mass' hyste'ria Psychol. a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness. In 1692, Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) was the scene of a moral panic that spread throughout the region and involved witchcraft accusations which led to trials, torture, imprisonment, and executions. Mass hysteria is characterized by the rapid spread of conversion disorder, a condition involving the appearance of bodily complaints for which …showed first 75 words of 1311 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1311 total…girls were affected with mass hysteria but instead it became a mass lie that killed innocent people. I think hysteria is a real physical and psychological sickness that can come over some under stress and could have been easily faked back in the 1600's because of their lack of medical evidence. But I do believe that "hysteria" came over the villagers because of their fear of real witchcraft and out of vengeance to their enemies.