During the spring of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, a group of young girls believed they were possessed by the devil. This became the start of what is known as the Salem Witch Trials. The witch hunts originated in Europe and was spread to the New England colonies by the 17th century. The trials were a time of mass hysteria where many people of the village were suspected to be practicing witchcraft and afflicting others. The Salem Witch Trials lasted less than a year, but has made a significant impact on American society. The trials ended with many people being executed and arrested because of being found guilty of practicing witchcraft. Even though the trials ended in 1692, there are similar historical events throughout many countries that involve …show more content…
Hitler blamed the Jews for the economic crisis in Germany as well as losing World War I. However, Hitler did not have evidence proving that the Jews were to blame. The trials in Salem started similarly to the Holocaust because the trials began from a couple young girls blaming others in their village of witchcraft without any evidence to prove they were telling the truth. During Hitler’s reign, many of the people of Germany believed he would bring the country back from a depression and World War I. As stated in Cowen’s article, many Germans followed Hitler because he “gave them huge tax breaks and introduced social benefits … he also particularly pampered soldiers and their families, offering them more than double the salaries and benefits that American and British families received.” From a German’s point of view during a time of economic depression, Hitler’s views on how he would improve Germany became enticing and they whole-heartedly believed he would be the best choice. Soon after World War II started, Hitler kept the promise he made to the Germans by deporting the Jews to concentration camps. Notwithstanding that the Jews were being taken to concentration camps such as Auschwitz to be killed, the Germans still agreed with Hitler that the Jews were to blame for their country’s problems. When Hitler first proposed to the public that Jews were responsible …show more content…
McCarthyism, like the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust, targeted a specific group of people and was caused from one person blaming others based on suspicion. Senator Joseph McCarthy rose to power because he “capitalized on national paranoia by proclaiming that communist spies were omnipresent and that he was America’s only salvation” (U.S. History, “McCarthyism”). Since there had already been cases where government employees were convicted of being spies for communist countries, fear and panic struck Americans quickly which caused them to turn to Senator McCarthy for safety. During the 1950s, Americans had a logical reason to fear communism because they were at war with other countries that have a communist government. This fear was rooted from the belief that if the United States lost the war, the Americans would lose their freedom of speech, not have their own religious beliefs, and lose their land (“Why did Americans fear communism”). Now that America has been an established federal government, the McCarthyism era is seen as an unnecessary part of United States history because thousands of people lost their jobs based on little to no evidence of committing espionage. The same accusations made by McCarthy are extremely similar to those from Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris in the Salem Witch Trials. In both the McCarthyism Hearings and the Salem Witch Trials, the
What really happened during Salem 1692? Many questions still haunt many Americans in the beginning of the twenty-first century. During 1692 the people of Massachusetts were living in fear about satanic afflictions, like the same way everyone else feels about terrorism around the world today. Everything about witchcraft outbreak during that year was strange. Many responses to the information were never answered during the late seventeenth-century when the witchcraft crisis occurred. During this time there were horrifyingly Indian attacks that mainly scared northern frontier of settlers, refugees, and also the main accusers of witches these groups all fled to communities like Salem. But on the other side colony’s leaders were very defensive about
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.
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.
Salem Witch Trials, one of the worst times in history, many people were killed by hanging, and pressing. There was only one person to be killed by getting crushed, it was 81 year old Giles Cory, they put a board on top of him, and people interrogated him, trying to make him testify against his wife Martha, whenever he refused to testify against her they put a pile of rocks on top of the board, eventually getting to the point where he couldn’t take the pressure of all the rocks and died, 3 days later his wife was accused and hung.
In today’s society we are always hearing about teens, predominantly teen girls, threatening each other via social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Ask.fm and this type of crime can be traced back to several centuries ago, like during the Salem Witch Trial in 1692. This incident arose not only because adolescents were in quest of attention but also because back in the seventeenth century religion played a starring role in the community and according to the bible verse Exodus 22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Doc A). For that reason people who were identified as witches were hanged and that created massive tension throughout the community between the different age groups and genders.
Witches or PTSD: What caused the Salem Witch Trials? An episode of ‘hysterical’ behavior occurred in a church fellowship hall in Boyceville, WI in 1962. A teenage girl began giggling uncontrollably. This set off her sister, which in turn set off their mother and then their grandmother.
In spite of the fact that it is hard to tell with sureness what happened in the year 1692 in Salem, many authentic sources propose that everything began when a gathering of young females from The village of Salem started having odd fits along with insane responses, unjustifiable crying and laughing, mixed up jabbering, endeavors to fly, and in a few occurrences an entrancing like stupor. What went before these strange fits clearly were mystery captivating sessions with an Indian slave from the Caribbean named Tituba, amid which she and a few young females from the village of Salem utilized people enchantment to foresee who their spouses would be (Aronson, 2003).
The Salem witch trials began in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. Over 200 people were accused of practicing the devil’s magic, twenty of which were executed. Suspicions of witchcraft started when a group of young girls began acting bizarre, as they became ill, suffering from epileptic fits, their bodies contorted involuntary to odd positions as well as causing them to utter unusual sounds. Only when they went to a doctor did the man declare it was a matter of the supernatural. This caused an epidemic among the area in which numerous people were accused of the craft. Previously, in 1689 the English rulers William and Mary began a war with France among the American colonies. Spreading through the regions of upstate New York, Nova
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 was a tragic time in New England that was caused by the choas of mass hysteria. The inciting incident that started this event was in January 1692, when two young girls were afflicted with convulsions and halleucionations, and witchcraft was apointed the blame. Most of the accused were women a generation above the accusers, who were young women ages 11-20. The accused were also linked to 'socially unaccepted behavior.' The onslaught of accusations made it clear action needed to be taken, so Governor William Phips created a court so that the precedings were as fair and as close to the law as possible. However, the judges had contrasting views, one believing whole-heartedly that witchcraft had torn the town apart, the other doubting the entire crisis. Also, the court accepted spectral evidence,
The Salem witch trials represents a time of collective, social paranoia of the unknown. This same type of anxiety arose during the Cold War with McCarthyism and the red scare. To a certain extent, paranoia still exists today in the form of fearing terrorists and being suspicious of sleeper cells. The Salem witch trials consisted of judicial hearings of women in colonial Massachusetts that were accused of witchcraft from 1692 to 1693, which resulted in twenty executions with most of them being women (Goss 4). Like much of the collective paranoia that arises in this country, the Salem Witch Trials were rooted in racism.
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
The Salem witch trials were unjustified in that they were bred out of paranoia and delusion; with religion was the mother of this breed. Even since the early periods of our nation, religious hysteria has haunted the land. The town of Salem, Massachusetts was not excluded from that. The Salem witch trials are an evident case of religious delirium being harmful to innocent people, but no the only one. Dangerous people are still hysteric from religion in a modern world.
The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 represent a very dark period of early American history. It began with a group of young girls accusing three area women of practicing witchcraft. From there, witchcraft hysteria continued to grow until there were over a hundred – fifty accused witches in jail. Twenty of these innocent victims ended up being executed, while countless others died in prison. The Salem witchcraft trials serve as an excellent example of religious prejudice, social persecution, and superstition and played a vital role in shaping American cultural consciousness. It is important to keep the memory of this tragic event alive to ensure that this type of social persecution of so many innocent people never
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
The Salem witch hunts occured in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 & 1693 after a group of young girls in Salem Village claimed to be posssessed by the devil accused several local women of witchcraft a special court took the case to hear stories of thoes convicted the first arrested was Bridget