottle. An investigator named Nick Pishos compared Mary Kellerman’s bottle of Tylenol to the Janus’ bottle and discovered that they had the same control number, MC2880. News of the poisoning spread rapidly throughout Chicago and the rest of the country sparking a mass hysteria.
A deputy medical examiner, Edmund Donoghue, described the bottle as smelling like almonds. A physical characteristic of the deadly poison cyanide is the smell of bitter almonds. Exposure to even a little bit of cyanide can lead to respiratory failure, seizures, and heart problems like cardiac arrest(Center for Disease Control). Potassium cyanide is able to stop the body from functioning properly, “cyanide prevents cells from using oxygen to make energy molecules. It acts as an irreversible enzyme inhibitor”(Helmenstine).
The dosage that was found in the blood of the victims was 100 to 1,000 times the lethal amount of potassium cyanide. The poisoning was so intense that some died within minutes. McFarland’s brother states,”She went in the back room and took I don’t know how many Tylenol—at least one, obviously—and within minutes she was on the floor” (McFarland). The authorities were convinced that a dose of this magnitude had to have been a result of an intentional poisoning. As soon as people heard about the first killings they started to get scared because the cause of their deaths was unknown and people were just falling dead. No average citizen was informed exactly of the assumptions that authorities were making, this caused fear because it leads to people thinking it could be anything that was ending the innocent people’s lives.
Mr. Donoghue talked with an attorney working for Johnson and Johnson, the manufacturer of Tylenol, and on October 1, 1982, he informed the attorney that they determined that the bottles were laced with potassium cyanide and the victims had been fatally poisoned. Meanwhile, official reports mingled with unsubstantiated rumor, innuendo, and blatant misinformation to further inflame Americans and exacerbated fears of poisoning. In response to national unease and fearing more deaths, Johnson and Johnson soon recalled all Tylenol products, recalling an unprecedented 31 million bottles across the nation.(Markel) People became paranoid because of all the recalled bottles, they started to question everything they put into their body. The fear of the unknown substances in objects they could not see scared them and created the paranoia that anyone would be the next to die. Johnson and Johnson decided to try and calm down the people by telling them to be cautious about what Tylenol then ingest.
The company also issued warnings about purchasing or using Tylenol capsules and offered to replace recalled bottles with new ones. Johnson and Johnson offered a $100,000 reward for any information pertaining to the tainted Tylenol. This reward may have been a shrewd public relations maneuver, but actually served to further agitate the hysteria, as false leads lead to still more confusion about the extent and nature of the poisoning. All of the accommodations and precautions cost the company over $100,000,000. Officially, by Tuesday, October 5, the FBI, US Attorney General, and some local authorities were all involved with the case. A local authority, Illinois State Attorney General Tyrone Fahner, commented early in the investigation that, “there were about 1,200 actual leads” (Fahner). Newspapers wrote over 100,000 separate articles about the poisonings. This began a nationwide, mass hysteria regarding Tylenol and product poisoning or tainting. Many believed that they had been poisoned and hospitals overflowed with potential cases. In the grips of national paranoia, poison control call centers fielded thousands of calls from people who thought they were poisoned and dying. The hysteria worsened and eventually, the Chicago Police Department sent mobile units throughout Chicago warning citizens about tainted Tylenol. Some feared needlessly that cyanide might be capable of poisoning them through the air.
As the hysteria grew, there were a series of copycat incidents that mimicked the Tylenol poisonings. Almost 270 copycat incidents occurred across the U.S. just in the month after the main Tylenol attack. Some of the copycat tamperings included people poisoning pills or products with rat poison or hydrochloric acid. Some copycats changed to food tampering. “It clearly has been inflated by the hysteria of consumers who blame any nausea or a headache on poisoned food and medicine” (The aftermath of the Tylenol poisonings).The copycat attacks increase the hysteria among the public because it informed them that danger never left and can attack them at any time. People continued to live in fear for themselves and their families. Because the cyanide attack could have affected anyone, everyone was considered a victim. This is installed a greater depth of hysteria because people questioned everything and were scared to enter public places because they did not know much about this mystery chemical. People lived in constant paranoia and fear, and the one place most people consider a safe place had been taken. Everyone was affected differently if it did not directly affect them, the people were paranoid that it could get them.
