Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

The first reason the Salem witch trials occurred was mainly because people were scared of the devil. The people of Salem were all Puritans and were extremely scared of Satan. Since they were so scared, once one person was accused, everybody became spectacle and believed that there was witchcraft in the village. The smallest little suspicions caused people to think that you were a witch. Even by the way you acted in one little way, the town would freak out

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. These trials began after a group of young girls in Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several other locals of witchcraft. After this broke out a special court convened in Salem to “hear and determine” (Mather 328)

The Salem Witch Trials were a time of paranoia and mass hysteria. In this small town of Massachusetts hundreds were accused of witchcraft and 19 people were executed. Salem was home to very devout Puritans. The worries arrived when young girls would become sick with no explanation or cure. The doctors not knowing what the cause of the illness was, quickly pronounce the girls bewitched. It spread terror through the town. The girls, as well as other residents, started accusing others of witchery. Many accusations were because of vengeance or self-interest. There were rivalries between families over land or wealth. Neighbors started accusing each other in order to gain their land. The religious community had an intensified sense of fear that the Devil was walking among them. They believed witches were out to destroy the Puritans. In order to purify the village of evil they had trials for the accused.

Three centuries ago, the Puritan religion was the base of the Salem village and many townspeople strongly believed in the existence of witches and witchcraft. According to the common Puritan belief, witches were in alliance with the devil and were granted power to harm. People were blamed for illness, failed crops, to bad weather, and many other things that were evident centuries ago. Due to the belief in witchcraft villagers were, perhaps, inclined to the most improbable explanations. The Puritans held strict views, ways of living, perspectives fears, and fantasies. Many Puritan ministers used the the fear of witchcraft to scare the believers into following the church. Historians believe these strict Puritan ways of life may have brought upon the witchcraft hysteria in Salem. At the time, witches and witchcraft were a serious and viewed as a real threat; almost as real as

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of trials in the 1690s which accused society members of practicing witchcraft, they took place in Salem, Massachusets. What caused this mass hysteria to occur? Some contributing factors could include some socio-economic reasons, an overbearing Puritan society and the influential sense that witchcraft was taking place all over the world.

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of accusations, trials, and executions based on the supposed outbreak of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. The trials began during the spring of 1692, and the last of them ended in 1693. It all started when two young girls, Abigail and Betty Parris, began experiencing violent convulsions and outbursts, which were thought to be brought about by witchcraft. Whether they were faking these symptoms, were afflicted with an actual sickness, or were experiencing them because of some sort of psychological reason is widely debated, though it is known that the sisters accused their maid, Tituba, of forcing them to participate in witchcraft with her. Some who theorize about the causes of the trials dismiss the Parris girls involvement in the beginning and instead attribute the outbreak of accusations to judgement upon the members of society who break social or religious rules, or who struck the upright members of society as ‘strange’ and ‘suspicious’, such as the homeless, the poor, and old or widowed women. The cause of the hysteria that went on in Salem after this is what is speculated by so many. There are probably hundreds of theories out there, but a few in particular are more widely known, accepted, and supported than others.

The events that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 have had historians scrutinizing over the causes for years. There have been several theories about how the situation became so out of control. The haunting story is well known in America, taught to our youth and has been the focus of numerous forms of media. We are familiar with the story but unfamiliar with the origin of its beginnings. The role of religion and the presence of mob psychology were the primary catalyst behind the Salem witch trials.

The Salem witch craft hysteria of 1692 was caused by people thinking they could be possessed by the devil, the belief that witches were real and the fear of being accused for being a witch. Actions caused hysteria in Salem. These little girls were acting strangely, so they accused someone as a witch. In “Document C” it says they the girl accused did not even know what a witch was.

The Witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts began in 1692. The witch hysteria was started by two young girls who later though recounted the story as false. The people who believed in this was the Puritan community because of their devotion to God and the church. The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria in 1692 was mainly caused by health reasons but social and religious reasons were underlying causes. The Salem Witch Trials were caused by health reasons.

When the group of girls were acting strange and got accused of being witches, everyone started pointing fingers. There was the paranoia that any person could be a part of a conspiracy that was created by the devil caused false accusations to be spread around. This paranoia was used to make false accusations on many innocent citizens because people were trying not to take the focus away from themselves. There was research that was done on those that were accused and what it showed was that most of the accusations were against middle-age women who had few or no children and were widowed. The accused witches “were of low social position, and because of some domestic conflicts, they were accused of other crimes and were considered abrasive” (Brinkley, 86). by other people around them. Once a person was accused of being under the influence of the devil, which is a big offence, they would start to be treated differently from the rest. It wasn’t the actual presence of Satan that caused this chaos, but the anxiety and fear of him that did.

What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? Chaos arose in the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. In the 1600’s, the Puritans came to New England, otherwise known as present day United States, because they were unhappy with their church in England. Based solemnly on biblical beliefs, the Puritans lived a very strict lifestyle.

The English settler came from England establish a religion, they believed in the Bible, the devil, and witches. They said witches must die, so those who were accused were put on trailing usually killed. It started and ended in 1692 due to the mayors wife being accused of being a witch. When it ended over a hundred witches were released from jail. What made the salem people become hysterical about witches in 1692? The Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692 was caused by fear of being wrongly accused, being a witch, and the paranoia of being possessed by the devil.

According to Blumberg, the Salem of witch trails it was a really bad part of the United State. There were people who didn’t understanding why they were getting accused. This happed during the 1692 and 1693 in Massachusetts this was really happing during this time. The main parts that started and fueled the trials were politics, religion, family, feuds, economics, and the imaginations and fears of people (Sutter). The seeds of the hysteria is afflicted Salem village, Massachusetts were sown on January 1692 when groups of young lady’s began to display wild behavior. The physicians called to examine the girls could find no cause of the disturbing behavior. If the source of the affliction wasn’t attributable of a physical malady, the

The girls were believed to have started the accusations as a way of rejecting strict direction from men (as more men were accused and convicted for witchcraft than women). The hysteria swept Salem and lasted for almost 18 months with help from the clashes between the older religious generation and the modern generation. Many young adults were accused of witchcraft, sometimes for just not being as religious as their older counterparts. By not attending religious events or not engaging in the village's older traditions, people began to blame their “lack of faith” on witchcraft. As the trials went on, people held the belief that the symptoms that the girls had experienced, could inevitably happen to them if they did not pursue and get rid of any witches responsible.

Boyer and Nissenbaum point out that the actions of the girls in the village had been similar to the actions of other youth in the town of Northampton, located in west Massachusetts. What the Salem girls experienced was part of a religious awakening that started in Northampton and later swept the New England colonies. Much like Jonathan Edwards--the minister of Northampton--had done, Samuel Parris took advantage of the strange behavior to boost church attendance. However, Boyer and Nissenbaum go on to explain, the Salem villagers interpreted the behavior as demonic rather than divine. As the accusations progressed, it became evident that the girls did not know many of the people they were accusing, because they were being encouraged and influenced by others. But this does not explain why the girls would continue to attack innocent people. Perhaps the girls liked the fact that they were receiving quite a bit of attention, yet this does not seem to be an acceptable excuse to falsely imprison hundreds and execute nineteen