The morning of January 12, 1888 was surprisingly warm in The Great Plains. The mercury rose above the freezing mark, melted ice dripped from roofs, and children left their heavy coats at home on their way to school. Across the region, people used the warm day to run errands or work outside.
Thousands of people were caught unaware when a fierce blizzard suddenly transpired. Temperatures plummeted as low as negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and intense snow blinded those stranded outside. Hundreds of people died, including many children.
The historic storm, later called The Schoolhouse Blizzard, was a collective trauma in which communities across the region were stunned by the storm and left to grieve the loss of human and animal life. It was the type of collective trauma that scientists know now can lead to special bonds among survivors.
Trauma and Collective Trauma
Trauma is based on an individual’s perception, and what one person finds traumatic might not be disturbing to another person, says Shanti Farrington, the co-author of The Psychology of Trauma, and a principal academic at Bournemouth University in England.
