The Bad Ones: an Allegory of the Salem Witch Trials

The Salem witch trials was a story of envy, lies, and the danger of the people. Others wouldn’t defend those accused, and if they did, they themselves were eventually charged as witches. In many ways, defending others was condemning yourself. Such was the case for John Proctor in “The Crucible”. John Proctor was someone who had made mistakes, but through his own crucible made peace with himself and defended the honor of himself and the others that would not admit to witchcraft.

What was the Salem Witch Trials? During 1692 and 1693, colonial Massachusetts accused more than 200 people and executed twenty women for practicing witchcraft. Witchcraft at the time was known as the Devil’s magic. Several centuries ago, many religions had a strong belief in the Devil. Among these religions was Christianity. The religions believed that the Devil would give the witches the power to harm others. The witches, in return, would offer the Devil their loyalty. Between the 1300s and the end of the 1600s, more than ten thousand women were executed due to be involved with witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials occurred when Reverend Samuel Parris’s daughter and niece started to behave strangely. Samuel Parris was Salem’s first ordained minister

Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. Marc Aronson. (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, November 1, 2003. 272.)

The Salem Witch Trials was a very dark period in our history that occurred in the colony of Salem, Massachusetts. These trials began in February 1692 and ended in May of 1693. There were over two hundred individuals who were accused of practicing witchcraft. Of those two hundred accused, nearly twenty innocent souls were lost. This was one of the most severe cases of mass hysteria in recorded history. There was a great effort exhorted by the Massachusetts General Court to declare a guilty verdict, that the framers of the United States Constitution went to great lengths to never let this type of tragedy occur again; commonly known as the eighth amendment. Remarkably so, some may argue that there were similarities in Salem and the

It all comes back to two young kids they were acting strange they were not them self people believed that they were possessed by the devil they were thought to be witches. how did the devil become associated with witches and witchcraft?

The Salem witch trials were a dark time in our history, filled with paranoia, betrayal, the innocence of children, and vengeance.The incident would be so severe that it would leave bitter scars that have continued to this day.

History shows the remarkable things that society has done over the years, it also shows where society failed and mistakes were made. This is the case of the Salem Witch Trials. The people of Salem experienced an event that would change them and the course of this country forever. The mass hysteria and rampant paranoia that swept New England in 1692, is what turned neighbor against neighbor. The Salem villagers would accuse one another of casting spells, consorting with the devil, and being witches, all of which was a punishable crime in the 17th century. ("Search")

The Salem Witch Trials began during the spring of 1692 after a group of young girls in Salem Village, MA, said they were being possessed by the devil and accused local women of witchcraft. With chaos running around the village, the special court began taking on cases. Bridget Bishop, the first convicted witch, was hung that June month. Many people of the Salem community had major consequences including death and harrassment. Belief that the devil could give certain humans, or witches, power to harm others in return for their loyalty emerged throughout europe as early as the 14th century. All of this chaos and phenomenon led to a pointing fingers game of who is guilty. Chaos also brought up the question of why it happened, malice, spite, or

Introduction - The Salem Witch trials was a time of hysteria and confusion. People were being accused and giving false confessions of witchcraft being performed on the people of Salem, Massachusetts.

The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The hysteria caused 19 documented hangings at or around Gallows Hill. People were being accused of witchcraft and put to death for it, even without spectral evidence. When the “afflicted girls” accused their first suspects, one made a surprisingly terrifying confession that shook fear into the Puritans to an extreme extent. The Puritans feared the devil more than (modernly) seen as necessary. To have people in their own towns, possibly their neighbor, family member, or friend working for the devil was frightening. Witches, they were the gateway for satan to get into this new world they Puritans had just built. They lived their lives as thinking the devil was always plotting

In January of 1692, two girls became ill, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris. When their state did not improve the doctor, William Griggs, was called in to help. In June of 1692, the special court of Oyer and Terminer sat in Salem to hear the cases of witchcraft. Presided over by Chief Justice William Stoughton, the court was made up of magistrates and jurors.

The Salem witch trails were in an age of superstition. There were great tensions with the fact that some individuals were changing religions, or they were leaving to gain different religious opinions. Although the Massachusetts colony was under a lot of stress and tension that did not give them the right to hang or burn individuals because they were witches. Now, some of the members of this colony that participated in the Salem witch trial might have had a psychological and issues, but that still did not give them the right to hang innocent people.

In 1692, 19 women were hung and 200 more were accused of witchcraft. All because of the strange actions of 8 young girls. These 8 girls showed signs of being possessed by the Devil. They had seizures, trances, delusions and extreme illness unexpectedly. Fear of being killed by the Indians and worry that there was not enough food and water put the level of tension at a new high for the villages, spread this hysteria faster than wildfire.

Over the course of a year, dozens of people, mostly teenage girls, claimed to be put in spells casted by men and women who had "enlisted the supernatural powers of the devil". This occurred in Salem village, a small village a few miles away from Salem town. The accusations started in the Parris household in 1962.

Resting underneath the shade of the trees, I found myself appreciating the scent of pine needles; the ambiance of Christmas. Encompassed by the thick heavy air, I watched as a single sparrow fluttered high above the emerald forest. A few feet next to me an eager chipmunk hastily scampered from tree to tree, awaiting the chill of winter. The forest, I realized, was home to many wild creatures. In giving protection and food, the forest was gladly rewarded with the company of these animals. Beyond the horizon, I could see the community of newly formed saplings. They appeared as little children, learning under the guidance of their grown and fully matured parents.