Causes Of The Salem Witch Trials

It only takes one word to ruin a person’s life. In Salem, Massachusetts,1692, there were mass amounts of witch hunts leading to dozens of executions. Social class tensions, intense religious beliefs and political approach led to the production of the Salem Witch Trials.

In 1692 the Puritans, colonists that believed in the bible, settled in America. They believed in witchcraft, and believed that people who study it should be executed. This led to many people being accused and executed. What made the Salem witch trials of 1692 such a threat and fear to the people of Massachusetts? The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 was caused by the fear of being possessed by the devil, by the fear of being accused and what your consequences would be, and lastly the belief of people being witches which was a crime worthy of death.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of prosecutions of people who were accused of acts of witchcraft or of being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts through the time period of February 1692 through May 1693. This was a dark time in history as more than 200 prosecutions took place and at least 20 people were killed during this time of fear and hysteria. The accusations began as three girls Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne were accused of witchcraft from other young girls in the community. During this time period, fear of the Devil was common as people in Salem were very devoted to their religion and religious practices. As one of the accused girls, Tituba, confessed to working for the Devil and admitting to being a witch, this caused panic and hysteria as a massive witch hunt took place to find more of these witches. This confession was the main reason behind months and months of fear and mass panic as it triggered more accusations.

People a long time ago believed that the Satan could give some demon possessed people the power to harm others. That became the start of the Witchcraft. Because of the belief that witches are inside the society, many women were executed as if they were the witches. In 1689, English started a war with France in the American colonies. This war made the life of the American colonists more strained and harsh. Also, the conflicts between the merchants and the farmers, the Salem Town, and the Salem Village, got bigger. The Puritans in the village thought that all this hardness was because of the work of the Devil and led to the Salem Witch Trials. The Witch Trials had occurred because of the beliefs but also because of the low status of women. Also,

What caused the Salem Witch Trials? Why was everyone so onto it, and wanting to kill someone because they do not believe in the religion Salem, Massachusetts wants a “Witch” to believe in just ‘Christianity,’ even though the villagers wanted to set their own rules, and believe in whatever they can. The Puritans had a governor in which the town of Plymouth had no Charter, nor laws to be enforced. But why come to this, why focus on Witchcraft, when you have other things to pay attention on - Smallpox, and being under attack with the French, and Native American People.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were considered to be a dark and difficult time in American history. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 19 were killed during the time of the trials.The Salem Witch Trials were a series of witchcraft cases brought before local magistrates in the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 17th century. The Salem Witch Trials officially began in February of 1692, when girls accused the first three victims, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, of witchcraft and ended in May of 1693, when the remaining victims were released from jail.

It all began in 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, a Puritan town. Ironically, this supposed religious town, put 20 people to death for witchcraft. The invisible crime had made itself prevalent in the town through two girls, Betty Parris, age nine, and her 11 year old cousin Abigail Williams. These two girls, in order to escape punishment for witchcraft, accused two local white women and the slave Tituba (What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692?, Background Essay). It was this first accusation, that set forth the next turn of events. From here, the number of accusers grew. Suddenly, everyone’s neighbors became witches and the jails began to overflow. A special court was built to hold trials, however, the judicial system was biased along with the rest of the town. They allowed their set religious beliefs interfere with logical reasoning and evidence. Hence, the bias. The court proved all for not though, when it ordered a mass hanging on September 22, ending the witchcraft epidemic in Salem. To this day, historians still don’t fully understand what caused the hysteria in Salem. Thus, it could only be theorized the causes of such an event. Taking a gander at probability, the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were likely rooted in scapegoating, greed, and bias.

One of the earliest witch hunts in America happened thirty years before the Salem Witch Trials. This witch hunt swept through another colonial New England town in Hartford Connecticut in 1662. In March of 1662 parents John and Bethia Kelly’s 8 year old daughter passed due to an unknown sickness. Their daughter Elizabeth was fine just days before when she came back from a neighbor's house. Looking for any explanation to why this happened to them the mother saw the devils work. John and Bethia were convinced that their daughter was possessed by the neighbor Goody Ayres. The parents testified that Elizabeth became sick after she returned from the neighbor and called out to the father that Goody Ayres was upon her and choked her. After the death of little Elizabeth, accusations of bewitchment grew and fingers were pointed throughout the town. Hysteria grew throughout Hartford, a town where a generation had before witnessed the first witch execution.

During the late 17th century, a storm of mass hysteria and panic fell upon the small town of Salem Village, Massachusetts. A group of young girls became afflicted with fits and when they were diagnosed of being bewitched, it shook the town. The girls started flinging accusations at local women for witchcraft, claiming the fits were due to being possessed by the devil. This was the start of the infamous Salem Witch Trials and the end of several innocent lives.

The Salem Witch Trials in New England comprised the largest outbreak of witchcraft panic in American history. Historians and scientists have contributed the accusations of witchcraft in the early 1690’s to everything, from disease, religious and political agendas, to harsh weather. It is believed that a better understanding of the cause of the atrocities in Salem, and those like it, may prevent such events from reoccurring. Despite many years of study, however, what caused such panic in New England and the subsequent bizarre accusations against over a hundred and fifty people remains largely speculative.

I believe that the girls were playing a game but then it got too out of hand and they didn’t want to come forth because they got scared that they might get in trouble for joking around and got so many people killed. Now I think that them being actual witches is least likely because in my opinion there is no such thing is magic like that now I do believe that wiccans are true to a point but I don’t think that you can bewitch someone. Now the things that lead to the Salem Witch Trials is that there was a constant threat of Indians attacking, disease that were plaguing the colonists, the fact that the Puritans believed that Satan or Lucifer recruited witches, warlocks, wizards, smallpox, and even people who were admitting that they were witches.

In today's world, no other colonial American event intrigues audiences more than the Salem Witch Trials. Most of this intrigue results from the lack of information regarding the accused witches, the “bewitchment” of the girls, and the judges who controversially sentenced the witches to death without sufficient evidence. The mass paranoia resulting from the accusations of witchcraft is something that has haunted the region ever since the trials ended in 1693. Overall, the three main groups involved in this important colonial event were the accused, the accusers, and the judges.

In the year (1692) witch trials held the Salem area hostage people were terrified. People of

The causes of the Salem Witch Trials have fascinated historians, judges, and psychologists alike for centuries. What is found most intriguing by most is why it got so out of control so quickly. Indeed, even at the time of the Salem Witch Trials, there were those who found the whole predicament unsettling and questioned the methods of the judges. Though, there were others who found the trials to be work from God allowing them to cleanse the new world. Whoever was correct in their beliefs is uncertain, but the fact that innocent lives were judged guilty cannot be disputed.

The accusations were over by October 1692, and by then less attention was on the accusations (“Witch Madness” 2). But by the time the accusations and hangings were over one-hundred forty-four people were accused and nineteen were hung (Hinds 70). Some were only accused because they were associated with or related to a supposed witch, like Elizabeth Proctor whose grandmother was a supposed witch (Hinds 40). Or Rebecca Nurse whose mother was accused of witchcraft (Kent 58). They believed in the idea that a supernatural cause, whatever the source, was used to cause them harm (Godbeer 30). People were even rewarded for their fear and panic over the truth and the braveness of the society (Shapiro 2). Five people died in jail during the trials, including a baby (Hinds 64). One man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death for refusing to admit to being a wizard, after changing his view on his wife’s guilt as a witch (Hinds 43; “Witch Madness” 2).