Witchcraft Hysteria Of Salem, Massachusetts

Salem, Massachusetts became famously known for the witch trials that took place in the late 1600’s. For the men and women residing in Salem, Massachusetts it was a time in which they lived in fear of allegations and deceit. Twenty men and women lost their lives during what is known as the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria. Socioeconomic tensions within the community are to blame for the witchcraft hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600’s. Factors such as politics, religion, and social status all played a role in the deadly and devastating era.

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.

Many people are aware of the witch hunt that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692, however these same people may not be as familiar with the other witch hunt that also occurred in New England during the same year. Escaping Salem: the other witch hunt of 1692, written by Richard Godbeer, is a historical monograph that reconstructs the, mostly unheard-of witch hunt, that occurred in Stamford, Connecticut. The book also gives its readers insight into the minds of early American citizens. Thus, the theme of Escaping Salem, beside witchcraft, is human nature and Richard Godbeer’s thesis is that humans demonize others before recognizing their own share of human frailty. It is evident that he is biased toward the witches and sympathizes with them. This, of course, is not surprising since they were irrationally punished because of their neighbours unsubstantiated accusations. Richard Godbeer is currently a Professor of History at the University of Miami, who offers courses on a broad range of topics, including sex and gender in early America, witchcraft in colonial New England, religious culture in early America, and the American Revolution. He is also the author of 11 other historical monographs.

The witchcraft hysteria of 1692 happened within the Puritan colony known as Salem Massachusetts. It’s important to know that the belief in witchcraft was carried over from their home country, England. In England, an act of witchcraft was considered treason against the Church of England, not to mention the king, who was the head of the church, so if one was to turn their back on the church also meant going against the king. Many acts against witchcraft were passed, the one dated closest to the Salem witch trials was the Witchcraft Act of 1604 that moved trials of the supposed witches from churches to actual courts. The fact that they were once held in churches rather than courts seems like a biased situation to me. The puritans were afraid of witchcraft so having the church conduct the trials of said witches could only mean that death was certain. The puritan faith to my understanding was a tough faith to follow, especially for women.

Living as we do in the 20th century, the charges imposed on people throughout New England during the 1680s and 1690s seem preposterous. Any behavior regarded as strange by fellow citizens was sufficient to hold a trial with a sentence of death. Though such scenarios seem unfathomable in our modern culture, it was a reality for hundreds of New England settlers. The causes of the famous outbreak of witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts are rooted in social, economic, and political aspects of the late 17th century Salem community.

The outbreak of witchcraft accusations of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts was a devastating period for those involved in the crisis. Because of the random and frequent witchcraft accusations made throughout the time of the trials, the reoccurring characteristics that were often indicative of an individual’s likelihood of being accused of witchcraft were not always consistent. In John Demos’s book Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England he includes a diagram containing nine points of what he believes to be the definitive characteristics of a “typical” witch during the Salem witchcraft trials. It is important to note that Demos’s portrait of a witch identifies the “typical” witch, not every witch. For

In Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692, Richard Godbeer reconstructs a particular witch hunt that is less known than its counterpart, the Salem Witch Trials. This trial, which took place in the Stamford, Connecticut area in the seventeenth century, demonstrated the theologies as well as the natural and supernatural beliefs of early New Englanders. These factors played an important role in how these settlers viewed the world and its peculiar mysteries. The perspectives of key participants, such as Katherine “Kate” Branch, Daniel and Abigail Wescot, Elizabeth Clawson, Mercy Disborough, Sarah Bates, and Jonathan Selleck, displayed the range of reactions and thoughts of early New Englanders regarding the supernatural world. With

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of events that changed the lives of many Puritans forever. Myriads of innocent people were scapegoated, convicted and even executed of witchcraft. It is hard to believe that this absurdity really occurred, and many tried to locate the reasons that led to the evolution of this crisis. While some turned to economic patterns to explain the hysteria, the people’s belief in the Bible and eagerness to conform to slander contributed most to the progression of the Witch Trials.

The women in Salem during this time period had a regular routine every day. They would sew clothing, care for children, and provide food for the community. “...their activity was the same monotonous round they had known the year long”

The first source that will be evaluated in depth is Stacy Schiff’s book “The Witches: Salem, 1692”, published in October 2015. The origin of this source is indeed valuable because Schiff is a well-known historian. Her research is known for its high standards. She has also mastered the entire history of early New England—beginning from a time before the horrific witch hunt in Salem. She studied, in great depth, European witchcraft as well. With this she was able to provide a detailed textured background for specific moments and situations. Schiff has also won a Pulitzer Prize, a Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for biography, a George Washington Book Prize and the Ambassador Book Award. Additionally, the date of the publication of this source is in 2015, therefore it strengthens the source’s value because Schiff was given the ability to benefit from hindsight, she also had a wide variety of sources she was able to analyze; this includes government documents, statistics, and possibly interviews.

The “Salem Village” supporters believed that the growing economy of Salem went against Puritan beliefs, so they decided to officially establish “Salem Village” with Reverend Parris leading the way. Being a reverend, Parris received incredibly high pay, consequently, the “Salem Town” anti-separation supporters refused to pay taxes so that they weren’t paying his salary. (“Political

At this time Salem Village had a population of 550 people and 90 houses. This town is referred to as the Salem Farms because they are separated by two towns that had class and style. The Village was a fantastic port because they had fine merchants, houses, and well stocked shops. The European descents of this town were mainly Puritans, they were english settlers that had few emotions but were very deep in text religious. In the Roman Catholic they thought the puritans that witches, demons, and evil spirits were all real. (Kallen 14) On may 26, 1992 there was a fasting and prayer day because that is what the puritans reaction against an attack against the devil (Kallen 60).

The Chronology and Collective Violence in 1692 of the Salem Witchcraft, is familiar to scholars, readers, and students. The mass witch-hunt of 1692 is where some communities experienced a short-term outbreak of accusations that involved less than a handful of citizens. Many of the residents that had been accused were most likely related to each other. Most of the witch victims fit under the common characteristics of the seventeenth-century beliefs about witches, making it very stereotypical. Richard Latner’s main focus of this article is to closely study the spread of allegations made in 1692 to help us get a better understanding on the witch-hunt. It was also to learn about the reasons why it had an outbreak, which quickly came to an end.

In January of 1692, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, a witch hunt began. This was the start of a very dark time in the colony’s history. Salem was a very religious village and so thoughts about people conversing with the devil was just as bad to them as saying the church was wrong. By the end of the trials there were at least twenty-four “witches” that history has recorded. Of those twenty-four; nineteen were hanged, four died in prison and one man was crushed to death between two large stone slabs.

110 of the people that died in the salem witch trials where women. And they were hung. In 1692 lot of people died because of witchcraft. There was a couple of men that were hung but on of them was pressed. I will later talk about people and how they would tell the truth and then they would not be killed read to find out how that