...For one city in Massachusetts, the year 1692 brings back thoughts of a painful and dangerous time. Salem Village of Massachusetts was the home of the Salem Witch Trials. Widespread fear, devotion to puritanism, and an underlying illness is what caused the hysteria of the infamous Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria started in the spring of 1692 when a group of teenage girls claimed to be possessed by the Devil and began to accuse women in the community of witchcraft. The first women were accused on February 29th, 1692 and by June, 118 people had been accused of witchcraft. The majority of people accused were women between the ages of 41-60 (Document E). As word spread about these so called “witches” people became more and more frightened and therefore more susceptible to the rumors around them. Cotton Mather, a respected minister...
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...Between February 1962 and May 1693, a series of executions, known as the Salem Witch Trials, occurred in Salem, Massachusetts. One of the most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the trials resulted in accusations being brought against around 200 people, 19 of whom were found guilty and executed. The motivations behind these hearings serve as a subject of debate among historians. Puritan beliefs held by the residents of Salem resulted in an extreme fear of witchcraft for nearly every member of the village. However, many of the executed, accused witches had individuals who stood to gain from their deaths. This essay investigates the extent of which the trials were affected by religion compared to politics. By analyzing both primary and secondary...
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...During the Salem Witch trials many disastrous events occurred. The “mass hysteria” of the people during those times can be logically explained scientifically. One may be a symptoms may be “ergot” which causes hallucinations. Another, is that the girls just simply wanted attention. Last, is that the stories they read could have influenced the girls to believe in something that isn’t true. Every actions can be explain logically and factual. The events in Salem Witch Trial may be unnatural and weird. It can be explain from what everyone ate. According to Berlureau (Source A) and Caporael (Source E), “ergot” was common in Salem Town. Ergot was a wheat which is also a grain that can be made into many common delicacy of sandwiches, bread, or more food which everyone in town ate. It also can causes hallucinations which can make the residents of Salem Village to believe and see objects differently. The girls may have believed that the “spirits” may have been controlling their actions and seeing the “spirits” due to the consumption of the “ergot”. Not everything is what it seems to be. According to Berlureau (Source A), one of the reasons of the ‘hysteria” is that the girls simply wanted attention and were having fun. Elizabeths and...
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...The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day. Religion was a very strong influence in the lives of Puritans as they followed a very strict moral code and based their entire lives on their faith. Most Puritans were taught from the Bible that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Doc. A), which explains why the witch scare was taken so seriously and why the accused were punished so harshly. They believed and feared that "evil spirits were all around" (Doc. C) as noted in Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions by Cotton Mather, who at that time was a reputable expert in the "invisible world." It seems strange to 21st-century dwellers that people believed that witches could be identified by marks of the devil, as portrayed in an 1853 painting by T.H. Matteson (Doc. D). Today, it is frightening to imagine that people accused others of “bewitching your first husband...
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...commit? During,1692 in Salem, Massachusetts there was a very bizarre hysteria going around. What caused the Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692? There were three causes of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria. These were gender, age and marital status, town division wealth and power, and the lying girls. To begin with, there were three causes of the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria which were gender, age, and marital status. One piece of evidence that supports this cause, is the document B. Twenty-three accusers were single, as opposed to the six married women. Furthermore, another piece of supporting evidence, is the majority of the accusers were mainly single women from the ages of sixteen through twenty. This evidence helps to explain the hysteria and the hangings. According to the Document B, the majority of the girls were single and at the age between sixteen and twenty years old. In addition, the girls had to follow a very strict lifestyle, which maybe they wanted to get out of their situation and find a man to marry.Thus, because of the girl's odd behavior, one way we could assume why these girls would do this is because of the strict Puritan lifestyle.This...
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...believed that he could possess anybody and cause numerous types of disasters, so thus the period of hysteria began. In a span of few months many were accused and hanged because of the false accusations. What actually caused the Salem witch trials of 1692? The three main components that caused the hysteria were: religion, envy, and excitement. The background history mentions that the Puritans were fundamentalists, meaning that they believed the Bible no matter what,“ Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” ( Doc. A). If the Bible told the Puritans that the witches were foul creatures, the Puritans believed the Bible and did everything in their power to destroy the witches. Cotton Mather was an influential minister in the New England colonies. He preached, “These evil spirits are all around...but the houses of Christians, where our God has had his constant...
