Villagers who fell asleep for days in Kazakhstan were being poisoned by a uranium mine

The mystery of the 'Village of the Damned' where a sleeping sickness causes people to fall unconscious for days, mild-mannered pensioners swear and men have unusually-high sex drives has been solved.

For three years people in the Kazakhstan village Kalachi – nicknamed 'Sleepy Hollow' – have been puzzled as they fall asleep for two days at a time.

Bizarre hallucinations, especially children, led one girl to see an elephant trunk on her mother and a boy imagine horses and light bulbs flying around his head.

Men there wake up after between 12 hours and six days' sleep craving sex, walking around with erections – and causing nurses to 'blush'. This constant state of arousal can last for up to a month.

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