Salem Witch Trial Research Paper

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.

We’ve all heard the stories of the Salem Witch Trials that occurred in 1692 and 1693. During these harsh times, lives were lost due to the strong religious beliefs of the Puritans who full heartedly believed that the Devil was present in everyday life and that he lived in the woods. In contrast to their popular belief at the time, real scientific evidence has been presented that the reason behind the Salem Witch Trials was actually Ergot Poisoning, not the Devil. According to the article, ergot is a fungus, “that affects the rye grain,” (PBS 2016), which causes numerous side effects. Many factors contribute to the ergot poisoning idea, such as the climate and growing conditions that ergot thrives in, what wheat rye was infected in relation to where the accused and accusers lived as well as the time span, and the symptoms of this type of poisoning.

Lastly to further fuel the hysteria on all the occurring witch trials, was the possibility of ergot playing a role among the Puritan accusers, as was proposed by Linda Caporael in document N. Ergot, which may or may not have been present and consumed in the diet of the Puritans, could lead to abnormal body symptoms such as a raise in anxiety. With all the trials occurring around the village of Salem, it’s likely the thought of possibly being accused caused anxiety levels to soar among the people, particular the females. According to documents B and E, most of the accusers were women who accused other

The largest outbreak of witchcraft in America took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. A group of girls, including the Parris’s Indian slave Tituba, gathered in the Salem village and were attempting to see the future by decoding “messages”. Shortly after this gathering the girls started showing signs of the possessed (pg. 73). To this day people all over America are still amazed with the events that took place in this time. But why is that? The fear of the village fell heavily onto the judicial system, which later made people focus on the proper separation of government and religious beliefs. Mass hysteria broke out amongst the village and many people were being accused, therefore leading to many innocent deaths. Although there could be many theories as to the reason the witch trials in Salem began, there are two points of view that are very commonly shared amongst people. Some believe that the Salem witch trials were women unconsciously searching for power, whereas others believe it was an encephalitis epidemic.

The girls at trial could have mass panic attacks as probable evidence at each woman 's trial. The villager suspected certain men and women of witchcraft no one was safe. The same was for the slave named Tituba whose West Indian ancestry mad the villagers extra suspicious of her practicing some form of voodoo, a Haitian religion. A group of small girls which it started from Becky Panis and Abigail Williams a game was played amongst the girls which involved experimenting with fortune telling and little spells. The girls hid anything they did in secret from their parents, because they knew that what they were doing was forbidden(Magoon 37). “ One of the first trials was of Bridget Bishop. Bishop was accused of transforming into a cat. She was found guilty and on June 10, 1692, she was hanged. The putnam family accused Rebecca Nurse of being a witch. She happened to have a long-standing quarrel with the family. In her trial, the jury found her not guilty, but the judge overruled and gave her guilty , she also hanged(Dunn 22-23)”. Modern Psychologist who studied the situation of this time era may have believed that the girls suffered from a psychological disorder that caused panic attacks. These girls were never forgotten by many historians till this day do not understand the inquiries of the situation.

Theorists claim that the Salem witch trials were the result of a harvest of bad rye. Ergot poisoning or convulsive ergotism could be the cause of symptoms exhibited by the “bewitched”. The growth of ergot on rye is dependent on weather. Ergot is more likely to grow in years with cooler temperatures and increased precipitation. The lands in which ergot flourishes are newly tilled low and shaded areas (Matossian).

Ergot is a parasitic fungus that is known to grow on grains like rye, and any kind of cereal grains. In my belief the exchange of foods with theses grains is what caused the Salem people to have such a big outbreak during the Salem Witch Trials. To think that it could possibly be anything else that caused such trouble, would be silly to think it was witchcraft causing this. In every situation it was unavoidable to have received any type of rye, and for the Salem town it was just a bad time for this all to happen.

The witch trials began when nine girls, known as the afflicted girls, experienced strange symptoms. In the beginning, there were only five afflicted girls: Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., Mary Walcott, and Mercy Lewis. Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Booth later began experiencing the symptoms, which involved strange fits, irregular body contortions, and fevers. Although the symptoms seem phenomenal, modern theories suggest that the children were merely bored, abused, or had epilepsy, a mental illness, or a disease that was obtained from eating rye bread infected with a fungus. Reverend Samuel Parris, Betty Parris’ father, asked Dr. William Griggs to deduce the problem, and Dr. Griggs concluded that they were bewitched. The group of girls accused three women of causing their unnatural behaviors: Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, a slave owned by Samuel Parris. The women were easy targets for the girls because they were outcasts (Brooks). Sarah Good was a beggar, Sarah

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.

