What Was The Cause Of The Salem Witch Trials

It all began in 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, a Puritan town. Ironically, this supposed religious town, put 20 people to death for witchcraft. The invisible crime had made itself prevalent in the town through two girls, Betty Parris, age nine, and her 11 year old cousin Abigail Williams. These two girls, in order to escape punishment for witchcraft, accused two local white women and the slave Tituba (What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692?, Background Essay). It was this first accusation, that set forth the next turn of events. From here, the number of accusers grew. Suddenly, everyone’s neighbors became witches and the jails began to overflow. A special court was built to hold trials, however, the judicial system was biased along with the rest of the town. They allowed their set religious beliefs interfere with logical reasoning and evidence. Hence, the bias. The court proved all for not though, when it ordered a mass hanging on September 22, ending the witchcraft epidemic in Salem. To this day, historians still don’t fully understand what caused the hysteria in Salem. Thus, it could only be theorized the causes of such an event. Taking a gander at probability, the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were likely rooted in scapegoating, greed, and bias.

There were many things that caused the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. One of the things that caused the Salem Witch Trials started with Parris’s, the one who experienced these things first, Indian Slave, Tituba. Tituba even admitted to being a witch and said that four women and one man were causing the strange illnesses. Another thing that caused the Salem Witch trials was an accused victim, Abigail Hobbs. She claimed to have seen the devil, which she said made her make a covenant with him, which made her wicked and have the ability to use witchcraft. Also, another thing that caused the Salem witch trials was when Cotten Mather argued that there was witchcraft in the city. He argued that a scripture said that there was witchcraft in the

I am writing this report today to explain the major reasons behind the horrific witchcraft trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in the years 1692 and 1693. For years this event has been ignored. However, after analyzing the evidence in this case, I have some startling news to share. First, I will share with you the various theories that make the most sense. Then I will explain what I believe caused the Salem community to respond in such a cruel and violent way.

In 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, hysteria broke out throughout the town in an event that later became known as the Salem Witch Trials. They were the largest account of witch hangings ever in America, as 20 women and men were put to death for being accused of practicing witchcraft. Historians have been debating about how these trials were caused. The frenzy in Salem happened because at first, young girls were afraid of punishment and wanted to avoid it so they blamed older women and accused them of being witches. These accusations began to spiral out of control when the religion of the town supported the allegations, which causes paranoia and panic to spread throughout Salem, which blinded the townspeople from clues revealing that the

In 1692 the Puritans, colonists that believed in the bible, settled in America. They believed in witchcraft, and believed that people who study it should be executed. This led to many people being accused and executed. What made the Salem witch trials of 1692 such a threat and fear to the people of Massachusetts? The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 was caused by the fear of being possessed by the devil, by the fear of being accused and what your consequences would be, and lastly the belief of people being witches which was a crime worthy of death.

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of executions done in colonial Massachusetts, where several people were accused of witchcraft between February 1692 and May 1693. These executions included fourteen women, and six men, all of these executions but one were done by hangings. The government and the population in the 1690’s in Massachusetts consisted of strongly puritans. Puritanism was a religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th centuries that wanted to “purify” the Church of England from the remnants of the Roman Catholic. Puritans were the more extreme protestants, and they thought that the English Reformation did not purify every single thing they had of the Catholic religion. They believed that every individual was directly responsible to God, instead of a priest, etc. For example, a puritan minister called Richard Sibbes said: “The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God; we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and sleep to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise.”

It only takes one word to ruin a person’s life. In Salem, Massachusetts,1692, there were mass amounts of witch hunts leading to dozens of executions. Social class tensions, intense religious beliefs and political approach led to the production of the Salem Witch Trials.

In the year (1692) witch trials held the Salem area hostage people were terrified. People of

Chiefly, encephalitis was considered to be another theory that explained the Salem trials. Encephalitis left people in coma-like trances and even dead. Symptoms included inflammation of the brain, headaches, fever, confusion, seizures, loss of hearing, and no control over eye muscles. Carlson provides with, “In 1916 physicians in Europe began to report puzzling symptoms in patients: convulsions, hyperactivity interspersed with periods of catatonic stupor, and severe eye-muscle disorders” (Mixon). Hence, the afflicted

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were considered to be a dark and difficult time in American history. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 19 were killed during the time of the trials.The Salem Witch Trials were a series of witchcraft cases brought before local magistrates in the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 17th century. The Salem Witch Trials officially began in February of 1692, when girls accused the first three victims, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, of witchcraft and ended in May of 1693, when the remaining victims were released from jail.

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

Numerous hypotheses have circulated trying to explain why the Salem Witch Trials occurred. Some include the fungus ergot that had psychedelic consequences when consumed and the Puritans’ adamant belief in their religion. None of them, however, justify why over 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 more were executed. The Salem Witch Trials are a prime example of why theocratic societies fail and the effects can still be seen today. We can still see witches in other parts of the world, see memorials for the victims of the trials, and modern day witch hunts.

One of the earliest witch hunts in America happened thirty years before the Salem Witch Trials. This witch hunt swept through another colonial New England town in Hartford Connecticut in 1662. In March of 1662 parents John and Bethia Kelly’s 8 year old daughter passed due to an unknown sickness. Their daughter Elizabeth was fine just days before when she came back from a neighbor's house. Looking for any explanation to why this happened to them the mother saw the devils work. John and Bethia were convinced that their daughter was possessed by the neighbor Goody Ayres. The parents testified that Elizabeth became sick after she returned from the neighbor and called out to the father that Goody Ayres was upon her and choked her. After the death of little Elizabeth, accusations of bewitchment grew and fingers were pointed throughout the town. Hysteria grew throughout Hartford, a town where a generation had before witnessed the first witch execution.

Several theories explain the cause of the witchcraft accusations from friends and neighbors. One theory suggests that the bread the people of Salem ate contained Ergot Fungus that resulted in the rhythmic spasms of muscles. The Ergot Fungus derives from Claviceps purpurea, which affects “cereal grasses”

During the late 17th century, a storm of mass hysteria and panic fell upon the small town of Salem Village, Massachusetts. A group of young girls became afflicted with fits and when they were diagnosed of being bewitched, it shook the town. The girls started flinging accusations at local women for witchcraft, claiming the fits were due to being possessed by the devil. This was the start of the infamous Salem Witch Trials and the end of several innocent lives.