...innocent people in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. There is a great deal of speculation around the actual causes of the Salem witch trials. The author of The Crucible, Arthur Miller, had the theory that “the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity...
Words: 1014 - Pages: 5
...Ben Arsenault October 29, 2015 In colonial Massachusetts in 1692, a series of witch trials took place in a town called Salem. Many theories point out the reasoning for this witch hunt, some say it was due to the belief in evil. Others say, the people in Salem were just acting, or maybe, it was a lack of knowledge. In events like the holocaust, post 9/11, and McCarthyism & the red scare, similar theories can explain the causes.This presents, that the reasons for the Salem witch trials are those same reasons for “witch hunts” throughout history. The belief in evil had a major role in the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials. After just one person in the village became ill and the doctor who evaluated that person said that it was not a sickness,...
Words: 1049 - Pages: 5
...Three Sovereigns for Sarah A notorious event in U.S history was the witchcraft hysteria that had mesmerized Salem, Massachusetts, had a few contributing factors. The village Salem, Massachusetts, had many trials for people who were believed to practice witchcraft. The accused people were sentenced to cruel deaths and the awaiting people were jailed and waited for trail. Some ways people were killed were by hanging, laying bricks upon them, and the rest died in prison. In total, 20 people were killed. Prison in those days were held in terrible condition which caused a mother and her son to die. The Salem witch trials would take place between February 1962 and May 1963. A possible contributing factor to the witch hysteria that took place in Salem, is the town was already a troublesome community. The town would...
Words: 1018 - Pages: 5
...Ryan Hasenbeck American Experience Family Feud in Salem In 1692, nineteen people were tried and executed as witches and hundreds more spent months in jail as accused witches. No one knows what exactly caused these Salem Witch Trials, but there are many theories ranging from the most ignored girls of Salem wanting power to actual witchcraft. The most likely theory about these trials however, is that there was a rivalry in Salem politics. Two families, the Putnams and the Porters dominated Salem politics, and there is evidence that the Witch Trials were a method used by one family to attack the other. A power struggle between the two most powerful families in Salem evidently caused the hysteria of the witch trials because the Putnams felt overshadowed by the Porters, the Minister supported by the Putnams was losing power, and there is a relationship in the location of the accusers of witchcraft verses the accused and defenders of the accused. Salem was a very split colony, dominated by two powerful families, the Porters, and the Putnams who lived in their shadow. There is evidence that proves...
Words: 656 - Pages: 3
...The Salem Witch Trials was a crucial piece of American History. It was like inviting hell on earth and having a nightmare brought to life. It’s something that shouldn’t be repeated. There’s many unanswered questions to the real reasons the Salem Witch Trials began that experts discovered numerous theories. The lifestyle of the puritans, the disease that overcame, and the communities differences are all real reasons behind the Salem Witch Trials. In the late 17th century times were changing. It might have seemed for the better in some places, and in others not at all. America in 1692 was like freedom with ankle bracelets. Puritans came from Europe wanting to get away from the harsh ways of their homeland, and start a life with their own set of rules on the other side of the world. Yet, their rules were less crucial, but still strict. The young females thought and wanted their generation to be different. The puritans were austere on females especially on vanity. But since this was just the beginning of when people started coming Europe they had the same things in mind like freedom, new opportunities, and a new life just not the same ideas. The young ladies had gotten...
Words: 739 - Pages: 3
...THE BEGINNING AND END OF THE SALEM WITCH TRIALSIntroductionThe Salem witch trials have been drawing attention of researchers and historians for manycenturies due to the unexplained nature of the events and their continuance. From the 17thcenturyuntil now scientists present and explore different possible reasons which caused the witch hysteriain Salem and brought harm to many people.The Salem witch trials were a series of prosecutions which began in Salem town, stateMassachussetts, in 1692, and the consequences of the trials lasted till 1697. In 1692, two little girlsstarted to demonstrate weird and frightening behavior including convulsions and hallucinations.Very quickly several other girls and some adults developed the same symptoms, and...
Words: 882 - Pages: 4
...perhaps it was inevitable that the villagers of Salem would jump to the conclusion that Satan was behind the mysterious behaviors of the young girls. When Griggs was unable to diagnose a physical source for the girls’ symptoms, he relied on his religion to find the origin. Based on what his beliefs taught him, he drew the only logical conclusion: witchcraft caused the illnesses. Because of his verdict, the problem with the girls transformed from a disease to a crime. Witchcraft was a legal matter instead of a medical one. However, rather than pursuing...
