The Salem Witch Trials During The 17th Century

Salem Witch Trials: The witch trials were a series of hearings, and prosecutions of people being accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692, through May 1693. The primary source of the trials is unknown, but it was most recognized when a group of young girls, from the village Salem, started to speak of the devil invading their home and try to take over through his “minions” that he persuaded to write in his book. This group of girls accused over 200 people for working for the devil, or being witches, and

During the period of late seventeenth century in colonial Salem, Massachusetts, two girls began acting in an uncanny manner. These girls then accused two woman and a slave for being witches; which caused the town of Salem to emerge into a period of witch cleansing. Mostly, the people of Salem were Puritans who found many different reasons to accuse one of being a witch. The start of the witch trials began in 1692 and ended in 1693 by Governor Phips; whose wife was prosecuted as a witch. These Salem Witch Trials began by religious superstition, the appearance of the perceived witch, and through torture and forced confessions.

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 Salem witch trials were a difficult time for the citizens of the Massachusetts Colony in the late seventeenth century. They were accused of practicing the Devil’s magic, which many believed to be real; so real that people were being imprisoned and executed for it. Between the years 1692 and 1693 there were over two hundred accusations and about 20 people and two dogs were killed altogether.

Throughout history, there have been many cases of discriminatory accusations of people, including the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were a string of trials, hearings and prosecutions of many people accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts between the dates of February 1692 and May 1693. The trials ended up leading to the execution of twenty people, men and women, but mainly women. The Salem Witch Trials that took place about three hundred years ago affected the lives of everyday civilians during that time in ways such as politically, religiously, economically, fearfully, mentally, and sometimes in other various other ways.

In 1692 women were accused of being witches. This resulted in the execution of twenty

The Salem Witch Trials occurred in 1692 and 1693 in colonial Massachusetts. “More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft – the Devil’s magic – and 20 were executed” as detailed by Jess Blumberg on the web article A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials (Blumberg 2007). The trials had a major impact on the American society and the effects could be seen in colonial America as well as today.

Salem Witch Trials was a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in the Salem Village of the 17th century New England. The trials caused executions of many people but mostly women. Salem Witch Trials exposed the different roles men and women were supposed to play during the seventeenth century. Women were supposed to take on “wifely duties” such as, be mothers and housewives. Women were thought to follow the men. The trials also revealed that there were strict religious norms during the seventeenth century. There was a rigid moral code believed that God would punish sinful behavior. Those who were under the covenant by the church of the Salem Village believed that Satan would select those to fulfill his work

The Salem Witch trials started in 1642 over the possible witchery of the children in a Massachusett town called Salem. It all started with children under the care of Parris begin to scream wildly. When a doctor came to check on the children his answer was “ They are bewitched.” Over time more children begin to show the same symptoms and as a result the trials begin to stop this. Salem Witch Trials ended with 19 hanged and over 150 accused of bewitching the children. Abigail Williams is the most to blame for the Salem Witch Trials, because of causing Hysteria, Personal goals or desires, and responsible for the deaths.

the accused behalves were frequently in turn accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch Trials

In 1692, a series of accusations of witchcraft took place in Salem, Massachusetts. Over the course of the six month hysteria, roughly 150 residents of Salem were accused of witchcraft, twenty of whom were put to death. This period has come to be known as the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials began when two young girls in Salem began to act strangely; they would often slip into transes, murmur strange phrases, and their bodies would become convoluted via spasms and seizure-like fits. Reverend Parris, the minister of Salem Village at the time of the trials, proposed witchcraft as an explanation for the girls’ symptoms. A local doctor’s diagnosis confirmed these suspicions, and shortly thereafter, several other girls in the village

The Salem Witches trials started with eight girls’ strange behavior they became ill with strange “distempers” in December 1691. A few months later, in February 1692, a local doctor suggested the girls were bewitched (Caporael 21). This ignited the sudden growth of witchcraft accusations in the Salem area. Today, there are various theories explaining these unusual afflictions including convulsive ergotism and an encephalitis epidemic (Caporael, Matossian 355, Carlson xvi). The Salem Witches were relatively short lived and all who had been imprisoned, and not executed for witchcraft were released in the spring of 1693 (Carlson 8, Matossian 355).

The Salem Village community experienced an instability due to accusations of witchcraft, which spiralled into extreme measures whereby many were persecuted as a result of the Salem Witch Trials. It began during January 1692 when several girls began to experience unknown distempers provoking a physician examination to take place which determined that the girls may have been bewitched. This prompted the girls to begin crying out and blame those responsible for bewitching them, including

In Salem Village, many teenage girls were sickened by the harsh survival of living in an adult world that did not cater to the children’s needs for their physical and mental health. In the Puritans’ moral beliefs, the adolescences’ struggles involved the possibility for damnation, temptation of sin, destabilization of hormones, and strict attitudes on marriage. The sociological pressures affected the teenage girls’ desire for freedom to move outside their low status in society. In psychological terms, Hysteria is a somatization disorder of strong uncontrollable emotions, selective amnesia, and attention-seeking behaviors. Once, Hysteria was described as a medical condition that only affected the mental health of women. The symptoms of Hysteria included partial paralysis, hallucination, feverishness, hiding under furniture, distress, anger, violent screams, and nervousness. Hysteria played a huge role in the behavior of afflicted girls who were physically healthy before their misfits began. On the other hand, the conspiracy theory of convulsive Ergotism attributed the afflictions of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. Convulsive Egotism is a condition formed from the digestion of contaminated rye, wheat, and other grains that have been invaded by fungus. As the effect of eating ergot-contaminated food, some women who developed abnormal behaviors such as conspiratorial fantasies and hallucinations accused other women as witches in Salem. According to modern academic historians, the behaviors of bewitchment developed from other medical explanations such as Encephalitis, Lyme disease, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Projection, and small

In 1692, the Salem Witch Trials were held in Salem Village. Local officials interrogated women over their affiliation with witchcraft. Most of