When in a group, people can make decisions that they would not make when they are alone. For example if you were with a group of friends and everyone was skateboarding, you would still skateboard because you would not want to be left out. The same concept is used when the boys first talked about the beast. At first when a littlin brought up the beast he was ignored but as time progressed the boys fear of the beast increased as sightings of the it became more frequent. This can be compared to the Crucible, when so many were being accused, the woman thought that