Symptoms And Symptoms Of A Fever Of Salem, By Laurie Winn Carlson

Intro: What is Ergot poisoning and how does it affect the brain? Scientists have found that ergot; the poisonous fungus that grows in rye, is highly toxic. The symptoms display themselves in an altered state of mind. Ergot has also been used for medicinal purposes beside being a naturally occurring fungus.Ergot poisoning was the fundamental reason for the mass hysteria during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Salem, Massachusetts became famously known for the witch trials that took place in the late 1600’s. For the men and women residing in Salem, Massachusetts it was a time in which they lived in fear of allegations and deceit. Twenty men and women lost their lives during what is known as the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria. Socioeconomic tensions within the community are to blame for the witchcraft hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600’s. Factors such as politics, religion, and social status all played a role in the deadly and devastating era.

Several theories exist to explain why the witch hunts occurred. These theories each have contributing factors in the events leading up to the trials in Salem. First, the Ergot Fungus theory discusses the effect of ergot contaminated food on human beings, which clearly relates to evidence shared at the trials. This evidence includes the fact that ergot fungus affected rye, which was a main crop in Salem during the time of the witch trials. “Ergotism is caused by Claviceps purpurea, which affects rye, wheat and other cereal grasses (EF, #1).” “At that time, rye was the staple crop in Salem (EF, #1).” It also states that “ergot-contaminated food can lead to a convulsive disorder characterized by violent muscle spasms vomiting, delusions, hallucinations, crawling sensations on the skin, and a host of other symptoms, all of which, Linda Caporael noted, are present in the records of the Salem witchcraft trials (EF, #1).” Another important piece of information from this theory is that “nearly all of the

Hysteria is defined as an exaggerated or irrepressible emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, hysteria rocked a small Puritan community. Over the span of four short months, nineteen people were hanged to death and another was pressed to death by stones. Puritans in the community accused one another of witchcraft—a crime punishable by death—and so hysteria swept the village. The causes of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 remain a mystery to this day; however, religious, economical, and social reasons were undoubtedly to blame.

Salem Village was one of many non-urban inhabitants. They were looked upon as country folk because of their interests and beliefs in the church and growing tobacco to survive in this new land. There was not much for children to do except go to church, work on the fields, or go to school. You can imagine how bored these children can get. In such a secluded lifestyle as this, you would be a crazy person if you were at all different, and this episode would be so different that it would be traumatic to the people of this small village. Traumatic as it was, I believe the people just did not know how to react in such a situation.

In early 1692 Salem village, Massachusetts began to experience strange occurrences among their residents. Victims suffered from strange mental and physical illnesses. The randomness of the victims, and their unusual symptoms, led residents to suspect a supernatural explanation. These suspicions eventually led to the infamous Salem Witch Trials. Past historians have concentrated their research on the accused, while Laurie Winn Carlson focuses on the afflicted in her novel, A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials. Carlson offers an innovative, knowledgeable explanation of witchcraft’s link to organic illness. She focuses on the physical symptoms of “possession”, which can include convulsion, hallucinations, distorted language and paralysis; which are all congruent with the symptoms of encephalitis lethargica. Carlson expertly supports her case with accounts of Puritan religious and medical beliefs, histories of witchcraft and mental illness, scientific studies of plagues, colonial diaries and court records to those of the encephalitis lethargica epidemic in the early twentieth century. In eight chapters, Carlson convincingly argues that the victims suffered encephalitis lethargica and offers persuasive evidence for organic explanations of other witchcraft victims throughout New England. A Fever in Salem is a stimulating understanding of one of America’s most unusual moments and offers a retreat from the Freudian, Marxist, feminist, and

The salem witch trials hysteria of 1692 was caused by the Puritans strict religious standards and intolerance of anything not accepted with their scripture. The largest account of witch trials as well as deaths by witch trials occurred in Salem, a village heavily populated with the Puritans. Because most of the trials were occurring in Salem, this meant that the accusations were happening among the Puritans themselves, which could very well be anything as long as the Puritans found it as contradicting their bible. Not only did the strict religion intolerance fuel the accusations and trials, but also the possible factor of ergot being involved which has been known to cause symptoms leading to hysteria.

