Mass Delusions, Hysteria, and Smells

There is currently a huge mass delusion among the FaceBook community, where over one million people have professed that they are "interested" in storming Area 51. Though many participants are probably just trolling, there is believed to be aliens (yes, the kind from outer space) being held by the US government in the military installation in Nevada. Of course, there is no real basis for these claims other than the fact that the facility is shrouded in mystery and that some odd things have happened in the area. 

Here is a Time article about Area 51 and the current social movement.

In my personal experience, smell is quite possibly the most powerful influence on my emotions; a contender with hearing. My sense of smell has brought me intense feelings of nostalgia, one of the most memorable being the smell of the military base in Spain that I was deployed to for several months. Years after returning to the US, I picked up a scent almost identical to what I experienced everyday in Spain, and it summoned images, sounds, bits of memories, and emotions from that time in my life. It also boosted my mood and made me miss it there. This is what I think makes aromatherapy easy to believe in. We associate certain smells, sounds, and images with certain memories, and if you always use essential oils, you are bound to create good memories and therefore good associations with essential oils.