Arrest warrants for her and two other village women were soon issued as the illness spread among more young girls. And the Salem Witch Trial hysteria was underway.

CAUSES

The of the trials was based in hysteria. People did not understand what was wrong with the young girls who initially became ill and they became fearful as it spread that if it were not stopped everyone was doomed. This fear spurned a hysteria in which anyone who acted remotely different or non-sociable by society standards was accused of being a witch. At that time society had a fear of the devil and the devil's abilities that could overtaken common sense and did.

The trials and accusations were fueled by fear that the devil was behind the witch activity and he could wreak tragedy on the village if everything he touched was not destroyed.

The members of the village believed that certain symptoms pointed to witchcraft and they soon began seeing those symptoms in everything that happened because of their fear that it would taint them if it was not stopped (Causes for the Outbreak of Witchcraft Hysteria in Salem (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salemcauses.html).

The hysteria was fed and fueled by others in the...

It became an animal of its own volition and took on a life of its own until the Governor stepped in and ordered it to stop (CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS RELATING TO THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASAL_CH.HTM).Once that occurred the hysteria began to die quickly.
People who were in jail waiting for their trials were released. A last ditch effort to execute the pregnant defendants was also stopped by the governor. Immediately the people saw that nothing bad was happening even without killing the suspected witches and the town began to see the error of its ways. Massachusetts eventually apologized to the nation for the Salem With Trials and the families of those who were accused and had loved ones hanged were awarded more than 600 pounds each as restitution.

References

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS RELATING TO THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASAL_CH.htm

An Account of Events in Salem http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.htm

Causes for the Outbreak of Witchcraft Hysteria in Salem http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salemcauses.html