Research Paper On Witchcraft

During the late fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, thousands of individuals were persecuted as witches. It was thought that these individuals practiced black magic and performed evil deeds, the deeds of the devil. This all happened during a time of great change in Europe, during the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the consolidation of national governments. They were persecuted for a variety of reasons, but three major ones were religious reasons, social prejudices, and the economic greed of the people. Religious leaders such as Martin Luther and John Calvin influenced the ideas of their followers. Religion dominated the time period and it’s easy to see how many opinions

Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, 20 people were put to death in Salem Massachusetts for witchcraft. Neighbors turned on neighbors, women turned on women. Nobody was necessarily safe from being accused of witchcraft. During the time of the 1600s many English immigrants arrived in New England, a number of them being Puritans. They came to New England to practice Christianity in ways they felt were pure. To help guide the Puritans through life, they read the bible. Whatever the bible said, they believed and one subject was about the Devil. One of the tricks the Devil used, was to enter a normal person’s body and turn that person into a witch. A witch could cause terrible damage. Of course, the Puritans believed it, so every bad act they saw, they often accused the person of being a witch. What

In the 1680’s and 1690’s there was mass hysteria in New England over supposed witchcraft. The most famous outbreak was in Salem, Massachusetts, hence the name Salem Witch Trials. In Salem, there were young girls who started acting strangely, and they leveled accusations of witchcraft against some of the West Indian servants who were immersed in voodoo tradition. Most of the accusations were against women, and soon the accusations started to shift to the substantial and prominent women. Neighbors accused other neighbors, husbands accused their wives, etc. and it kept going on for a while. There was this nature of evil and the trials didn’t end until nineteen Salem residents were put to death in 1692, more importantly before the girls

The notion of witchcraft has been around long before the witch trials in Early Modern Europe. Different cultures have different images and stereotypes on what a witch is and what “magical” abilities he or she may possess. Many people however, did not look at these “magical” men and women as bad until the Holy Roman Empire began to look negatively on those people who were different, and opposed the norm set by the elites. Driven by fear, those living under the control of the Holy Roman Empire would began to blame other people for diabolical actions, or malicious activities. Women and some men, were tortured and tested in cruel ways in attempt of finding evidence or gaining a confession that the accused was a witch. Laws about how which were persecuted

Today, there remains a relic of the European witch-hunts predominant at this time of year. Halloween decorations are flooded with depictions of tall thin hats, and haggard old women flying on broomsticks. For a time period of approximately the middle fifteenth century to sometime into the eighteenth century witches were thought to be a

The Salem Witch Trials take place between the years of 1692 and 1693 (Blumberg 1). Within the Village of Salem, Massachusetts a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil, but who would do such evil witch-like things to young girls? A special court was set up to hear out the cases of those who were accused (Blumberg 1). Although 200 people were accused, 20 of those were killed without proper proof that they were the ones performing witchcraft (Historystaff.com 1). Basically if you weren’t “normal” you were considered a witch and were sent to prison. For example, if a person wore dark colors, acted irregular, weighed less than

Today if one was called a “witch,” most of us would take offense, yell, scream, or simply just ignore it and walk away, but over 300 years ago that was not the case. The 1600’s were full of controversy and uncertainty that led to cruel consequences due to even the simplest claim of witchcraft. By the time 1692 came around not much had changed, in fact, it was much worse. The town of Salem, Massachusetts became the spot of the most infamous witch trials of all: the Salem Witch Trials.

d. Example #3: The main crop eaten around the salem witch trials was wheat and rye.

When people think of witches today, there is an image of the characteristics of an old, haggard woman. The connotation of women and witches is significant throughout history especially in early modern Europe. The early modern period was the beginnings of the witch- hunt panics and rooted the characterization and oppression of witches. The moral righteousness through the patriarchal system in place led a clear disportionate between females persecuted as witches. The patriarchal system in place was misogynistic which led to characterizing and stigmatizing of women through the values of the church.

Salem, a tiny town in Massachusetts, has a dark history. Back in 1692, in New England where the thirteen colonies were founded, the Salem Witch Trials had begun, claiming the lives of innocent people and accusing hundreds of more innocents. The reason why the innocent were accused and convicted was because they were a witch or a warlock. A witch was a woman who practiced black magic and worshipped the Devil or Satan, a mythological creature that was evil. That was because in the sixteenth century, many people believed that magic was actually real and existed and in fact, practicing magic or more specific black magic, was considered a sin and a threat to the the Puritans. In fact, there were many factors and contributions that that led to the Salem Witch Trials that led many people to fear this possible non-existent magic and witches. This is one of America’s darkest and infamous tragedies that had happened in the

The Salem Witch Trials were known for their heavy reliance on spectral evidence, and numerous confessions, helping the accusations increase. According to an article based on the trials, ” A total of 172 people are known to have been formally charged or informally cried out upon for witchcraft in 1692. Usually poor and marginalized members of society were the victims of witchcraft accusations.” (Baker, 2017). This quote illustrates how many so called “witches” were accused of witchcraft.Witches were considered to be followers of Satan, who employed demons to accomplish magical deed, and traded their souls for his assistance. The hysteria started when a group of young girls began to display bizarre behaviors. The community was overcome with a combination of confusion and fear, not knowing how to explain the convulsive seizures, blasphemous screaming, and trance-like states that afflicted the children. Historians believed that hysteria about witchcraft often seemed to coincide with stressful situations from larger events that they couldn’t control,

When I think of witchcraft the first thing that comes to mind, is the Salem Witch Trials, and the fact that so many innocent people were accused, convicted and executed for being a witch, and more times than not this was done over such ridiculousness. Scott sheds light onto how ridiculous some of the accusations as proof of witchcraft really were. For instance in this “story” he explains how it was assumed that Margaret Simons was a witch because a boy became ill have he had an “altercation” with her dog, and she reprimanded him a few days prior to him becoming ill. And because of rumors, and because the father thought he was so “perfect,” there was no way that God would make a child sick, especially his, it had to be witchcraft, and Margret

The Wacky Wondrous Witch The wacky wondrous witch Scares kids with a really high pitch She walks on the ground Without making a sound ‘Round and ‘round and ‘round Instead of riding on a stick And breaking her head on a brick Why do you call her a witch? You may ask That’s the question everyone asks She walks around with a green mask With a black bewitched costume And beautiful broom Made of wax She leaves smiles on kids faces At very unique places

We don’t exactly know when the idea of witches came about, although it is thought to be around 931 B.C. and 721 B.C. according to history.com, and we don’t know

“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better” (Rowling 's Harvard Speech Doesn 't Entrance Al.) People in the 20th century raged about this book series. Some people grew a great love interest towards this book and adored the characters. Others grew hatred toward the book and were certain it was prompting wizardry. J.K. Rowling’s series started a dynamic controversy that elevated as she produced more and more book that uniquely impacted the United States historically, socially and religiously.