Over a week-long period almost 62 years, the peaceful existence of the little Provençal town of Pont-Saint-Esprit in the Gard department was shattered by a catastrophic series of events where the entire settlement seemed to be overcome by insanity.

The final tally was a grim: 5 people dead and more than 30 hospitalised, with over 300 sick people. What started as a seemingly normal but severe series of cases of mass food poisoning ended a few days later with a night of pure madness and scenes of hallucination.