The Salem Witch Trials and the French Meowing Nuns are both mass hysteria's that their actions were supposedly encouraged by the devil. The people in the Salem Witch trials convinced themselves they were doing a good thing by ridding Salem of witchcraft. The nuns were different, by meowing they were getting attention; although the reason why it all started is unknown, they were obviously looking for attention because they stopped when they were threatened to be whipped. Mass hysteria typically begins when an individual becomes ill or hysterical during a period of stress, like Betty when she passed out in the woods. After this initial individual shows symptoms, others begin to manifest similar symptoms causing the individuals around them to become very scared and possibly delusional. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams is a very powerful person. Whatever she wants, she gets. She says "I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" She confesses to consorting with the Devil, which, according to the theology of Salem, means that she is redeemed and free from guilt. Then, as the next step in absolving herself of sin, she accuses others of being witches, thus shifting the burden of shame from her shoulders to those she names. Seeing Abigail’s success, the other girls follow her ways becoming her "possy", and with this pattern of hysterical, self-serving accusations, the witch trials get underway. Similar to the Salem Witch Trials, the Meowing Nuns started with one nun and then more and more started joining until they would all be meowing at the same time for hours, this put the neighbors into panic mode and called special soldier units in. Nobody was ever hurt though. Both examples have the same plot line.

http://ragingbull.com/forum/topic/416799

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