The police did not understand how each of the laced Tylenol bottles came from different stores and e different production plants yet still tainted. Authorities set up labs for testing the capsules in search of anymore poisoned pills. Out of the 10 million recalled pills, 50 pills were discovered that contain potassium cyanide. This was spread across eight bottles; out of the eight bottles, five belonged to the previous victims, two came from the recall and lastly one came from a shelf unsold. The police examined this bottle but there were no fingerprints or physical evidence left on the bottle. There is no evidence clearly showing who the killer is in the stores because in the 1980’s security camera were not used as much so authorities had to explore possible motives for the killings. One is that these killings were a white collar crime trying to take down the company Johnson and Johnson. The killings did have an effect on Johnson’s and Johnson’s stock of the nonprescription pain relieving market plummeted from 35% to 8%.
Investigators looked into all possible suspects including all employees who work or had worked was the infected Tylenol was sold. Criminals recently released from jail or psychiatric hospitals were questioned as well. All of the funerals were made public by authorities, as the police hoped that in doing so, the killer would show up to one. The process of infecting the Tylenol with potassium cyanide, then putting it back on the shelf the same day must have been close to when the bottles were purchased and later consumed. This is because the potassium cyanide would eat the pills due to the chemicals and their ability to react with certain objects. These discoveries led authorities to make a confident statement, stating that whoever did this did it in Chicago due to the shortened time span.
The police kept an eye on three people during the duration of the investigations. The first suspect was Roger Arnold a 48-year-old dock worker. He became a suspect because he said unusual things about the Tylenol killings at a bar one night. After police questioned him they searched him home, and in doing so they were able to find multiple connections to the case. Arnold was also responsible for the murder of John Stanisha. Second, Theodore J. Kaczynski “ the Unabomber”. He has had a history full of crime and felons. He sent bombs through the mail, in Chicago that ended up killing three and injuring 23. The third and prime suspect was James Lewis. Lewis sent a threatening letter to Johnson and Johnson in October 1982, where “he demanded $1 million “to stop the killings””(Brief history poisonings). Lewis also had a past with violence and crime, he was accused of killing a co-worker. These three men became known to the public eye instantly creating mass hysteria. People knew that terrible men existed, but when they were brought to the light of the public, people were able to see just have terrible these men’s’ actions were.
Part 2
Mass hysteria gains power and momentum by using those who are vulnerable and scared. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller, demonstrates the theme of mass hysteria through an account of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. The Crucible shows the effect mass hysteria on a vulnerable community and how powerful it can become. Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, and Tituba demonstrate how mass hysteria is used by opportunists to pick out the vulnerable ones in the community.
Abigail Williams is able to use hysteria to her advantage. As a leader in the group of girls that are accusing others of witchcraft, Abigail uses her power to attack others and take the blame off herself. Abigail intentionally exploits Tituba, her uncle’s slave, after Tituba confesses to witchcraft, “He say Mr. Parris must be kill! Mr. Parris no goodly man…You lie, Devil, you lie!” (Tituba Act 1 470-486). Abigail uses this as an advantage and says, “I danced for the Devil… I go back to Jesus” (45) Abigail uses this as an advantage because she mentions that others “danced with the Devil” and she was not the only one with Tituba. The creates mass hysteria once vulnerable people in the town hear about Abigail’s claim. Abigail uses Tituba status in society against her and also uses it to gain power herself. She also is able to overpower Mary Warren, who she manipulates with her temperament and power. Mary Warren tries to stand up against Abigail and explain that they were just having fun,“It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits” (100). Mary Warren was not able to convince authorities of their fun, instead everyone kept saying it was witchcraft. Abigail used Mary Warren’s low confidence to gain more power, by doing this she was able to be more persuasive to the authorities.The town continues to about the rumors about the witchcraft, leading to paranoia and eventually mass hysteria about who is a witch and who is not.
Miller creates mass hysteria in each character’s roles during the Trials. Abigail continually uses her power to accuse others of witchcraft in order to protect herself. Tituba’s social status as a slave means she is vulnerable because she does not have much power. She does not have power because slaves were seen as less than in the 1600’s. The only way Tituba knew how to salvage her life was by accusing others. Although, the effects of mass hysteria play a larger role as well. Following Tituba, like Mary Warren became overwhelmed by the suggestions and started to contribute. Just as in other mass hysterias, a momentum starts to build that becomes very difficult to stop. Finally, Arthur Miller shows that fear and speculation can cause people to believe anything they hear.