Salem Witch Trials: Social Media Analysis

Mass madness, also known as mass hysteria, has occurred for centuries around the world. One of the most famous cases in the history of mass hysteria is the Salem Witch Trials. Interestingly, there was another outbreak of mass hysteria in the same town, now known as Danvers, Massachusetts instead of Salem Village, in 2013. Instead of accusing community members of witchcraft, a group of teenagers at the Essex Agricultural and Technical School reported inexplicable symptoms such as uncontrollable vocal tics. The Massachusetts State Health Department ruled out that there was any physical cause for the epidemic. The outbreak soon subsided. Though it has not officially been diagnosed as a mass psychogenic illness, a form of mass hysteria, it is highly speculated. Other than this incident, there have been other
Whereas, before the advent social media, mass hysteria could only be spread person-to-person or from one community to a nearby community, social media introduces mass hysteria to others who would have otherwise never encountered the original source. Additionally, fear and anxiety are known to trigger cases of mass hysteria; social media shares fearful news stories and political anxieties to the masses, thus increasing the risk for mass hysteria to develop and spread. To support the claim that social media influences the spread of mass hysteria, the case in Le Roy, New York is noted. A group of teenaged girls developed strange Tourette’s-like symptoms with no known cause in Le Roy in 2011. A nurse in Le Roy, who had never met the girls, also developed symptoms after discovering the outbreak on social media. Medical professionals found that there was no evidence of biological or environmental factors causing the woman’s and girls’ symptoms, and concluded that this was a case of mass