Mass hysteria as a phrase has described crowd panic for over a century, but this particular clip lives purely as internet shorthand for comic overreaction. With no single famous scene behind it, the sound spread the way most meme audio does: one editor used it to score a meltdown, others copied the timing, and the label stuck. Its six-second length makes it ideal for short-form video, where it now punctuates plot twists, fail compilations and exaggerated reaction edits across meme pages.