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A stampede () is a situation in which a group of large suddenly start running in the same direction, especially because they are excited or frightened. Although the term is most often applied to animals, there are cases of humans stampeding from danger too.
Cattle herds tended to be nervous, and any unusual occurrence, particularly a sudden or unexpected noise, could scare the cattle and kick off a stampede. Things such as a gunshot, a lightning strike, a clap of thunder, someone jumping off a horse, a horse shaking itself, or even a tumbleweed being blown into the herd have been known to cause stampedes.Fay E. Ward, The cowboy at work, Courier Dover Publications, 2003, p. 28
One method used for stopping a stampede is to turn the moving herd into itself so that it runs in wide circles, rather than running off a cliff or into a river. The circle can be made smaller and smaller, eventually forcing the herd to slow down due to lack of space in which to run. Tactics used to make the herd turn into itself include firing a pistol, which creates noise to make the leaders of the stampede turn.
Animals who stampede, especially cattle, are less likely to do so after having eaten and watered, and if they are spread out in smaller groups to digest. To further reduce the risk of stampedes, cowboys sometimes sing or whistle to calm the herds disquieted by nightfall. Those on watch at night avoid doing things which could startle the herd and even distance themselves before dismounting a horse or lighting a match.Fay E. Ward, The cowboy at work, Courier Dover Publications, 2003, p. 31
Sometimes humans purposefully induce stampedes, such as some Native Americans who were reported to provoke American bison herds to stampede off a buffalo jump, harvestimg the animals after they are killed or incapacitated by the fall. A Buffalo Jump , Discovering Clark and Lewis, The Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation
Human stampedes are rare, and the term "stampede" is often misapplied to phenomena such as crowd collapses and crushes, which are responsible for the majority of fatalities in crowd-related disasters. One prominent difference between the two is that people stampeding have space to run from the danger, whereas people in a crowd crush have nowhere to go. However, there has been little research conducted into what happens during a human stampede, or what exactly causes them to start.
While media and popular culture depictions tend to exaggerate dangers associated with stampedes, and popular news reports of such instances often mention "panic", actual instances of mass panic are rare, and panic itself is rarely the cause of fatalities in such events.
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