Hundreds fell ill at a 1980 jazz event in Nottinghamshire. Cause remains unknown; mass hysteria or pesticides were blamed.
The incident happened on July 13, 1980, at a jazz band event in Kirkby-Ashfield. Local brass bands were linked to collieries then, and the showground’s name was Hollinwell. Witnesses now call this the Hollinwell Incident.
Clair Brown remembers it well; she was only seven at the time. She saw kids crying and fainting, so the carnival stopped. She felt very sick later, experiencing white foam from her mouth.
Her marching band leader told her mom to take her to the doctor’s house. The local Mansfield hospital had many sick kids, and some adults were on stretchers in corridors, overwhelming the hospital. Clair went to Chesterfield hospital, where they kept her overnight.
Neil Lancashire saw it all and didn’t think much of it at first. Then, someone said not to eat the ice cream, thinking it caused the fainting. Kids eating ice cream then fainted.
Next, they blamed the water, as people who drank it started fainting. Finally, they said the field got sprayed, and almost everyone then fell down.
Neil doubts the wilder theories, thinking it was mass hysteria. He did not see horses faint then. He touched the sprayed field himself and tasted nothing odd in the air.
People call this event “All Fall Down.” Neil took photos as press; people panicked and ran. His photos appeared worldwide, and he calls it his most memorable job.
Penny Morley was ten at the time and played in one of the jazz bands there. People fell like dead flies needing a hospital because they were so sick.
She felt stomach pains and then went to the hospital herself. She felt fine later after a few days and remembers people blaming food stalls. However, not everyone ate there. She recalled an odd onion-like taste in the air.
Joan Morley was there with her family too and noticed the grass had an odd blue tint, smelling like bleach. Three of her children felt sick there, and they all stayed in the hospital overnight.
Mostly children were affected, but Joan did see one adult get taken away. She still wonders now what really happened that day. A total of 259 casualties were rushed to four hospitals, and nine children stayed overnight.
Experts called it mass hysteria, saying it was rarer even than Beatlemania. Ashfield Council and police investigated, ruling out food poisoning and nerve gas. Mass hysteria was the official cause.
Ron Chamberlain agreed with the idea of mass hysteria and chaired the environmental health committee then. He said they did a full and proper investigation, and there was no real doubt in his mind.
Years later, a university looked at the event again. Dr. David Ray suggested a pesticide smell as a cause, the pesticide being tridemorph. It became banned in the UK in 2000.
Walking children may have stirred up the chemical later. The weather and lack of sleep could have helped hysteria. Panic could also have spread very quickly, and the smell may have triggered the reactions.