Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

The largest outbreak of witchcraft in America took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. A group of girls, including the Parris’s Indian slave Tituba, gathered in the Salem village and were attempting to see the future by decoding “messages”. Shortly after this gathering the girls started showing signs of the possessed (pg. 73). To this day people all over America are still amazed with the events that took place in this time. But why is that? The fear of the village fell heavily onto the judicial system, which later made people focus on the proper separation of government and religious beliefs. Mass hysteria broke out amongst the village and many people were being accused, therefore leading to many innocent deaths. Although there could be many theories as to the reason the witch trials in Salem began, there are two points of view that are very commonly shared amongst people. Some believe that the Salem witch trials were women unconsciously searching for power, whereas others believe it was an encephalitis epidemic.

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, he writes, “We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!” (Miller 77). This partially fictionalized tale of the Salem Witch Trials points to one of the causes of the trials, vengeance, but the over dramatized tale 's early stages were quiet. The Salem Witch Episode had humble beginnings in the town of Salem Village, Massachusetts, but evolved into one of the most widely known witch trials in American History. The gallows in Salem claimed the lives of nineteen men and woman during the spring and summer of 1692 due to the accusations of witchcraft with over a hundred people who were accused. After all the terror and the uproar of the trials occurred, everything came to a screeching halt (Linder 1). Due to the unique circumstances of this particular set of witch trials, from the rampant accusations to the discontinuation of the trials mass hysteria does not seem to be fault as with other witch trials, but a variety of factors. The Salem witch trials were not just a simple case of mass hysteria, but a combination of factors ranging from poisons to superstitions to scapegoats, resulting in the outbreak of the Salem Witch episode.

In 1692, a town in Massachusetts by the name of Salem Village found itself in one of the most well-known cases of mass hysteria. This saga started with three girls Elizabeth Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam a neighborhood friend. Abigail Williams, the niece of the town’s minister, began to display weird and questionable behavior. The town’s physician William Greggs, was called to determine the cause of this sporadic behavior. The town’s physician determine that the three girls were under “the Devil’s influence” and they had been bewitched. What started as a silly game between children, slowly brought the town of Salem to the edge of insanity. This insanity lead to the killing of 25 innocent people due to their crimes of witchcraft. When scholars look back at the Salem Witch Trials they often time ask the question “What were the key factors in the spread of hysteria throughout the town of Salem?” Most scholars contribute the widespread of hysteria to three important factors; these factors include social, political, and religious tension that occurred in Salem Village. Each one of these factors played a key role in the start of the Salem trials and why it spread so rapidly throughout Salem Village.

The year 1692 is remembered as one of the most scandalous times in American History. Throughout the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, over a hundred people were accused of practicing witchcraft (the majority of them being women). 14 women were hung, and 5 men were accused leading to a total of 19 people dying due to these trials. One man was even pressed to death by substantial weights for declining to enter a plea (Linder 1). No less than eight individuals passed on in jail, including one baby and one child; and more than one hundred and fifty people were imprisoned while anticipating trial. The primary reasons for the witch trials were clashes over managing governmental issues, religion, family, financial aspects, and apprehensions of the citizens. The Salem Witch Trials reflect the harsh and rigid judgements of the Puritans and citizens of Salem. It is one of the most intriguing story in American History.

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.

The Salem Witch Trials tried to accuse innocent members of the society of doing witchcraft. The trials began June 2, 1692 in a court house in Salem, Massachusetts (Burgan 18-19). It affected four counties in Massachusetts: Salem Village, Ipswich, Salem Town, and Andover Counties (Totallyhistory.com). Anyone accused would be brought to a local magistrate to testify if they were truly a witch or not. Over two-hundred people were accused of doing witchcraft and 19 people were hanged (Brooks).

How many deaths and arrests could a few young christian girls possibly cause in a small colonial town? The town of Salem is located north of Boston on the coast of the North Atlantic. This was an ideal location for puritan and quaker immigrants to escape persecution for their beliefs. They were mostly persecuted by the Roman Catholics in Europe. Hard life styles, constant work, and disputes led to hard feelings between the settlers of Salem. Soon, girls started acting strange and accusing witches afflicting them. This led to over two hundred accusations, ninety unjust arrests, and claimed the lives of twenty four victims.

There is much one can learn about this tragic smear in our history as the United States of America. The Salem Witch Trials have been sensationalized as of late, becoming a popular show, and an event that many movies have been made of. Without doing the proper research, one would think that the trials were more violent than it became. There were no witches burning at the stake, or daily hangings, or drownings, but people of the time were frightened nonetheless. The acts of just a few key people drove a whole town to hysteria, and fear. Throughout the trials over a hundred people were accused of witchcraft, and nineteen people were executed solely based on the claims of others that they were using the Devil’s Magic, many without any evidence The fingers of two little girls, driven by the urging of one powerful man created a butterfly effect that caused a wake of destruction within the walls of Salem. It can be shown through research that the Reverend Samuel Parris was the driving force behind the hysteria that the townspeople of Salem were subjected to.

The Salem Witch Trials began in the spring of 1692 after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several residents of witchcraft. Nineteen of the accused were executed by hanging and one person was pressed to death. The young girls claimed that Samuel Parris’ Caribbean slave, Tituba, was the first to perform witchcraft and tell the girls about witchcraft and voodoo. The fatal frenzy began after the nine-year-old daughter and eleven-year-old niece of Salem’s Puritan minister, Samuel Parris, started behaving strangely and erratically. Abigail Williams, his niece, was the first to display fits of hysteria. Betty Parris, the daughter, soon became sick, and soon after her two more

The Salem Witch Trials were a controversial part of history as many innocent people lost their lives for many reasons, one mostly that the girls pretended to be bewitched so they can get rid of their enemies. The consequences of these events were long lasting as many mysteries of the Trials were uncovered long after. The important topics are on how the girls quite possibly faked being “sick”, which led to the executions in Salem, the mass hysteria and many repercussions after a certain crisis in Colonial America nearly three-hundred and fifteen years ago.

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.

“The weather was icy cold and it was the middle of winter when four figures were found outside of Salem village casting spells” (Nemphill, 1). In Salem Village there were many recorded witch accusations, in fact the Salem Witch Trials, the witch trials of the late 1600’s was one of Salem’s biggest hit of witch trials. The tension between the accused and the accusers was strong making the trials stronger and more intense. The Salem Witch Trials is an exploration in history because Salem Village was put in a position to grasp a chance at the devil, or to choose the right or wrong decision as a village.

Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials were several victims being accused of witchcraft and conspiring with the devil. After very disturbing events, the Reverent Parris decides to take things into his own hands and find out who is making the young women of the village suffer. So you might be wondering what really happened during the Salem Witch Trials? Witchcraft Phenomenon •White magic was a type of “good” magic that was more so performed by young girls.

In the spring of 1692, a superstitious belief of witchcraft mysteriously appeared in a small village of New England named as Salem. The Salem village was settled by religious colonists seeking to build a pure Puritan bible-based society. The Puritans were expected to follow their strict moral code to avoid their strong belief in the wrath of God. Majority of the sinners, who drifted away from the Puritan lifestyle, developed witchcraft hysteria which was believed as the devil’s possession of God’s people. As time passed, the paranormal outburst of witchcraft resulted in the Salem Witch Trials which involved executions and prosecutions of innocent people accused for witchcraft. However, the Salem Witch Trials were not proven by reliable

The Salem witch trials was one of the most famous what John's and history. Some say there are more modern witch hunts this day and age.