Essay on Salem Witch Trials Of 1692

The Salem Witch Trials was an uncanny and eerie event of hearings and prosecutions of people being accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. Although it lasted from 1691 to 1692, it lead to more than 200 people, including men and women, being accused and arrested of witchcraft and 20 of those people executed. The hysteria began with two young girls: Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams claiming to be possessed by the devil, causing the “witch-fever” among the Salem village. In this essay the circumstances behind poor harvest, sickness and the conjecture of witches and witchcraft being highly considered as a cause in this era will be described. The Salem Witch Trials were caused by environmental factors because the Salem community had limited understanding of natural causes such as poor harvest, sickness and diseases.

Suddenly people seemed very paranoid and soon residents were placing blame on one another and accusing each other of witchcraft. In a fifteen month period between 1691 and 1692 nearly twelve dozen people were accused of witchcraft in or near Salem (Norton, p8).

There was much hysteria due to the fear of the consequences during the Salem Witch Trials for practicing witchcraft. There was one main consequence for

In Salem, Massachusetts 1692, 134 people were accused as witches, 20 of them were put to death, 4 died in jail, but why? (Document A and B) Why did these people get accused of being a witch, a person possessed or controlled by the Devil? Well there was the strong belief in witchcraft and the Devil at the time, it didn’t help that the Bible said, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Background Essay). That probably caused some uneasiness among everyone in Salem, but wasn’t enough to cause the mass hangings. Then what could’ve happened in Salem that caused the witch trial hysteria of 1692? Well, it looks as if there were three causes - young girls against older women, girls faking affliction, and a division of the town over wealth and

The Salem witch trials, that occurred in colonial Massachusetts, were a hostile part of American history. People lived in a constant state of paranoia and fear. A great number of people were accused of practicing witchcraft, which was thought to be connected to the devil, and some were even executed. Eventually, the colony realized the faults in the trials. By reading the primary sources ‘A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft Chapter II’ by John Hale and Two Letters by Governor William Phips, we are able to discover a wealth of knowledge about the aforementioned trials. The two sources allow the reader to gain insight into how the trials were flawed by showing the nature of the Salem Witch Trials, the evidence used to find the witches guilty, and the role native americans played in the trials. While also exhibiting how primary sources can be a disadvantage in navigating through historical events.

Back in 1692, Salem, Massachusetts, had been swept with hysteria as citizens of the city had been reporting of witchcraft and along with it, alleged witches roamed the streets and as a result, multiple victims were hanged. This event, which was dubbed “the Salem Witch Trials”, has been studied by many historians but many have never found the reason for why this one year long hysteria occurred. Many theories have sprung up and still are to this day, but many have stuck out between the rest. The possible reasons why the Salem Witch Trials occurred are the human psyche, societal division, and/or harsh weather. To begin, a theory had been dug up that some victims of trials were psychologically impaired and had opposing beliefs because of the mass

The changing historiography of the Salem Witch Persecutions of 1692. How current/contemporary and historical interpretations of this event reflect the changing nature of historiography.

During the time period of 1691 to 1692 the town of Salem, a small thriving community within the Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony, was struck by widespread hysteria in the form of witch trials. The way these trials and accusations played out are historically unlike any other witch trials found in European and American history. Historians have pointed to a number of economic, political, and social changes of the then existing institutions throughout the Massachusetts Bay area to be the cause of the Salem witch trials, along with the direction they took. If studied closely however, it becomes apparent that the main cause for the Salem witch trials can be found in the way the people of Salem viewed and

The year of 1692 marked a time of mass hysteria and conflict within the small village of Salem, Massachusetts; this time was known as the Salem Witch Trials. The trials plagued the village with chaos, mystery, and accusations. As the hysterics of witchcraft rippled through Salem, more than two-hundred people were accused and tried, one-hundred-fifty townspeople were arrested, approximately twenty people were executed, and five others died in prison. The trials had a domino effect on the townspeople and sent the village into a downward spiral. Since then, the trials have become tantamount to paranoia, as almost three centuries later, they continue to beguile the great minds of many. To this day, though there are many possible theories, and

The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. There were many possible causes of the Salem Witch Trials. A few major causes that led to the Salem Witch Trials were religion, reputations, and lack of laws.

In January 1692, when a group of juvenile girls began to display bizarre behavior, the tight-knit Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts couldn’t explain the unusual afflictions and came to a conclusion. Witches had invaded Salem. This was the beginning of a period of mass hysteria known as The Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of people were falsely accused of witchcraft and many paid the ultimate price of death. Nineteen people were hung, one was pressed to death, and as many as thirteen more died in prison. One of the accused Elizabeth Bassett Proctor, a faithful wife and mother, endured her fictitious accusation with honor and integrity.

The Salem witch trials were trials for people who were being accused of worshiping the devil. They believed the witches were out to harm others in supernatural ways. They were believed to be able to turn into animals, cause others to become possessed by looking at them, and were accused of being the cause of illness or miscarriages. However, there are many false theories about the Salem witch trials causing many controversies. One of the bigger controversies was if people were really being possessed by the three women. Often times, if doctors could not find a cause to an illness they will blame it on witchcraft. “Laurie Winn Carlson argues that in the spring of 1691 and winter of 1692, some of the accusers exhibited these symptoms, and that a doctor had been called in to treat the girls. He could not find an underlying physical cause, and therefore concluded that they suffered from possession by witchcraft, a common diagnosis of unseen conditions at the time”. They believed there had to be a cause to everything and if something

New England in the seventeenth century was a difficult place to live. The raging winds of winter, the ravaging Indian tribes and the many diseases that killed both livestock and family members often had inhabitants believing that they were being punished by God for their sins, or that their afflictions were caused by something much more sinister. Anyone who threatened traditional gender and societal roles was seen as a potential threat to both themselves and the rest of the community. The outbreaks of witch accusations that occurred throughout New England during this time reflected how unsettled the settlers really felt about their lives. This is reflected in both the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials and the Stamford, Connecticut witch trials even if these trials had different results.

Salem Witch Trials: Casting a spell on the people Today, the idea of seeing a witch is almost inconsequential. Our Halloween holiday marks a celebration in which many will adorn themselves with pointy black hats and long stringy hair, and most will embrace them as comical and festive. Even the contemporary witchcraft religious groups forming are being accepted with less criticism. More recently, the Blair Witch movie craze has brought more fascination than fear to these dark and magical figures. So, it becomes no wonder that when our generations watch movies like the Crucible, a somewhat accurate depiction of the Salem Witch Trials, we are enraged and confused by the injustice and the mayhem that occurred in 1692. For most, our egocentric

humanity would have come to an end, but that was not so. In 1692 a