# The Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic Of 1954 **URL:** \ **Category:** Lounge\ **Created:** [October 27, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-seattle-windshield-pitting-epidemic-of-1954/797 "2006-10-27T23:23:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mtnjim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/mtnjim/32/2010_2.png) [@Mtnjim](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Mtnjim)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-seattle-windshield-pitting-epidemic-of-1954/797/1 "2006-10-27T23:23:55Z")
The Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic Of 1954 Have you ever heard of the Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic of 1954? When thousands of cases of mysterious small holes in car windshields began being reported in Washington State? "On April 15, 1954, Bellingham, Seattle and other Washington communities are in the grip of a strange phenomenon – tiny holes, pits, and dings have seemingly appeared in the windshields of cars at an unprecedented rate. Initially thought to be the work of vandals, the pitting rate grows so quickly that panicked residents soon suspect everything from cosmic rays to sand-flea eggs to fallout from H-bomb tests. By the next day, pleas are sent to government officials asking for help in solving what would become known as the Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic. " Tiny windshield holes were first noticed in Bellingham, Washington. Soon residents 25 miles south of Bellingham began reporting the same phenomenon. Police set up roadblocks believing hoodlums were involved, but none were ever caught. It continued to spread, reaching a Marine camp, prompting 75 marines to make an intensive 5 hour search for the culprits, but to no avail. As it appeared to approach Seattle, after more than 2,000 reports to police from other areas, the city of Seattle went into a panic. This was apparently not the work of vandals after all. But nobody could explain it. “…On the morning of April 14, 1954, Seattle newspaper subscribers read frontpage reports of the events that had transpired to the north. The afternoon papers carried similar stories. At 6 p.m. a report came in to Seattle police that three cars had been damaged in a lot at 6th Avenue and John Street. At 9 p.m., a motorist reported that his windshield had been hit at N 82nd Street and Greenwood Avenue. Then the floodgates opened.” “Motorists began stopping police cars on the street to report windshield damage. Parking lots and auto sales lots north of downtown were hit, as well as parked cars as far west as Ballard. Even police cars parked in front of precinct stations suffered damage. Extra clerks were brought into the stations to answer the flurry of calls from angry and perplexed car owners. By the next morning, windshield pitting had reached epidemic levels.” The sheriff’s office stated that “no human agency” could have created the scars left on the glass. There were all sorts of theories from the Navy’s new million-watt radio transmitter to cosmic rays to supersonic sound waves to nuclear fallout. Some people suspected sand fleas were somehow laying eggs in the glass because some people said they could actually see the glass bubble up right before their eyes. In all, some 3,000 windshields in Seattle were reported to police as having been damaged. Here comes the science. University of Washington scientists (from the "environmental research laboratory, the applied physics laboratory, and the chemistry, physics, and meteorology departments) did a quick survey of 84 cars on the campus. They found the damage to be “overly emphasized,” and most likely “the result of normal driving conditions in which small objects strike the windshields of cars.” The fact that most cars were pitted in the front and not the back lent credence to their theory. “Further investigation by the City of Seattle Police Department showed that most dings pitted older car windshields. In cases where auto lots were involved, brand new cars were unpitted, whereas used older cars showed signs of pitting. Police found rare instances of “copycat” vandalism, but most of the cases had a simple explanation: The pits had been there all along, but no one had noticed them until now.” “Sergeant Max Allison of the Seattle police crime laboratory declared that all of the damage reports were composed of “5 per cent hoodlum-ism, and 95 per cent public hysteria.” Puget Sound residents had unwittingly become participants in a textbook example of collective delusion. By April 17, 1954, pitting incidents abruptly ceased.” “The Seattle pitting incident contains many key factors that play a part in collective delusion. These include ambiguity, the spread of rumors and false but plausible beliefs, mass media influence, recent geo-political events, and the reinforcement of false beliefs by authority figures (in this case, the police, military, and political figures).” " This combination of factors, added to the simple fact that for the first time people actually looked “at” their windshields instead of “through” them, caused the hubbub. No vandals. No atomic fallout. No sand-fleas. No cosmic rays. No electronic oscillations. Just a bunch of window dings that were there from the start. " ---
**Author:** ![Rbt](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/rbt/32/2066_2.png) [@Rbt](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Rbt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-seattle-windshield-pitting-epidemic-of-1954/797/2 "2006-10-28T22:38:53Z")
Okay, I now have proof I need new glasses. I first read the title as "The Seattle Windshield **Spitting** Epidemic… Conjured up a rather unpleasant and icky image… Sorta akin to some unwashed individual approaching cars stopped at intersections with dirty washrag and squeegee in hand and laying one on the window “Hey ya wan me to clean that? $5”. ---
**Author:** ![sigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@sigma](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/sigma)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-seattle-windshield-pitting-epidemic-of-1954/797/3 "2006-11-01T17:24:56Z")
The power of suggestion is a crazy thing. Sure does apply to the world of [pheromones](https://a314.com/) I think ---
**Author:** ![Mtnjim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/mtnjim/32/2010_2.png) [@Mtnjim](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Mtnjim)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-seattle-windshield-pitting-epidemic-of-1954/797/4 "2006-11-01T18:15:09Z")
> [@sigma](#): > > The power of suggestion is a crazy thing. Sure does apply to the world of pheromones I think Cool!!🆒 Someone got the point of my posting it!!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Strongwilled08](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/strongwilled08/32/251_2.png) [@Strongwilled08](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Strongwilled08)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-seattle-windshield-pitting-epidemic-of-1954/797/5 "2006-12-30T22:07:54Z")
😮 LOL, I have never heard of it before and I live here. Pretty neat stuff