Mass Hysteria In The Salem Witch Trials Of 1692

During the 1600’s in the United States there was much economic and religious dissention within the Puritan society: a group of English reformed protestants who pursued the Purification of the Church of England. Among these issues, is the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials that prosecuted women to be found worshippers of the devil. The Puritans found the necessity to exercise this crusade in order to stay by their moral codes of conformity which included witchcraft to be the greatest crime, punishable by death. However, the true reasons of the trials was not to simply follow their religious constitutions. It is mainly in part from corruption of religion and how some had used the trials as a form of personal gain, the influences of the attitudes from the strict Puritan lifestyle, the need for unification between the Salem factions, and the society’s fear of evil.

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?

During 1692, from June to September, 24 people died due to accusations from people who assumed they were witches. Many historians have come up with possibilities and answers as to why civilized people would kill each other. Using the evidence provided, The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria was caused by jealousy, supremacy, and segregation.

The salem witch trials hysteria of 1692 was caused by the Puritans strict religious standards and intolerance of anything not accepted with their scripture. The largest account of witch trials as well as deaths by witch trials occurred in Salem, a village heavily populated with the Puritans. Because most of the trials were occurring in Salem, this meant that the accusations were happening among the Puritans themselves, which could very well be anything as long as the Puritans found it as contradicting their bible. Not only did the strict religion intolerance fuel the accusations and trials, but also the possible factor of ergot being involved which has been known to cause symptoms leading to hysteria.

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 witchcraft hysteria of 1692 happened within the Puritan colony known as Salem Massachusetts. It’s important to know that the belief in witchcraft was carried over from their home country, England. In England, an act of witchcraft was considered treason against the Church of England, not to mention the king, who was the head of the church, so if one was to turn their back on the church also meant going against the king. Many acts against witchcraft were passed, the one dated closest to the Salem witch trials was the Witchcraft Act of 1604 that moved trials of the supposed witches from churches to actual courts. The fact that they were once held in churches rather than courts seems like a biased situation to me. The puritans were afraid of witchcraft so having the church conduct the trials of said witches could only mean that death was certain. The puritan faith to my understanding was a tough faith to follow, especially for women.

The Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692 caused 20 people to be hung or pressed to death and 4 perished in jail. In addition, 200 people in Salem were accused of being witches. On June 10 of 1692, Bridget Bishop was charged with practicing witchcraft and she was also accused of bewitching her husband to death. The result of her not confessing was that she was hung to her death. All of this frenzy started in the house of Samuel Parris. His daughters were consumed by the bizarre tales told by their Indian slave, Tituba. Over the next several months, the girls array strange behavior. After arriving at court, the young girls accused two white women and Tituba of practicing witchcraft. After this strange incident, the people of Salem started to

The infamous Salem witch trials of colonial Massachusetts took place between 1692 and 1693. They involved the execution of fourteen women and five men within the brief time period. What is now the New England region had been established by a homogenous Puritan population, which emigrated from England. Abiding by a strict set of beliefs, the Puritans did not accept people of other backgrounds,therefore it might follow that the Salem Witch Trials of New England were a result of the strict Puritan society, which was actually primarily untrue. The Salem Witch Trials were not enacted as a result of Puritanism, but rather as a result of circumstance surrounding Rye.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark and very crucial time in American history. The late sixteen hundreds consisted of relying on young girls for the truth; but to what extent did the puritan’s religion and culture have in the proceedings of the Salem Witch Trials? A focus on the religion that the puritans believed in and their culture will be discussed. Also, how their faith turned them against those who were accused of witchcraft. It is also needed to discuss how they faith of the puritan’s even came about.

First of all, according to document N in Paragraph one Ergot is a parasitic fungus which grows on a variety of grains especially rye. This fungus contains 10 percent of LSD which can be found in seeds used by the Aztecs that are linked to hallucinogenic drugs. Warm, damp, rainy springs and summers were a great time for Ergot to grow. According to document B the hangings happened around summer (June-September). This means that the fungus Ergot was around because of the warm weather. So the people could have very well been eating this plant.

Puritans had colonies in America during 1692, they firmly believed in the Bible. In the town of Salem in 1692 they accused people of being witches, as a result 20 people died. What caused hysteria over the 1692 Salem Witch Trials? The Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692 was caused by beliefs of witches being evil, witches would be executed and the fear of being possessed by the devil.

Salem Witch Trials Abigail Williams is a cruel and selfish person who always wants what she wants, and for many reasons she is to blame for the Salem Witch Trials. First off to show how cruel she is, when they were dancing and ‘conjuring’ spirits in the woods with tituba she tried to kill Elizabeth Proctor with a curse. The reason she did that is because she fancies John and does not want anyone but her to be able to have him, including his own wife, this is one example of how she thinks about her and herself only no matter what cost. Although John had an affair with Abigail seven months prior he and Elizabeth had worked things out and were happy once again. Another reason for her doing this to try and get John is when she was younger her parents were killed by indians in front of her, so you could say that John

After watching History Channel's Witch Hunt, History.com’s Salem Witch Trial and The Sun This is what really happened at the famous Salem Witch Trials of 1692 I have come to the conclusion of the girls (accusers) were experiencing mass hysteria. For example, the same thing happened in LeRoy, New York in 2012. The girls in both cases twitched and yelled. But, the difference is we do not believe in witches. But, there was a pattern on who the girls in 1692 accused. The girls lived in half of Salem village. The half they lived in wanted a church in Salem not 5 miles away. Therefore, the other half of Salem didn’t want a church in Salem because they would have to pay more taxes. That second half was the half that the girls accused. Furthermore,

Fear, such a thing has been around for years and years, in middle age, France there was a case of a convent of nuns began to meow like cats and other followed until all would meow together. This continued until the surrounding village called for soldiers to threaten the nuns to stop their singing. In Strasbourg, Alsace (part of the Holy Roman Empire) in July 1518 was a case of dancing mania, it was a social phenomenon that occurred mainly in the 14th and 17th centuries of Europe. It included people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time with days without rest. Over the period of about one month, some of the people had died of a heart attack, stroke, or exhaustion. Due to the fear of others who watch such a thing Mass Hysteria is then created. One of the biggest Mass Hysteria's ever was the Salem Witch Trials.

What I think that brewed up mass hysteria in Salem, Mass. is religion, superstition of voodoo, crystal balls, and fortune telling, and things like that, and one surprising factor that historians think. The bread that was eaten in Salem was contaminated with a fungus that contributed to the Salem witch trials.