Pretty amazing a kid's prank can lead to this kind of power abuse.
Have you not been paying attention to Durham N.C.?
The Crucible.
Originally written by a communist (sympathizer?) in response to (incorrectly attributed) "McCarthyism", I always saw it as a warning against mass hysteria from deliberate propaganda based on lies.
Oh, look, a scorned girl! Guess the plausability of that was legitimate even back then.
Kind of like the aliens that shut off the power in the suburbs
and let the stupidest of the residents do the rest. (Twilight Zone?)