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...Salem Witch Trail essay You are a witch.Would you do anything for jealousy attention or revenge? The Salem Witch trial was a time where many people of the village were being accused of witchcraft it was a very hectic period of time. The cause of the effect of salem witch trials of 1692 was revenge, attention, and jealousy. We all know about revenge and perhaps we all have done it in some point in our life. Salem witch crafts hanging were common and it is related to revenge because once a person was pressed to death most of his or her family would be executed. Document A there were many people who were related and executed like Mary Parker and Alice Parker. So this goes to show how revenged occurred because it did not matter if you were not a witch.This document shows that some people were related and that caused them to accuse their family members,and in document A it also that many whom were lady,which could...
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...What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? In the year of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, the devil took the souls of weak-willed people, which were wizards and witches. This event was called the Salem Witch Trials, which consisted of numerous people allegedly practicing witchcraft. To prevent the witchcraft they hunted and tried the accused. The punishment for practicing witchcraft was death. Every historian had a different thought on what caused the event. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum suggested that the most reliable form of evidence was supernatural strengths, weaknesses or unusual physical characteristics. The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692 was caused by Puritans belief of the devil, Bridget Bishop spreading the practice of witchcraft to others, and Cotton Mather’s story of the sermon and manuscript. One cause of the witch trial...
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...The Salem Witch Trials was one of the most phenomenal events that had ever occur in history, that lead to which is now still a mystery on how it happened. During the 1600s, immigrants from England came over to a part of North America, which is known as New England. They were called the Puritans. Puritans were Protestant Christians that were upset with churches in England. Their arrival to Colonial Massachusetts was the purpose of starting a new life. The life of the Puritans revolved around religion and farming. Farming was difficult in Colonial Massachusetts because of the harsh winter and the rocky soil. Although life went on as usual, until the period of 1692. This was when things started to get suspicious around. They call this the Salem Witch Trial, that...
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...Salem Witch Trials was caused by parents who used their children for economic gain. This was a period in Salem, Massachusetts where men and women were accused of witchcraft. The people who were accused of performing witchcraft were mostly likely hanged. Others believe the Salem Witch Trials was caused by Erogototism, hysteria, and people who believed this Satan, demons (thesis). The Salem Witch Trials was one of the tragic periods of time in the U.S.’s history. During this many people were hanged or died in jail. Some people believe the Salem Witch Trials were caused by parents who needed some sort of economic gain. It states in Document I that families that lived in western half of Salem have less fertile land, while in the east had extremely fertile land. This had caused a hunger for better land, for economic gain. And so, this was the start of parents using their children as victims to “witchcraft” for economic gain. In addition, to Document I Documents...
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...Salem Witch Trials             The Salem Witch Trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. These trials were a series of hearings and prosecution of people who were accused of witchcraft in the colonial Massachusetts. The preliminary hearings were also conducted in a variety of towns across the province, but the most serious one was conducted by the court of Terminer and Oyer in Salem Town (The DBQ Project, 2002). The Salem Witch Trials were sparked by hysteria mixed with family rivalries. The trial led to the execution of 19 defendants who were accused of witch craft and the 20th defendant by the name Giles Corey was pressed to death because of refusing to plead guilty.                The main accusers of the Salem Witch Trials were immediate neighbors and family members. The Salem witch Hunt started when the daughter and cousin of Reverend Samuel became sick and without proper diagnosis, the doctor inferred that the two girls were bewitched. The girls had symptoms such screaming, throwing things around and positioning themselves in awkward positions. Those put to trial were accused of causing death of their neighbors’ livestock, sickness and death of their neighbors’ children and torment.            The neighbors attributed their misfortunes to witch craft practiced by the defendants. As the cases proceeded, the affected girls became the main witnesses and accusers which later saw the judges controversially use spectral evidence...