The article later on examines “In an effort to explain by scientific means the strange afflictions suffered by those "bewitched" Salem residents in 1692, a study published in Science magazine in 1976 cited the fungus ergot (found in rye, wheat and other cereals), which toxicologists say can cause symptoms such as delusions, vomiting and muscle spasms.” By stating this new-found resource, this gives the reading a logos appeal to reason the circumstance that there wasn’t anything supernatural involved with the hysteria in 1692. The outbursts caused by this unknown fungus and the resentment of the neighboring townsfolk heightened their suspicion toward themselves and

“A psychosomatic disorder is an illness caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as an internal conflict, which causes the body stress” (Van Heck). The year 1692 was filled with mass hysteria, along with many forms of mental, or psychosomatic diseases, but a doctor working in the year of 1692 had never perceived a psychosomatic disorder. In The Crucible, many of the girls who accused innocent women of being witches, showed multiple signs of a true psychosomatic illness. These young girls showed signs of a psychosomatic disorder because of their ability to make themselves faint, turn their skin cold, and frighten themselves by pretending to see objects that they did not physically see. The characters may have developed a psychosomatic illness from self-blame, stress, and/or anxiety. More or less, a psychosomatic disease affects a human's brain, which can then cause physical ailments to other parts of the body, such as pale skin and/or tachycardia. It has been highly controversial that humans can create their own psychosomatic illness and there will be many facts in the following paragraphs to prove as to how the illnesses have been created in a human's own head.

After Doctor Griggs examined the girls, he diagnosed them with “being victims of black magic,” as stated in the article “Were Witches Burned at the stake During the Salem Witch Trials?” written by Evan Andrews. After the diagnosis had been made, five more young girls of the community began contracting similar symptoms (“Salem Witch Trials”).

The Salem witch trials took place in Salem Village, Massachusetts. The group of girls claims to have seen magic or witchcraft. Years later, people began speculating the actual reality of the actions witnessed and believe it was actually caused by wheat and rye during that time that had a type hallucinatory fungus growing on it. This fungus is called Ergot, it has a byproduct similar to the drug Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). The side effects of this fungus after progression include: convulsions, spasms, vision problems, confusion, and death of not treated

There have been many theories and conspiracies following up the Salem Witch Trials of 1962 in Salem, Massachusetts. Many claims try to explain the existence of witches during the time but very few try to disprove those claims as well. Although they hold strong arguments only one theory has been able to be proven scientifically through the accounts of actual victims. Ergot poisonings have been very evident through the beginning of the “bewitchments” and throughout the trials. In 1962, eight young girls began to experience sickly symptoms and strange happenings that no nurse or doctor could explain. As they were left clueless with no explanation they concluded that girls were “bewitched” and ended up accusing three elderly women of being the witches of Satan while conducting spiritual acts of terrorism on them for sacrificial reasons. These women admitted to the crime and were sentenced to jail although more accounts of the same symptoms and happenings were spreading to even more people in the area. The theory of ergotism may be proven by the location and time period of the trials, the side effects of the ergot poisoning, and even the authentic accounts of the “bewitched” victims.

While researching texts written about the Salem Witch Trials, I found a few authors who published articles and books about the Salem Witch Trials. These authors often showed that the most likely cause of the fits coming from the victims was produced by ergot of rye. However, I could not find much discussion about another important source of the fits’ cause: witchcraft. My goal in this paper is to produce a convincing argument that the victims during the Salem Witch Trials that experienced strange behaviors came from ergot of rye rather than witchcraft.

First you may ask yourself what exactly is Ergot poisoning. Ergot is a fungal disease of rye that grows in the ear of the Cereal. Early colonists reported that they were dissatisfied with the common grass as it made their cattle ill.Ergot was first medically reported only a few years before the trials. This means that ergotism was a relevant disease at the time of the trials.You can acquire ergot poisoning simply by eating contaminated bread therefore the girls would not know that they were being poisoned. Ergotism Symptoms include crawling sensation in the skin and tingling in the fingers, vertigo, headaches, disturbances in sensation, painful muscular contractions leading to convulsions and vomiting. A few of the mental disturbances include mania, melancholia, psychosis, and delirium.(Caporeal 23)The accusers may have lost their minds to this awful disease. The biting, pinching, and pricking with pins may allude to the crawling sensations under the skin experienced by ergotism victims.(caporeal 25)

The girls in Salem were suffering from fits. They were hiding under furniture, had a fever and had pain constantly and were fatigued. The girls could not have been faking these symptoms. Since people cannot make themselves have a fever and cannot make themselves faint. They were suffering from the disorder because when the young girls heard of what was going on they started doing it as well. No one ever caught the illness unless they were stressed out about the news and believed they might have had it. They were not faking the symptoms because it caused people that they knew to be hurt as well and they still could not stop. The mass hysteria in Salem was from the puritans who thought the devil was was making people sick. The girls were very stressed out thinking they could be accused of witchcraft next that when they heard of the symptoms that some young children apparently had they seemed to get them too. All, the symptoms they had are all under the category of conversion disorder so now people can draw the conclusion that they just all thought they were sick. The girls in Salem were not faking the disorder of having conversion disorder.