Originally posted by Blarneystoner
No... same symptoms do not always point to a single cause. Think about it.
I'm sorry, but you are kind of talking rubbish now, no offense intended.
In that kind of limited sample, 12 individuals presenting the same symptoms at roughly the same time clearly DOES indicate a common cause. To suggest
otherwise would be pure ignorance.
The mathematical probability of twelve students in that relatively small cluster of Humans developing similar tics at the same time without a common
cause must be astronomical.
As for what it could be, I have no idea. I don't buy the idea that there's any real conspiracy here. Humans are susceptible to suggestion, and a
clever student studying the mind could have exposed random people to a suggestion and successfully affected these students.
My first instinct would be to assume a psychological or subconscious cause, instigated by a student who has been playing around with subconscious
suggestion techniques.
I would be looking at who in the school has an interest in psychology, hypnosis, subconscious and people like Derren Brown. All it would take is for
someone to put a couple of signs up in the appropriate places to suggest something and those who are susceptible will succumb to it.