I've been reading about the possible causes of the phenomena that was the moral panic of witchcraft and the occult. I'm primarily looking at European studies, though this may be applicable to the witch trials of North America also. Numerous scholars have suggested the contamination of ergot; a poisonous fungus that can grow on crops such as rye, millet and barley. If consumed, for example through loaves of bread, porridge or beer, you are afflicted with convulsive ergotism. Symptoms of ergotism include nausea, hallucinations, confusion, the feeling of insects under your skin, gangrenous limbs which fall off and death. These are all very similar to many symptoms of 'bewitchment' in records from witch trials. Some investigations in Norwegian witch trials even sourced 'bewitchment' back to flour-based items.

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Okay so, this seems plausible enough, though I wonder why it happens in this time frame? We have had crops of rye and millet for hundreds of years prior to these events. As far as I know, the scale and method of farming is unrelated to the growth of the fungus ergot, but it's dependant on climate; ergot thrives in cold, damp conditions. The Little Ice Age (1300s to 1700s) neatly coincides with the first recorded witch trial in Europe (Alice Kyteler in 1324) until the decline in the 1600s/1700s. There have certainly been theories of climate-driven witch hunting, though they primarily focused on devastating natural events in which people chose to blame witches for all their woes.

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So my queries are:

What were the effects of the Little Ice Age on crop production and quality? Would this at all influence the growth of fungi such as ergot? (I really hope there's some historical climatologists about...)

Is this a likely explanation at all? Especially considering the geographic scope, i.e. Scandinavia and Italy have very different climates but both engaged in witch hunting.

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Thank you and apologies if this was a bit of convoluted question!