People who experience catalepsy, a medical condition causing sudden muscle rigidity and loss of consciousness.
Plural of cataleptic (noun), from the Greek katalepsis. In medical terminology, the -ic suffix can denote a person afflicted with the condition, similar to how 'epileptic' refers to a person with epilepsy.
During the Victorian era, cataleptics became subjects of intense medical fascination and were sometimes displayed in public demonstrations, contributing to the public's fear of misdiagnosis and premature burial—a terror that inspired many Gothic novels.
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