Sounds like somebody released some kind of chemical irritant in the crowd.
A friend was in a small coffee shop near a university, where a lot of people were sitting working on their computers. Suddenly, someone’s pepper spray went off accidently when they reached for their wallet to pay their check. Everyone had to scramble out of there. Could this be what happened?
Bear spray? Chlorine gas?
Either that or mass hysteria by suggestion. Unless the doctor diagnosis of chem8cal burns is real and no hoax.
We used to be able to make our park manager get ill by simply having one or two staffers mention their stomachs were upset, or by faking a little sneezing and coughing. Within 2 hrs he would go home sick with whatever symptoms we invented.
It became regular dare for a while until we realized he really couldn’t help but work himself into an anxiety attack over his belief he had been exposed to something.
There is a certain percentage of the population that are highly susceptible to suggestion, and they just can’t help it. Mass hysteria is a thing. All it would take to unhinge some people is a bottle or two of essential oils and some suggestive comments.
Maybe radiation burns.??