Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

During 1692 it was a very confusing time for the new Americans, known as The Salem Witch Trials. The witch trials was finger pointing and blame about who was a witch and who was not. People were afraid of the unknown and turned to religion and blamed witch craft on everything. This outbreak caused extreme confusion and disorder among an abundance of colonists in a community. The events that occurred describes a shameful time for colonists.

By the spring of 1692, Salem Village, Massachusetts the infamous witch hunt began. It all started by several girls diagnosed by a doctor who claimed they were possessed by the devil. The girls later claimed they were bewitched by some local women and saw these women in their dreams, torment them. Sarah Good, a beggar and described by the people of Salem as bad tempered, filthy, strangely detached from the community, happened to be one of the first three individuals who were accused. The girls claimed they were pinched, nibbled or injured by three women including Sarah Good. Good’s examination began in March 1, 1692. The examination was reported by Ezekiell Chevers.

In Rosalyn Schanzer book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem a story is told about a time when Salem, Massachusetts was flooded with witchcraft accusations. In 1692 Betty Parris and Abigail Williams started having mysterious fits. After a doctor examined the girls he diagnosed them with being bewitched! The people started a hunt for all witches in the new land. The first cause are the accusations, the second cause, the fits and the third cause is anger.

You're on trial, someone has accused you of murder. You know you are innocent but the crowd chants and chants, “murderer”. Everyone is swept up by the frenzy and no one is listening to your pleas. The ignorance, paranoia, and jealousy of the people had brought panic. This is what 17th century Salem might have felt like. Everyone accusing each other of witchcraft and in the end over 100 people are imprisoned with 20 people hung at gallows hill. However, this is not why the Witch Trials actually occurred. The mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials was caused by the socioeconomic problems the inhabitants of Salem experienced.

Bridget was the first of six women hung the month alone, five others were hung in August, and eight more in September. And while awaiting their own public deaths seven already condemned witches died in jail. In all the chaos of the trials some warned against it such as Minister Cotton Mather who wasn’t sure of the credibility of the testimonies of dreams and visions. Mathers views were ignored throughout the trials until the Court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved and later courts were not allowed to use spectral evidence to decide

Puritan laws were extremely strict and the community needed to follow this laws, so everyone who went against the laws or did something that was against the law was viewed as a sin and that they deserved to be punished, this is why the community took the trials seriously and accused harshly the “witches”. There was hysteria because of the “witches” was among the streets of colonial Massachusetts, so the government and the judicial court, that were heavily influenced by puritanism, started a special court in Salem to hear the

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 Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, but most of them women.

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 started on February 29, 1692. Two young girls accused their slave woman, named Tituba, of putting a curse upon them when getting their fortune told to by her. They reported strange behaviors, ridiculous speeches and muttering, creeping under chairs, and getting into holes. Three women were accused of this crime, but only Tituba admitted to practicing witchcraft which saved her life. This spiraled into the hysteria of witchcraft. Three things that might have caused the hysteria of 1692 were land disputes, power of suggestion, and acting.

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions that delivered the final blow to New England Way, revealing social divisions. They turned friends and family against each other and sent the citizens into a panicked frenzy of accusations. No one could trust anyone, and over 200 women were accused of witchcraft. The Salem Witch trials marked a dark period in New England’s history.

The Salem Witch trials has definitely impacted history and the harsh technicalities the people of Salem had to experience was unimaginable and harsh. The period between February 1692- May 1963 introduced a whirlwind of speculation and accusations of the ordeal form in witchcraft and involvement with the devil. Almost all the people of Salem, Massachusetts were faced with trial and prosecution even when no act of witchcraft was evident. The spreading of rumors and the toil that societal tensions inflicted, caused heavy distress in the town. To this day, the legacy and past of the Salem Witch trials has left a transparent mark of its history that the people of Salem underwent. From gossiping, to trials, to lies, to hangings, the little town

The search for commies and witches happened at different points in time but had many similarities with very few differences. George Santayana said that, "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." this quote I feel directly goes along with McCarthyism and the Salem Witch 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

The Salem witchcraft trials resulted from a climate of repression, religious intolerance, and social hierarchy combined with fanaticism and the oppression of women. The Puritan leaders used the trials as a way to control the community and to prevent change in the strict social hierarchy. The trials ensured that the teachings of the church would be followed - anyone not following the church was simply accused of being a witch and punished accordingly. Witchcraft was considered a crime, and punishment was severe. The first recorded incidents of Witchcraft originated in the mind of a young girls who would supposedly use crystal balls to try and predict their future.