Toxins In The Crucible

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 article later on examines “In an effort to explain by scientific means the strange afflictions suffered by those "bewitched" Salem residents in 1692, a study published in Science magazine in 1976 cited the fungus ergot (found in rye, wheat and other cereals), which toxicologists say can cause symptoms such as delusions, vomiting and muscle spasms.” By stating this new-found resource, this gives the reading a logos appeal to reason the circumstance that there wasn’t anything supernatural involved with the hysteria in 1692. The outbursts caused by this unknown fungus and the resentment of the neighboring townsfolk heightened their suspicion toward themselves and

The Salem Witch Trials was an uncanny and eerie event of hearings and prosecutions of people being accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. Although it lasted from 1691 to 1692, it lead to more than 200 people, including men and women, being accused and arrested of witchcraft and 20 of those people executed. The hysteria began with two young girls: Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams claiming to be possessed by the devil, causing the “witch-fever” among the Salem village. In this essay the circumstances behind poor harvest, sickness and the conjecture of witches and witchcraft being highly considered as a cause in this era will be described. The Salem Witch Trials were caused by environmental factors because the Salem community had limited understanding of natural causes such as poor harvest, sickness and diseases.

There have been many theories and conspiracies following up the Salem Witch Trials of 1962 in Salem, Massachusetts. Many claims try to explain the existence of witches during the time but very few try to disprove those claims as well. Although they hold strong arguments only one theory has been able to be proven scientifically through the accounts of actual victims. Ergot poisonings have been very evident through the beginning of the “bewitchments” and throughout the trials. In 1962, eight young girls began to experience sickly symptoms and strange happenings that no nurse or doctor could explain. As they were left clueless with no explanation they concluded that girls were “bewitched” and ended up accusing three elderly women of being the witches of Satan while conducting spiritual acts of terrorism on them for sacrificial reasons. These women admitted to the crime and were sentenced to jail although more accounts of the same symptoms and happenings were spreading to even more people in the area. The theory of ergotism may be proven by the location and time period of the trials, the side effects of the ergot poisoning, and even the authentic accounts of the “bewitched” victims.

When considering possible explanations for the Salem witch trials, it is important to consider and reference other historical accounts of witchcraft. Although Salem presents its own unique case, and therefore is a result of things specific singularly to Salem, there may yet be a link to other cases of witchcraft. Cases may differ in religion, denomination, or other spiritual beliefs, and social setting. Additionally, a study of horticulture in the Salem area shows that hallucinogenic mushrooms may have contributed to the visions of witches. However, I have discovered in my studies that in most cases, there seems to be growing discontentment in each community before and during accusations of witchcraft. This is the clearest link between all cases. In my opinion, witchcraft is a result of suppressed feelings caused by human suffering. This is displayed as accusers in a community using witchcraft as an excuse to release tension, or rid themselves of enemies.

I have studied this topic for years, especially anything pertaining to the Salem Witch Trials. I have read several books and have sources from universities and medical writers. I have studied the Salem Witch Trials out of interest for some time, and once I discovered the suspicion that ergot poisoning might have been a factor, I did a great deal of research in that area.

While researching texts written about the Salem Witch Trials, I found a few authors who published articles and books about the Salem Witch Trials. These authors often showed that the most likely cause of the fits coming from the victims was produced by ergot of rye. However, I could not find much discussion about another important source of the fits’ cause: witchcraft. My goal in this paper is to produce a convincing argument that the victims during the Salem Witch Trials that experienced strange behaviors came from ergot of rye rather than witchcraft.

Later on in 1976 a psychologist Linnda Caporael blamed the abnormal habits of the girls on the fungus ergot, Toxicologists say eating ergot-contaminated foods such as rye in which was abundant in Salem during this time. Ergot can lead to muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions and hallucinations. The fungus lives in warm-damp climates such as the swampy meadows near the Salem Village where rye is the staple grain during the spring and summer.

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 poisonous fungus Ergot is the main cause of the Salem Witch Trials because in the 1500s, Rye bread was found to be a main staple of people’s diets, and the the spread of this fungus through the consumption of Rye is the only feasible explanation to the random outbreak of witch persecution.

In this time people thought that the thing that caused people to become bewitched is the fungus ergot, which is found in wheat, rye, and other grains. Seeing this is impossible from all of the grains that are grown and ate, cows, preachers, or anybody else that eats grains would be bewitched. They also said that people if began having fits, including violent contortions and uncontrollable

The events that transpired in Salem, Massachusetts occurred between the years of 1688 and 1693 constituted the most significant witchcraft outbreak in the history of the New England colonies. The entire event was quickly labeled as “colossal mistake” by the government after they had passed.(Ray, 2010) With this in mind the question remains; how did it get started and how did it get out of hand so quickly?

Caporael's main theory was that the the ones of accused of being bewitched were possibly poisoned by fungus-infested rye in a crop. It causes “hallucinations, convulsions, bizarre skin sensations and other unusual symptoms” which is what the accused had. I do not think that Caporael's theory explains the hysteria in Salem because how would this fungus only affect certain people in Salem and not everybody. The whole town got the same supply of grain, so how is it possible for only a couple people to ingest it? Also, if this was the case, why did this only happen in 1692 and not previous years? I think that “elements converged and created an environment of suspicion and reckless abandon” which caused the town to jump to conclusions and accuse