**Examining the ability of the media to whip up a panic and our tendency to fall victim to mass delusion and hysteria. **This title discusses America's 'kissing bug' scare of 1899; Seattle's atomic fallout fiasco of 1954; the phantom slasher of Taipei in 1956; Belgium's recent Coca-Cola poisoning scare and the 'mad gasser' of Mattoon, and more.