Causes Of The Salem Witchcraft Hysteria

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.

There were many things that caused the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. One of the things that caused the Salem Witch Trials started with Parris’s, the one who experienced these things first, Indian Slave, Tituba. Tituba even admitted to being a witch and said that four women and one man were causing the strange illnesses. Another thing that caused the Salem Witch trials was an accused victim, Abigail Hobbs. She claimed to have seen the devil, which she said made her make a covenant with him, which made her wicked and have the ability to use witchcraft. Also, another thing that caused the Salem witch trials was when Cotten Mather argued that there was witchcraft in the city. He argued that a scripture said that there was witchcraft in the

Nineteen people were hung, four people died in jail, and one man was pressed to death during the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692. (Document A) Because of actors and attention seekers, neighbor conflicts, and gender, marital status, and age, many people were executed. (video notes) The Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692 was a tragic period of time when many innocent people lost their lives and people lived in fear. (video notes) In England, Pope Innocent VIII had declared heresy to witchcraft. (video notes) Since then, witch hunts had been held for over 300 years. (video notes) During this time, around 40,000-50,000 people were executed due to witchcraft accusations. (video notes) The most tragedies happened in the small community of Salem. (video notes) This was known as the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692. (video notes) So what caused these innocent people to die?

I am writing this report today to explain the major reasons behind the horrific witchcraft trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in the years 1692 and 1693. For years this event has been ignored. However, after analyzing the evidence in this case, I have some startling news to share. First, I will share with you the various theories that make the most sense. Then I will explain what I believe caused the Salem community to respond in such a cruel and violent way.

In 1692, in the small village of Salem, Massachusetts, 20 people were hanged for offenses they did not commit. But what was the charge against the 20? The answer would be witchcraft. The charges deeply affected the small community. Neighbor turned on neighbor. Every act that a person made would be carefully scrutinized, dissected, and repeated to others. This would lead to the question. What caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? The 3 main factors that would cause widespread panic in the town of Salem were gender, marital status, and age, actors and attention seekers, and neighbor conflicts within the village of Salem.

To begin, one cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was envious, young women. One piece of textual evidence that supports this cause is out of the 34 accusers, 67% of them were single females. Married women were the most targeted group for accusations of witchcraft (doc B). This evidence helps to explain the hysteria because most of the single women were jealous of the lifestyle others were living. Married women showed status in the community. They had security, a family, and money. These things would cause younger single girls to become envious of married women. Furthermore, another piece of textual evidence is the westside of Salem village were the poor people the accusers. On the eastside of Salem village were the wealthy the accused (doc E). This evidence helps to explain the hysteria because the poor single women were jealous of what the wealthy married women had. More married women were accused by young single women. 96% of accusers lived on the west side of Salem

In 1692, the British colony of Massachusetts endured abnormal accusations of witchcraft against more than 150 people (Prentice Hall Literature, p. 1087). Many factors caused the witchcraft hysteria to come alive during the 1600’s. Two important factors were: Daemonologie, written by England’s King James I, and the bewildering behavior of the accusing teenage girls. While Arthur Miller explains that the accusations could have been made over the lust for land, there are also reasons not explained: how the role of women and children during the 17th century may have affected their behavior and the theory of Ergot fungus poisoning the girls’ minds.

The religion of the townspeople supported the witchcraft accusations that were spreading. Back then, the people of Salem read the Bible extremely literally. In the book, it says, ‘“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (Doc 1) This is how the executions began and how more and more people became convinced that witchcraft existed. After these three women were jailed, this set off a large stream of accusations that continued for the next few months. In the Bible it says that mostly women were bewitched, and since the people took the Bible very seriously, a large portion of the accused were female. Around 24-30 males were accused while 88-110 females were. (Doc 5) Also, since the Bible said that witches must die, 20 people were executed. Some were hanged, some died in jail. (Doc 2) The support of their religion caused paranoia to break out, introducing the last cause of hysteria.

From June through September of 1692, nineteen people, all having been declared guilty witchcraft, were hanged in Salem Village. Another man of more than eighty years was pressed to death under substantial stones for declining to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. Many others confronted allegations of witchcraft. Handfuls grieved in prison for a considerable length of time without trials. At that point, very nearly when it had started, the agitation that cleared through Puritan Massachusetts finished.

The social corruption from the puritans and lastly the money, land titles and the control. The individuals who seriously threatened the norms of society. Some of those threats were the empowerment of women and the justices of the wrongfully accused. This shows that there were people who didn’t believe it the whole time and they usually became victims and that when they found out that they arrested and killed many innocent people. The social corruption from the puritans. The livelihood such as jobs and money, health care and education connects to the social corruption because the puritans would kill for the land a person would own or accuse them of being a witch. Lastly, money, Land titles, and the control. Land was issued by the puritans because they were in control of government and thus if they wanted land in cases people were accused and tired as witches only for the fact they wanted land because they were greedy. They were also rich a lot of them or came from some money this also contributes to the idea they had the power over the people of

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

The Salem Witch Trials began when three girls were accused of witchcraft. In Massachusetts in the 17th century many people feared the devil was constantly trying to find ways to destroy people and their community. Salem was a strongly religious community. When Tituba, one of the accused witches, confessed that she and some others were witches and working for the devil, mass panic broke out. There had been previous incidents of witchcraft such as the case of Margaret Johnson who was accused and convicted in 1648 but no one had ever confessed of being a witch or stated that there were other witches working for the devil in their community. Although Tibuta’s confession was the main reason why the trials happened, there were other factors that contributed to the trials. Salem was under stress during this time period. In 1691, the king and queen of England issued a new anti-religious charter instead of reissuing the old charter and they also combined the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony and several other colonies into one. Puritans of this time feared their religion was under attack and they were worried they were losing control of their colony. The threat of their religion left people of the colony feeling uneasy. Other factors that led to the trails were a smallpox outbreak, rivalries between families, and fear of attack from Native American. The events that were taking place during this time were considered to be some of the darkest and most frightful times for the colony. The colonist were in constant had constant, fear, stress, and worry. The colonists believed that the devil was responsible for all the

The Salem witch trials were based on the Puritans' belief in the conflict between God and Satan. Puritans had always believed that they were the new chosen people, abandoning a land of sin and oppression to establish the Promised Land. In the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, a town existing most of the Puritans, any sign, word, or even thought of the devil was considered immoral. One evening, many girls were found dancing, naked in the woods, with incriminating devil worshiping paraphernalia. When discovered they were accused of practicing witchcraft. The rumor of possible witches in Salem quickly spread throughout the community. Three girls Abigail ,Tituba, and Mary Warren caused mass hysteria in Salem through their alleged wrongdoings. The people of Salem were in uncertain times. Just a year earlier a witch in the nearby town of Beverly was executed and now the witch hysteria had spread to their village. Confused, the people didn't know who to blame whether it be the girls, the negro slave, or even the Devil himself. The deception of the witches of Salem was beginning. ... There

The historical record clearly shows that the Salem Witch Hysteria was caused by religion, lying, and jealousy.

Anybody could be accused which is why people started pointing fingers freely and openly started accusing. Teenage boredom was a big spectrum of the witch craft trails in Salem. Also, personal jealousies like Abigail with John Proctors wife. Two young girls started this mass hysteria which caused jail time and