Over the past week, social media has been buzzing with reports of a mysterious fog that has enveloped large swathes of the United States, sparking concern that it may be part of a terrorist plot or government experiment. An array of illnesses have been linked to the fog, which has triggered an avalanche of conspiracy theories on TikTok, X, and other social media platforms.
The scare began during the last week of the year and “blew up” on social media on December 29, when a flurry of postings appeared. Many people claimed that they could detect a chemical-like odor and that it coincided with flu-like symptoms.
Other witnesses said they had had trouble breathing. A Florida woman reported that after she encountered “the fog,” she began sneezing and soon felt feverish and had stomach cramps, and her eyes became puffy. Some people have dubbed their symptoms “Fogvid” after Covid. A family in Colorado who had been experiencing sore throats, lethargy, and stomach upset initially thought they had food poisoning, but after seeing the many posts they became suspicious that the fog was responsible for their symptoms.
After the swarm of postings, people in Canada and the United Kingdom soon reported similar experiences after an eerie fog set in where they were. Several posts drew a connection with the recent spate of drone sightings in the U.S., with some suggesting that the machines may be dispensing chemicals into the atmosphere.
A resident of St. Petersburg, Florida, said the fog left a “toxic” taste in his mouth that he described as “super weird.” Others said its appearance coincided with odd behaviors by their pets. A woman in Texas posted that her dog began acting strangely after being let outside and that it kept sniffing the air. She also said her eyes began burning and she experienced a headache and stomach pain.
Some of the media headlines appeared ominous. The Daily Mail proclaimed: “Mystery as Thick Fog Sweeps the US with Reports of ‘Burning Chemical Smell’ in the air.” YouTube also perpetuated the scare with alarming videos, such as one from Tampa, Florida, which read: “Alert!! Strange Fog!! 4 days!! Weird Chemical Smell Sticky Particles.”
Some media outlets such as The Economic Times contributed to the scare by reporting that “no official explanations have been provided.” One man posted, “This fog isn’t natural…there’s something off about it. Too dense. Too controlled. I’ve seen enough to recognize patterns, and this feels engineered.”
It may be no coincidence that the appearance of the “mystery fog” coincided with the National Weather Service issuing heavy fog advisories in several states across the country. Much of what is being reported appears to be advection fog, which is common over parts of the U.S. during winter. It forms when warm, moist air “advects,” or moves horizontally, over a cooler surface such as snow, ground, or a body of water. As the air cools and reaches its dew point, thick fog can result. It is well-known that water droplets in fog can trap air pollutants, giving it a chemical smell.
A Social Panic
While some nefarious agent may be lacing fog with chemicals intent on making Americans sick, a far more likely explanation is that fog is trapping air pollution—something that has been happening ever since humans began the industrial age. So why haven’t similar outbreaks been reported in the past?
There have been occasional scares involving the appearance of mysterious fog, but national panics are rare. Anxieties surrounding odorous fog have only become a major concern with the rise of social media, coupled with fears over terrorist attacks in the United States.
In this regard, “The Fog” reflects our anxious age where one social media posting can act like a match and spread fear that can have repercussions around the world.
The Recipe for a Fog Scare
The recipe for these panics starts with someone posting something on social media—such as the presence of an odd-smelling fog. People begin to scrutinize their environment to confirm or deny the story.
It is not uncommon for dense fog to have an odor attached to it, and ordinarily, most people would not pay much attention. But in the wake of the social media posting, they too post about a strange fog in their area—which in turn prompts more people to pay more attention to their surroundings, and before long you have hundreds or thousands of people posting about a strange fog.
This is a classic setup for mass sightings of everything from drones to Bigfoot. A key element is that ordinarily, most people pay little attention to their surroundings, but once someone draws attention to it, they begin to monitor it more closely than they typically do.
As for the various health complaints that have been attributed to the fog? In certain people, suspended pollutants can cause respiratory problems and eye irritation, and they can even exacerbate cardiovascular issues, but such pollutants are not associated with many of the other complaints that have been reported. Of course, in any given population, people have health problems. And as for the woman’s dog sniffing the fog? Well, dogs often sniff the air.
This case is reminiscent of the famous Seattle windshield pitting scare of 1954. At the time, the U.S. was conducting atomic bomb testing in the Pacific and there was concern that fallout could be carried to different parts of the world.
People living in the vicinity of Seattle, Washington, began to report mysterious pit marks on their windshields, which were reported in the media. Before long, thousands of people were reporting tiny pit marks on their windshields.
Alarmed by the sudden appearance of these marks, the Washington State governor declared an emergency and contacted President Dwight Eisenhower, who sent specialists to assist in the probe. They eventually concluded that the pit marks had always been on the windshields and that most people didn’t notice, but with all the publicity about atomic fallout, people began looking at their windshields instead of through them.
Whether it’s windshields, fog, or Bigfoot, the process is remarkably similar.