\n\nTue 16 Jan 2018 15.28 GMT\n\n\nLast modified on Tue 13 Mar 2018 18.21 GMT\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\n\nOliver McAfee: the Christian tourist disappeared into the Negev desert in November 2017 and has been missing since.\nPhotograph: @helpusfindollie\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The disappearance of Oliver McAfee, a 29-year-old British tourist<\/a> who was last seen in November, has raised the possibility that he may be suffering from a disorder known as Jerusalem syndrome<\/a>.\n McAfee had been cycling through the Negev desert in southern Israel, \nand a search was started after hikers found his wallet and laptop. The \nTelegraph reports that a trail of pages torn from the Bible were found<\/a>,\n along with notes McAfee had made, which led investigators to believe he\n had deliberately gone into the desert \u2013 there were references to the \nstory of Jesus going into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. It has \nbeen suggested that McAfee, reportedly a devout Christian, may have \ndeveloped Jerusalem syndrome, where people experience religious \ndelusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It used to be more common, with about 50 cases each year \u2013 enough for\n a psychiatric hospital in Jerusalem to become the designated treatment \ncentre for tourists, mostly Christian, in the grip of the condition. \nThere was a spike in reported cases in the run-up to the millennium, but\n in an interview in 2011<\/a>, a psychiatrist at the hospital reported seeing only two or three cases a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It has become a curiosity, played for laughs in an episode of the \nSimpsons (on holiday in Jerusalem, Homer becomes convinced he is the \nMessiah), but it is often disturbing and dangerous for those afflicted, \nmany of whom are hospitalised. In 1969, Denis Michael Rohan, an \nAustralian tourist, set fire to the al-Aqsa mosque, believing he was on a\n divine mission. His actions caused riots across the city. There have \nbeen men convinced they were Jesus or John the Baptist, and women \nbelieving they were the Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Oliver](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/ed56c3b97aeb47d2e8822735b7007ac79c889a2a\/0_244_612_367\/master\/612.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=631b4722817b4588c02f763de29e93ec\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/c3eb0166d2210e7d111cb9161ed095a2701fffe3\/139_57_1013_608\/master\/1013.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3b47ea8bb50ae544bb22193965e9bf69\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n \n \n British tourist missing in Israel may have Jerusalem syndrome\n <\/a>\n <\/h2>\n\n\n\n