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...Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. These trials were a series of hearings and prosecution of people who were accused of witchcraft in the colonial Massachusetts. The preliminary hearings were also conducted in a variety of towns across the province, but the most serious one was conducted by the court of Terminer and Oyer in Salem Town (The DBQ Project, 2002). The Salem Witch Trials were sparked by hysteria mixed with family rivalries. The trial led to the execution of 19 defendants who were accused of witch craft and the 20th defendant by the name Giles Corey was pressed to death because of refusing to plead guilty. The main accusers of the Salem Witch Trials were immediate neighbors and family members. The Salem witch Hunt started when the daughter and cousin of Reverend Samuel became sick and without proper diagnosis, the doctor inferred that the two girls were bewitched. The girls had symptoms such screaming, throwing things around and positioning themselves in awkward positions. Those put to trial were accused of causing death of their neighbors’ livestock, sickness and death of their neighbors’ children and torment. The neighbors attributed their misfortunes to witch craft practiced by the defendants. As the cases proceeded, the affected girls became the main witnesses and accusers which later saw the judges controversially use spectral evidence. This is because the witnesses claimed...
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...Kenya Finch Mr. Osborn Per. 7 March 17, 2012 Character Analysis Essay The world is made of all different types of people with different qualities. Some qualities we all share and some we don’t. We value some more than others and look down at some. Often the qualities that are look down on is what society seems to create the most around and pay the most attention to. Throughout the reading of The Crucible there are many characters that have been introduced with different qualities. One of the characters that have been introduced that has qualities that stands out more from others which are manipulative, devious, and inconsiderate. The character I’m talking about is Abigail Williams. All throughout the story Abigail displays all these qualities and many other but those three are the ones that are displayed the most. Out of all qualities Abigail displays devious is the one greatly revealed. Throughout the story there are many events that happen that Abigail had something to do with, with each event Abigail always has a different story from what actually happens and convinces people that her story is the truth. One event that happens that displays this would be when Abigail was in the woods with the girls dancing and took it to the next level by drinking blood and taking off her clothing. Before the questioning of what happen in the woods Abigail states “Shut up! All of you. We danced. That is all, and mark this, if anyone breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other...
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...Salem witch trials Sabrina Armstrong Com/220 April 24, 2010 G.L. Beck Salem witch trials: a drug induced hysteria What happened in Salem in 1692? The people involved in the Salem witch trials were more than just names, dates and places; they were people with lives and families as well. The Salem witch trials started with three girls falling ill with mysterious symptoms that the doctors could not explain by medical science during that point in history. Many people still wonder today why the hysteria took place. Some people believe that, what caused the hysteria was a by-product of children’s self-delusions. Other people believe that while, the hysteria fueled the Salem witch trials it was not the cause of the trials. A handful of people instead believe that it was drug induce by a toxic fungus called ergot. Ergot is a mold often found on plants such as rye, wheat, and barley, which during the witch trials and still today people made bread from these plants. St. Anthony’s fire is also another name for ergotism. Ergot is a type of food poisoning; that during; Medieval Times was frequent. Although ergot does not include LSD, it does contain ergotamine, which is the hallucinogen that LSD derives from. The evidence suggests that digesting food with ergot in it will poison people and make them sick; this was a major aspect in the Salem trials but no one realized this until recently, when historian and behaviorist psychologist Linnda Caporael did a study on the trials...
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...governor of the Massachusetts colony in the mid 1600's. His faith leadership kept the puritans in his colony in the church and for the most part out of any trouble. Wouldn't hesitate to bannish "trouble makers" or outspoken individuals from the colony. Bacon's Rebellion - The Virginia planters in the outlying areas in 1776 lead by Nathaniel Bacon. Planetrs in this area would aquire more lands by forcing and killing Indians off their lands. They had asked the leaders in Jamestown to form an expidetion against the Indians, when they were not suported they formed their own army of 500 men. The only thing that this accomplished was a way for everyone to seek lower labor costs, bringing in more black slaves. Salem Witchcraft Trials - Between Janurary and April of 1692 people in Salem Village were diagnosed of having been touched by the evil hand and declared bewitched. By this time there were over 150 people accused of being witches. Trials started and 28 of them were convicted of being witches and sentenced to death, a total of 19 were hanged, while 5 confessed of being witches and were spared and a few others escaped....
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