The Seattle windshield pitting epidemic is a phenomenon which affected Bellingham,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, and other communities of

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

in April, 1954; it is considered an example of a

mass delusion In sociology and psychology, mass hysteria is a phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, through a population and society as a result of rumors and fear.Bartholomew, Robert E. (2001). ''Little Green Me ...

. It was characterized by widespread observation of previously unnoticed

windshield The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

holes, pits and dings, leading residents to believe that a common causative agent was at work. It was originally thought to be the work of vandals, but the rate of pitting was so great that residents began to attribute it to everything from sand flea eggs to nuclear bomb testing. Originating in Bellingham in March, police initially believed the work to be vandals using

BB gun A BB gun is a type of air gun designed to shoot metallic spherical projectiles called BBs (not to be confused with similar-looking bearing balls), which are approximately the same size as BB-size lead birdshot used on shotguns ( in diameter ...

s. However the pitting was soon observed in the nearby towns of Sedro Woolley and

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

and by mid-April, appeared to have spread to the town of

Anacortes Anacortes ( ) is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is an adaptation of the name of Anne Curtis Bowman, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman.Jim Creek Naval Radio Station Jim Creek Naval Radio Station is a United States Navy very low frequency (VLF) radio transmitter facility at Jim Creek near Oso, Washington. The primary mission of this site is to communicate orders one-way to submarines of the Pacific fleet. ...

was producing waves that caused physical oscillations in glass; * Some believed it to be the work of

cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...

s; * Some reported seeing glass bubbles form right before their eyes, believing it to be the work of sand fleas. By April 15, close to 3,000 windshields had been reported as affected, which prompted mayor

Allan Pomeroy Merritt "Allan" Pomeroy – (1907-July 7, 1966) was the forty-third mayor of Seattle, Washington serving from June 1, 1952 to June 4, 1956. Early life Pomeroy was born in Astoria, Oregon, and later moved with his parents to the state of Washingt ...

to ask for help from Washington Governor

Arthur B. Langlie Arthur Bernard Langlie (July 25, 1900 – July 24, 1966) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Seattle, Washington and was the 12th and 14th governor of the U.S. state of Washington from 1941 to 1945 and 1949 to 1957. To date ...

and President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

. Finally, Sergeant Max Allison of the Seattle police crime laboratory stated that the pitting reports consisted of "5 per cent hoodlum-ism, and 95 per cent public hysteria." By April 17, the pitting suddenly stopped. The "Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic" as it is called has become a textbook case of collective

delusion A delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some o ...

(not "mass hysteria" as reported). Although natural windshield pitting had been going on for some time, it was only when the media called public attention to it that people actually looked at their windshields and saw damage they had never noticed before.

References

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External links

The story of the Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic
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Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...

'' coverage of th
Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic
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Seattle Met ''Seattle Metropolitan'', or ''Seattle Met'', is a monthly city magazine covering Seattle, Washington. Its first issue was published in March 2006, and features reporting and feature articles on Seattle events, politics, people, dining and restaura ...

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What Pitted Seattle's Glass?
20th century in Seattle April 1954 events in the United States Crowd psychology Mass psychogenic illness in the United States