The first reason why Ergot is the main cause of the Salem Witch Trials is that the symptoms of those who were “bewitched” were experiencing line up exactly with the symptoms of those who had consumed Ergot. Linda R. Caporael of University of California at Santa Barbara argues that “symptoms displayed by the children thought to be bewitched - fits and complaints of being pricked or bitten, for example - were typical of ergotism. This suggest that those

Let me set the stage: It is winter, in Salem Massachusetts, the year of our lord 1692. The cupboards are full. The fall harvest was good. All the food staples are stored. An evil lurks in the food stores. An Evil awaits in cupboards and the evil has a name and it is Ergot fungus. When rye grains is contaminated with ergot fungus and then eaten strange things begin to happen. Linnda Caporael (given her creditioanals ) proved 284 years later in the year of our lord 1976 that it was the ergot fungus toxin behind what happened in Salem Massachusetts that winter causing twenty people to lose their lives by hanging to accusations of witchcraft.

American history is filled with amazing events of settling and exploring new lands and frontiers while forging a new nation that would be resilient when challenged. However, the year 1692 America witnessed a tragedy when the new occupants and immigrants of Salem were faced with accusations of witchcraft. The subject of the Salem witchcraft trials has been portrayed in contemporary fictional works such as dramas and novels and even major motion pictures. This period of American history has certainly stood the test of time and continues to gather interest and fascinate American history buffs. In order to understand how ergot poisoning was responsible for the Salem witchcraft trials, one must examine the growing conditions of ergot, the symptoms of ergot and the victims and examine the colony and the trials.

It is a known fact that ergot fungus causes people to hallucinate. This is seen in Document H, which states, “(Ergot) has 10 percent of the activity of LSD, (and) is also found in morning glory seeds, the ritual hallucinogenic drug used by the Aztecs” (Caporael 1). Because of its hallucinogenic properties, the ergot probably caused many of the supposed apparitions that many people saw, such as Ann Putnam, Jr, in Document G. Additionally, there was a drought in 1692 which killed the rye that the ergot fungus grew on, and the Salem Witch hysteria also stopped the next year (Caporael 1). This means that rye, which the ergot fungus grew on, definitely had a factor in the Salem Witch Trials. The ergot fungus was also observed to affect more females than males (Caporael 1). This would explain why there were so many more women became accusers than men, as seen in Document C. This shows a direct correlation between the ergot fungus and the people who were affected by witchcraft symptoms, which adds further credibility to how the ergot fungus caused the Salem Witch hysteria in 1692.

Within this Puritan community, witch hysteria arose in 1692—the Salem Witch Trials. However, the common misconception is that many believed that the witch trials only took place in Salem. In fact, there were more people accused of witchcraft in other towns, such as Andover (Norton). In Salem, the witch crisis began when two young girls, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams, suffered from uncontrollable fits and violent behavior, which led to the suspicion of that these children were under Satan’s influence (Frost-Knappman). Paris and Williams accused three women of bewitching them- Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne- who were promptly arrested (Salem Witch Trials and Executions). From there, the witch madness spread within the community. Tituba, a slave, confessed to witchcraft and pointed fingers at other women in the Salem community. Full of fear, the governor of Massachusetts, William Phips demanded trials to be issued for these witchcraft cases. As a

In 1692, people started doing strange behaviors such as convulsing uncontrollably, or crying in fear from a terrifying hallucination such as something dark and scary in their chimney. Due to the lack of medical knowledge at that time, the citizens automatically assumed it was witchcraft and out of panic, the Salem Witch Trials began. However, with advanced medical scientific experts around today, the theory that actual witchcraft was a thing has been dropped. What remains a mystery is “What was the real cause of the strange behaviors?”. The only thing that is certain is that it was not witchcraft. Even though the reasons behind the strange behaviors is unknown, there are many theories. One of them is the ergot poisoning theory. Ergot poisoning (also known as ergotism) comes from a fungus called Claviceps purpurea. This harmful fungus often sprouts up around grains such as rye; and a lot of bread is made from rye or wheat. Since bread was eaten a lot in Salem Massachusetts, this philosophy does have some valid points. The symptoms of ergot poisoning match what the supposed “victims of witchcraft” had as well; creating another supporting point to this theory. However, this philosophy also has some questionable considerations as well such as the fact that animals used for meat could have given the people alkoid poisoning from eating the fungus or the grains that it touched; or the fact some scientists also say that the people of Salem Massachusetts were too healthy to have a