Earlier this year I posted a piece on Virality called What Makes a Video Viral go Viral? It set out one of the ideas forwarded in the book concerning the spreading of phantoms. I borrowed some of this idea from an account Gustave Le Bon provides in The Crowd about a group of sailors misconstruing a branch and leaves for a distressed crew on another vessel they were approaching. In Virality Le Bon’s idea of a collective hallucination is given a decidedly Tarde/Deleuzian spin. I am pleased to see a wonderful example of the phantoms of contagion appearing in the north east reaches of my own county, Essex, here in the UK. The so-called Essex Lion, spotted and photographed near the seaside resort of Clacton is a collective hallucination exemplar. Glimpsed at first by a group of “terrified” tourists, who run for their lives shouting “it’s a fucking lion,” the phantom quickly spread to local and national media. Experts from the local zoo and police were mobilized. Stories of abandoned circus lions were rife.

There are now many funny and somewhat discourteous (to Essex people with big hair, that is) spoofs of the Essex Lion on the web.

Anyone interested in this example of phantom contagion should follow up on some of the national news stories associated with the Essex Lion.

Essex lion hunt brings bank holiday delirium to Clacton-on-Sea

Reported sighting sets off frenzied search amid torrent of rumours and doctored pics before police call off the chase

Essex ‘lion’ joins list of phantom British beasts

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