The Witch: The Legend Of The Bell Witch

"At the word witch, we imagine the horrible old crones from Macbeth. But the cruel trials witches suffered teach us the opposite. Many perished precisely because they were young and beautiful."

In Rosalyn Schanzer’s Witches! The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem, in Salem, Massachusetts a horrible crisis went down. In 1692 Puritans came to Salem with a belief. This belief lead to many witch accusations and problems in Salem. However these accusations weren’t just because the belief, many thought two girls had been very smart of accusing people of being witches. So many people started to do this and it lead to twenty-five innocent lives being lost. These witch accusations were because of people who wanted revenge, were ill, and because of Satan.

In the book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer the town of Salem starting going into a panic of the theory of witches from the fits of two girls. Everyone accusing each other, family is accusing family. Brothers are accusing brothers. Accused witches are taken to trial, but are the trials that fair? The trials were unfair because of the use of spectral evidence, the inability to testify for oneself, and the surprisingly unbiased judges.

The Salem witch trials were a dark time in American history. It all started when Reverend Parris’ daughter and niece were acting strangely after spending time with Parris’ slave Tituba. For example, “They were believed to have danced a black magic dance in the nearby woods. Several of the girls would fall to the floor and scream hysterically” (“Witchcraft in Salem”). Parris then believed that Tituba along with two other women had bewitched his daughter and niece, thus starting the witch hunt.

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")

According to folklore, the dog would then reveal the name of those responsible for bewitching the girl. In February of 1692, after two months of observing the girl in retched pain, Tituba agreed to assist in preparing the witchcake.

“Have you ever wondered if Magic or witches and wizards really exist in this modern world? Well yes, they do exist, and they are quite active in the modern world. There are more than 10 million witches in the United States, with new practitioners on the rise daily.”(Caine) Being a witch is much different than what you may have seen in the movies. There is real magic to the craft, but witches or wizards don 't walk around turning people into to frogs with a flick of their magic wands. They don 't disappear into thin air, nor do they fly around through the night on broomsticks. They also don 't live in a big castle or mansion. They walk around as normal people and you wouldn 't be able to tell them apart for anyone else. The art of real witchcraft is one of the oldest practices in the world. “The oldest instruments of the real craft that have been discovered date back to 40,000 years ago, while the practice of real witchcraft dates back to paleolithic times. It is very much a way of life, as you may have heard from the modern followers of Wicca. During the middle ages, and in the event known as The Inquisition, the practice of witchcraft became outlawed throughout most of the Christianized world, an offense punishable by death.”(Caine) A witchcraft frenzy broke out in the early colonial history of America in Salem, Massachusetts. Insane torture tactics were put in by the church to draw out confessions. This period of time is often cited as the start of "the burning times."

Reginald Scot explores the common perceptions towards witches in the late sixteenth century, which he claims they were commonly old, lame, full of wrinkles, poor (Levack 2004: ?), although not necessarily solitary (Larner 1984: 72). Scot claims that their appearance often caused alarm among many in the community and caused the neighbours to find truth in witches utterings. One could argue women were often ascribed with such stereotypes, for they were both physically and politically weakened, and were unable to distance themselves from accusations (levack 1984: 127). It is apparent the oppression of these women could represent an attempt to maintain hegemony in a patriarchal society in the late sixteenth century. Coincidentally, most women accused of sorcery often lived out of the constraints of male authority, where they would live alone, perhaps for the rest of her life.

So when those happened the community would believe it was a witch and try to find it. During the time people would be accused of be a witch if they “botched the Lord’s Prayer” or if they had any unusual strength. During the trials many young girls would accuse many older woman of being witches. This lead to more than one hundred and fifty women and girls being accused over the next 6 months when the salem witch trials took place.

Historians called this period the dark time when men and women hunted for witches known as the Salem Witch trials. European descents brought them the belief in witches and the devil. These beliefs that they believed in so much were from the teaching of the catholic church. During the seventeenth century, people were executed for being believed they were witches and followers of Satan. Most of these executions were performed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Mainly all of the accused victims were women, many historians believe that the charges of witchcraft were a way to control the women who threatened to take the power away from the men. During the Salem Witch trials how did the outbreak of the trials start and did religious beliefs of the European descents affect the relations of the Salem witch trials?

In the play the crucible miller writes about these girls and how they are in the woods dancing and summoning the devil, but they also somewhat commit witchcraft but once they got caught in the woods and committing witchcraft they blame it on other innocent people saying that they were the one's who were committing witchcraft. That same day in court when the people who were blamed for committing witchcraft were trying to tell the court that it wasn't them and they would never do that the court didn't believe them so they hung each and everyone of them that were blamed for it. This relates to our modern day because it's kinda happening now were the law is believing children over the adults because they think that the children is always right,

Witch hunting was the persecution and possible execution of individuals considered to be ‘witches’ loyal to the devil. It was an all too common occurrence from 1603-1712 all over Europe. However in order to understand why this happened the context must be taken into account. It was a time of change, the Renaissance - the rebirth of culture, ideas and attitudes to living. The Reformation had also only been implemented in England in the last 80 years back from 1603, when it had previously been catholic for centuries. The English civil war from 1642 to 1651 is argued to have played a part in the intensification of the witch hunts in England due to the peak in executions whilst it was on going. Some historians have taken the view that in time of crisis certain groups can be victimised like in wars, famine, disease outbreaks and changes in society structure.

"I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!" The Wicked Witch of the West...

Title of the Work: Wicked: The Life and Times of The Wicked Witch of The West

By the time it came for Class 1-A to have their tournament, we were all ready. I had to admit, they did a great job decorating the school. There were jack-o-lanterns everywhere, their faces carved into creepy expressions, and there were bats, spiders, and spider webs, too. The hardest thing about it being at night was that it was pretty hard to see, but we were making it work.