Case file · High strangeness
The sleeping sickness of Kalachi
From March 2013 villagers in Kalachi, northern Kazakhstan, began falling asleep without warning, sometimes for days; about 140 people were affected.
2013 CE · 52.25, 66.53 · status: explained
The account
Victims woke with memory loss and hallucinations. Theories included radiation from the nearby Soviet uranium mine, mass hysteria and secret weapons. Much of the village was resettled in 2015.
The sceptical view
Investigators concluded that carbon monoxide and other gases escaping from the abandoned mine lowered oxygen levels in the air.