The salem witch trials and mass hysteria

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 …

…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.