Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

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.

In the Salem Witch Trails 20 people were hung because the people in town (mainly woman) would accuse others of being a witch. More than 20 people were accused, it all ended when the mayors wife was accused of being a witch. So what caused the hysteria surrounding the Salem Witch Trials? The Salem Witch Trials In the Salem Witch Trails 20 people were hung because the people in town (mainly woman) would accuse others of being a witch. More than 20 people were accused, it all ended when the mayors wife was accused of being a witch. So what caused the hysteria surrounding the Salem Witch Trials? The Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692 was caused by the fear of being accused and hung for a witch the beleife people could be a witch, the belief people could be a witch, and the parranoia of being a witch.

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, which occurred in colonial Massachusetts, were an act of mass hysteria leading to the deaths of twenty citizens. In late 1691 a young group of girls, including Betty Parris and Abigail Williams who lived with Revered Samuel Parris, began asking an African American, or possibly Native American, slave named Tituba about witchcraft. They soon began acting abnormally and were diagnosed as being bewitched. In April of 1692, Ann Putman accused the first three people, Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osburne, as being witches. The next month, Governor William Phips established the Court of Oyer and Terminer to handle any cases involving witchcraft. Bridget Bishop was the first accused witch to be hung in June 1692, followed by

During the seventeenth century supernatural played a huge role in everyday life for the people in North America. The peasants during this time would use witchery to invoke particular trinkets for farming and agriculture. As time progressed white magic, which was known to be good, turned into dark magic, which was correlated with demons and evil life forces. However, witchcraft became common between the years 1560 and 1670. In Salem people believed that their town’s misfortunes could be credited to the work of the devil. The people of Salem blamed the supernatural for their tragedies, such as crop failures, infant death and societal hostility among the congregation.

The United States of America has a long history going way back to the 17th century. Some parts of history are remembered for their greatness or because they are examples of success or achievements. Others are remembered for the mistakes or the horrible decisions made at that time. It helps us to know our past mistakes so that we will never repeat them. The Salem Witch Trials fall under the category as an event that helps teach us the mistakes of the past. With the knowledge we have today about the trials, hopefully we will never succumb to killing wrongfully convicted people.

The Salem Witch Trials were a constant and consistent occurrence in 1691 Massachusetts; hangings became consistent, but the fear of the unknown became the true evil unleashed amongst the dark times that reigned upon Salem. Such atrocities were caused by a development of preposterous dispositions created by desperation and fear. The colony ran into hardship after exposure to illness, misfortune, and power struggles. Due to their religious ideology, they believed that an evil force was responsible for their hardship, and was responsible for wreaking havoc within their civilization.

In the year 1692 an incident that resulted to nineteen people being hanged, one crushed to death, seven died in imprisonment, twenty people being executed and even an additional two hundred people being accused of witchcraft which most people know today as The Salem witch trials. Because people believed that witchcraft was a punishable crime randomly people were accused and were than killed or tortured. The Salem witch trials led to innocent people being convicted, because of the injustices in the judicial process of trying people as witches. This paper will address the various injustices on Salem trials and give logical conclusions about these trials.

Imagine living in a place where people are at each other's throats, and in most cases physical aggressions occur. Additionally, the sad thing was that the people being assaulted were not some malicious, dangerous criminals, most of them were next door neighbors, or a baker, or even a teacher, they were a member of society who played an important role in the community, yet they were still being accused of the misfortune of others. Instead of identifying and assessing the real issue, and solving it, these people were doing the exact opposite. This place I so generously refer to is located in none other than Salem, Massachusetts, but more specifically, I am referring to the historical event that took place there, the Salem witch trials. Any other normal human being would probably choose a less violent, per say, place to visit. I on the other hand would much rather visit a place that seemed like most, very calm and peaceful to the naked eye, but if you looked

Many problems within the society were attributed to the witches living in the town of Salem. At the time of

The Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials began in Salem Massachusetts during the spring of 1692. The first “witch” convicted was Bridget Bishop, she was publicly hanged the June. Under British Law people thought to have been consulting with the devil or other spirits where considered felons. There where two different forms of confrontation, the afflicted and the accused. The afflicted where those supposedly possessed whom cried out the names of those possessing them.

Imagine this: You live in Salem Village, and you’re the perfect example of a good Puritan. You go to church every Sunday, read the bible daily, and you’re kind to everyone. All of a sudden, your life is ripped apart when you’re accused of witchcraft by a girl who you’ve known since she was little. This was exactly how it went for some, including Rebecca Nurse, a kind and loving grandmother who never should have been accused. The Salem Witch Trials were times of woe and despair, with many accused but all being innocent.

The Mathers: The Father and Son Stand on Spectral Evidence during the Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials involved many individuals that were accused of witchery. There were not extensive methods of execution involved in these trials and many accused of witchery had very similar life situations and circumstances. Through history, including the Salem Witch Trials, it was very common for women to be the majority of accused witches and more so if they were middle aged. If a woman had a fiery or stubborn reputation this could also have been seen as a link to the Devil and witchcraft. It was more than likely if someone had been accused of petty crimes such as theft, treason or witchcraft that you would have been accused at some time throughout Salem’s trials.

Einstein once said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who do nothing” (Gurteen). The Salem witch trials began in the Spring of 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. A group of young girls, who claimed to be possessed by the devil, began accusing a few women of witchcraft, which caused hysteria among the people in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Approximately 150 people were convicted of practicing witchcraft, 19 were hanged at Gallows Hill, and others died in captivity (“Salem Witch Trials”). These tragic events lead to the convictions of many innocent people in Salem Village and later in Salem Town, Ipswich, Gloucester, and other towns (Brooks). The Salem witch trials are a