The Effect Of The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem witch trials were a result of mass hysteria. It was caused by false accusations. On May 1693, fourteen women, five men, and two dogs were executed for supposed supernatural crimes. The Salem trials have a unique place in our collective history today. (" Saxon, V,Procedure Used in...").

Witch trials were a big part of the United States’ history. During the witch trials violence was more abundant than usual. They really started getting “popular” in the late 1600’s. The violence of the trials impacted people’s lives so heavily back then. By looking at witch trials, we can see the vicious impact it had, which most readers don’t see; this is important because it shows that violence was and is always the answer. People were most commonly tortured by stoning, being burned alive, and by placing heavy rocks on top of one’s body until they died. Women and, sometimes, men went into hiding and feared for their children and their own lives. Puritans wanted to please God and they thought killing witches, who were thought to be satanic, would be a good deed. Cotton Mather was one of those Puritans. Violence was a public practice and people would often come out with their kids and watch the trials so everyone became desensitized, for a period of time, but it also struck fear into the people who were “not doing what they were supposed to do”, according to the Puritans, or who were mentally disabled.

Did you know that the Salem witch trials resulted in the execution of only twenty people? Most people believe that hundreds of people were executed during the Salem witch trials, which is often a very common thought but in actuality only twenty people (mostly women) were executed. The Salem witch trials was a huge part of American history, they are important to remember because they are probably a crucial turning point for America, because before the trials religion and superstition were very important and after the trials happened rational thinking became more and more important. The Salem witch trials had such an impact on American people that they are still remembered and talked of in today’s society. These trials are still today widely thought of as being important, because they showed an excellent example of how people hate or fear what they do not understand, which is still a behavior that is seen in present society. The Salem Witch Trials had many causes which all could have been prevented if the Puritan government would have taken the time to investigate the accusations of the alleged crimes being committed. The Salem witch trials provide many interesting aspects to discuss such as, the historical information on the Salem witch trials, how the Puritan government could have prevented this by not accepting spectral evidence, and why the puritan government was so willing to accept the accusations being made.

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

Between the months of June to September of 1692, the infamous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts resulted in the hanging of 19 men and women; the deaths of five others, including two children, while imprisoned in jail; the pressing to death of an 80-year old man, and the stoning of two dogs for collaborating with the Devil. Hundreds of others faced accusations and dozens more were jailed for months during the progress of the trials. For over three hundred years these events have not only captured the general publics' imagination, but that of the academic community. Beginning with Charles Upham, in 1867, historians have attempted to explain the mass hysteria that swept through Salem in 1692. These accounts vary both in their

The Salem witch trials had a drastic affect on the Puritan religion. The trials helped shape and point the direction for the New England Colonies and the Puritan religion. The Salem witch trials outbreak began in 1692. In the past, there had only been about five convictions of people being accused of witchcraft; none of this resulted in any deaths(Wilborn 16). Usually just a fine was given, but by the end of 1692 there was already 150 arrests (17). Whether you were rich or poor, it didn’t seem to matter, anyone and everyone was being accused. No one felt safe at this time (Trask ix).

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")

During the Salem Witch Trials, young girls were among the first people to accuse women of witchcraft. The whole town was worried and there was an everlasting tension in the air. After the Witch trials were over (which ended because the mayor’s wife was accused), the whole town admitted that they had made a huge mistake by accusing people. They acknowledged that the whole thing was practically a game that a few little girls started and too many people got too caught up in it and wrapped up in the game. After the Witch Trials, the town was never the same again. The town had an aroma of extreme awkwardness and embarrassment because they knew what they had done was foolish.

Witch hunts have been going on for a long time- since the 15th century. The earliest known witch trials in which the accused were associated with the fully developed stereotype of the demonic witch was in the valais with trials of 1428, that took place in the western Alps. Witch hunts mean a search for and subsequent persecution of a supposed witch in other words hunting for witches so they can kill them.

The Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As a wave of hysteria spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, a special court convened in Salem to hear the cases; the first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hanged that June. By September 1692, the hysteria had begun to spread and public opinion turned against the trials. Though the Massachusetts General Court later annulled guilty verdicts against accused witches and granted indemnities to their families, bitterness lingered in the community, and the painful legacy of the Salem witch trials would endure for centuries.

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.

Devastation come in all shapes and forms. Whether it is a hurricane that has destroyed a whole city or a plague that’s whipped out a whole country. In today’s society, we are able to track a hurricane and evacuate all nearby populaces before it arrives and a plague is highly unlikely due to our modern medicines, many different vaccines that have been and still are being created. However, in Salem Massachusetts, a devastation occurred that was unprecedented. It was not a hurricane or even a plague that had killed innocent people, but a group of girls. Could this have been prevented and lives saved? This paper will discuss the events that occurred in Salem in 1692 and the impact it had on the community.

In the aftermath of the Salem witch trials, the American colonies were shaken to their core. The events were captivating, horrifying and fascinating. In the aftermath, the country looked towards a brighter future, one free of demons and hysteria. America was on the path to modernization, keen on putting aside such old world ideas as witches. In his wide spanning book, America Bewitched, Owen Davies follows America’s life after Salem, recounting the country’s fascination with witchcraft. Through thematic chapters, Davies offers reports of witch-trials, magical beliefs, and the changing attitudes of a modernizing society. While thorough and gripping, the book steers clear of arguing for a specific meaning behind the United States’ continuing enthrallment with the subject. However, a common thread can be found in the evolving attitudes towards beliefs in witchcraft and the European concept of the ‘other.’ By highlighting Davies tales of interracial confrontations in the Spanish colonies of the southwest, the tension between slaves and owners in the Deep South, and the outer reaches of the Alaskan territory, a clear connection ties the United States continuing enthrallment with witchcraft and colonialism.

In January 1692 the Puritan communities of Salem Town and Salem Village found themselves under attack by unknown assailants. Tales of witchcraft, ghost, and blood bonds with the Devil run rampant. Could it be that these God-fearing men, women, and children are now living within the Devil’s playground; or is something more sinister at work? Many saw these attacks as a battle for the eternal souls of their neighbors. Others saw an opportunity to exact revenge against those that had done them wrong. Regardless of the motivation, the Salem Witch Trials proved to be a dark stain upon the history of Massachusetts.

The Salem Witch trials are an infamous moment in American history , portraying old American thought on society and religious belief. Throughout the years, scholars have adopted theories to explain one of America’s greatest mysteries. In light of such theories, it becomes apparent that there is no magic to explain the decisions that the people of Salem made, but was rather fueled by jealousy of economic success and religious misguidance.