Witchcraft Court Of Oyer And Terminer

It is often difficult to understand the thought process that other people’s might have had many years ago. A college professor and writer, Richard Godbeer attempts to explain the thought process of the people who were involved in witch trials in the year 1692 in his text “How Could They Believe That?”. He often tells students in college and high school that we can relate to how society was in 1692 and how their views on life, and specifically the supernatural forces, are completely justifiable. In this article he explains the social atmosphere, the environment in which the settlers lived in, as well as how thorough the process of persecution was.

History generally regards the period of Salem witchcraft trials as a radical instatement of religious zeal which favored superstition over reason and targeted a large number of women over a much smaller number of men. Admittedly, the 1692 witchcraft crisis is a very complex historical episode, yet seeing as the majority of the people involved were women, it can be perceived as a gender issue, and illustrative for the definition of the role of women in New England. The present work's aim is to outline the colonial mindset concerning women and present relevant theories by means of analyzing three cases of witchcraft accusation together with delving into the accusers' perspective.

In January 1692, when a group of juvenile girls began to display bizarre behavior, the tight-knit Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts couldn’t explain the unusual afflictions and came to a conclusion. Witches had invaded Salem. This was the beginning of a period of mass hysteria known as The Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of people were falsely accused of witchcraft and many paid the ultimate price of death. Nineteen people were hung, one was pressed to death, and as many as thirteen more died in prison. One of the accused Elizabeth Bassett Proctor, a faithful wife and mother, endured her fictitious accusation with honor and integrity.

Kappanadze, Margaret. "Baker, Emerson W.: A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience." Library Journal 15 Sept. 2014: 92. General OneFile. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.

In January 1692, when a group of juvenile girls began to display bizarre behavior, the tight-knit Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts couldn’t explain the unusual afflictions and came to a conclusion. Witches had invaded Salem. This was the beginning of a period of mass hysteria known as The Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of people were falsely accused of witchcraft and many paid the ultimate price of death. Nineteen people were hung, one was pressed to death, and as many as thirteen more died in prison. One of the accused Elizabeth Bassett Proctor, a faithful wife and mother, endured her fictitious accusation with honor and integrity.

Cotton Mather’s character was distinguished before the Puritans began their witch hunt. According to Brandt, Mather’s reputation has been “smeared for three hundred years by the abuse and harsh criticism” of those readers who perceive him as an instigator to the Salem Witch Trials (Brandt 232). Before the Salem Witch Trials, Cotton Mather had an interest for “all extraordinary things wherein the existence and agency of the invisible

Stacy Schiff’s national bestseller The Witches highlights the suspicions, betrayals and hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, the commonwealth of Massachusetts executed five men, fourteen women, and two dogs for witchcraft. One might wonder how and why this Puritan colony became so caught up in this witch frenzy. In this book she is able to paint a clear picture of the panic that occurred among the people of Salem.

In Cotton Mather’s The Wonders of the Invisible World, he explores the evidence presented at the Salem witch trial of Martha Carrier. Mather explains the spectral evidence presented at the trial as strange phenomena worked by the devil, when in reality it is simply the exploitation and fear that brewed underneath the surface colonial America.

The hysteria, craze, trials, and deaths, still rest an unsolved case. The theories of politics, rivalries, religion and the “circle girls” seem the most believable, in my eyes. However, as the happenings in Salem village still continue to mislead and amaze not only historians, but many others, the witch trials lie a great turning point for Salem, and the lives of many; let alone

In conclusion the Salem Witch Trials were a tragedy that would have never happened if it weren’t for one doctor that diagnosed two girls with bewitchment. The main causes were anger, fits, and

how the Stamford trials contrast with the infamous Salem witch trials that took place the same year. The charge of witchcraft preyed on the fears of the community and had the potential to turn townspeople against one another. Witchcraft could also be a difficult crime to prove as most of the evidence was circumstantial; putting the burden of weighing evidence and overseeing due process on the courts of the time. This paper will argue that the alleged victim, Kate Branch, feigned illness to secure her place within the Westcot household by accusing their rivals of witchcraft as well as examine the effect of these accusations on Stamford and how the courts navigated the evidence presented in the case.

In late winter and early spring of 1692, residents of Salem Village, Massachusetts, a thinly settled town of six hundred began to suffer from a strange physical and mental malady. Fits, hallucinations, temporary paralysis, and “distracted” rampages were suddeny occuring sporadically in the community. The livestock, too, seemed to suffer from the unexplainable illness. With the limited scientific and medical knowledge of the time, physicians who were consulted could only offer witchcraft as an explanation. Psychiatric disorder is used in a slightly different sense in the argument that the Witchcraft crisis was a consequence of two party factionalism in Salem Village in this account the girls are unimportant factors in the entire incident. Their behavior “served as the kind of Roschach test into which adults read their own concerns and expectations.” Possessed individuals exhibited learned behavior patterns and that words and actions varied only slightly among them. The affected women experienced an inner conflict which was explained by the ministers as a struggle between good and evil. As to the physical symptoms: the fits, trances, and paralyzed limbs, among others, Karlsen attributes them to the afflicted girls’ actual fear of witches as well as the idea that once they fell into an afflicted state they were free to express

The Salem Witch trials were more than just accusations and women being sentenced to death. Politics, social status, and way of living back then all played essential roles in the trials which are discussed throughout the book “Salem Possessed” by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum. The authors touch upon how social status of church members, farmers and community folk impacted who was accused of witchcraft and who was sentenced to death. While times have changed and the laws regarding imprisonment are very different, it is essential to remember that while the techniques and methods used during the witch trials were common back then and just their way of life.

The evidence of witchcraft and related works has been around for many centuries. Gradually, though, a mixture a religious, economical, and political reasons instigated different periods of fear and uncertainty among society. Witchcraft was thought of as a connection to the devil that made the victim do evil and strange deeds. (Sutter par. 1) In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth century, the hysteria over certain causes resulted in prosecution in the Salem Witch Trials, European Witchcraft Craze, and the McCarthy hearings. These three events all used uncertain and unjustly accusations to attack the accused.

The time of the Salem Witch Hunt was a confusing, fast paced experience for all involved. For the accused, it was rife with drama, loss of property, and conflict between their deeply held religious beliefs and the doubts that they may truly be practicing witchcraft. The accusers held more power than they had ever had before ; many were young women and girls limited by the patriarchal Puritan society in which they dwelled. The elaborate presentations of the women and girls afflictions’ shook the small village to the core. Many hypotheses exist to explain what may have happened, including those of: Marion L. Starkey, Carol F. Karlsen, Mary Beth Norton, Paul Boyer, and Stephen Nissenbaum. Although each