 He did not mention modern explanations – the distress of tailors and shoemakers following the bad harvests of 1741, the tradition of Holy Fairs, the growing interest in Calvinist theology among many people, especially weavers (who read at their looms), including the country wide interest in what was happening in New England.Instead, he argues that this striking event was either natural or supernatural.If it had been natural (and he seems to suspect it was) he thinks it was caused by ""sympathy and example"" or what would be known today as "mass hysteria".