Words: 2196 - Pages: 9
...Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 during the Witchcraft Trials must have been a mysterious but, scary place to live. Over the year historians have attempted to uncover the reason behind the witchcraft hysteria, some blamed it on political motives, childhood boredom, and biological reasons. The entire witchcraft hysteria started over unexplained affliction doctors couldn’t explain. Allegations were made against mothers, wives and daughters, rich widows, sea captains, army officers and ministers in the upper society no one was safe. The most surprising allegations of witchcraft took place among educated people in the mist of the scientific revolution. I will attempt to discuss several reasons for the hysteria then you can decide for yourself or at least have something to think about. When Betty Parris, age 9 the daughter of a fanatical minister, Samuel Parris accused her first witch, was it her imagination or something else. Betty would secretly play fortune telling games with her fathers salve Tituba from Barbados. Perhaps, she became guilty and the anxiety caused her to become ill, after all her father viewed everything as either good or totally evil, and the punishment for playing such games would be severe. So when she started complaining of knifelike pain throughout her body, temporary loss of speech, sight and hearing. Dr. Griggs was called in to examiner her and finding no logical explanation he blamed her illness on witchcraft. Samuel Parris, being a minister was...
Words: 3304 - Pages: 14
...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...
Words: 563 - Pages: 3
...Salem Witch Trials Paper In January of 1692, a group of young girls in Salem Massachusetts started having strange fits. Unable to find anything physically wrong with them, it was suggested that they might have been bewitched. Soon afterward, two of the girls named 3 women who they claimed had bewitched them. It all went downhill from there, with the entire region descending into finger pointing and mass arrests. What could cause a whole town to accuse one of the most respected women, two dogs, and even a four year old girl of witchcraft? (for which the punishment was death?) What caused the Salem Witch Trials? One theory suggests that Ergotism may have played a part. Ergotism is long term poisoning from ergot, a parasitic fungus that grows on certain grains – especially rye. A once common condition, symptoms of ergotism include crawling sensations in the skin, tingling of the fingers, vertigo, hallucinations, mania, depression, psychosis, and delirium – all of which were displayed by the girls in Salem. Children and pregnant women are the most susceptible to the condition, and females in general are more likely to come down with it than men according to some reports. Warm, damp, rainy springs and summers promote ergot infestation, and records indicate that Salem had this kind of weather the year before the trials. At least initially, this can (partially) explain how the witch craze started. Other reasons can be seen simply by looking at who was accusing whom. A great deal...
Words: 593 - Pages: 3
...The Salem witch trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts from June through September of 1692. During the Salem witch trials nineteen women and men were convicted of witchcraft, hundreds of others were accused, and dozens spent months in jail without a trial. The witch trials were first brought about when a young girl named Betty Parris became ill and showing a lot of strange symptoms. William Griggs, a doctor who came to examine her came up with a diagnosis but could not find anything wrong so he then suggested that it may be a supernatural cause for her illness. There was also an Indian war going on less than 70 miles away and people thought that the devil had been there and was now headed to Salem. Shortly after Tituba, a slave from Barbados, was accused of witchcraft and later confessed, making the witch theories to be more believable. More and more girls were being affected by the witches in Salem. A lot of the evidence pointed towards Tituba because she had been known to tell the girls in Salem about...
Words: 913 - Pages: 4
...Salem Witch Trials In 1691 Salem, Massachusetts was like any other typical Puritan populated town. The Puritans were followers of the Church of England and put God above everything. But, in January of 1692 two girls starting experiencing uncontrollable screaming, violent contortions and fell ill. A local doctor diagnosed them with bewitchment. Then in late February of 1692 arrest warrants were issued for three girls. A Caribbean slave named Tituba, another being a homeless beggar named Sarah Good and last being a poor elderly woman named Sarah Osborn. They were accused of bewitching the afflicted girls. The three woman were brought before the local magistrates and interrogated for several days, starting on March 1, 1692. Osborne claimed...
Words: 515 - Pages: 3
...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...
Words: 745 - Pages: 3
...“The witch-hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom” (Miller). In 1691, the town of Salem rose in distress. The word witchcraft going around made the citizens of Salem anxious with fear. Many studies have been done about the cause of the 1691 Salem Witch Trials; one theory discusses ergotism as the cause of the hysteria. Ergot is a psychosis fungus that is known to grow in Salem, Massachusetts. Ingesting contaminated rye grains is known to cause hallucinations and hysteria. The afflicted girls’ symptoms and location show evident signs of ergotism. During this time, rye was a common grain in Salem. Rye was shared throughout the village with bread and...
Words: 588 - Pages: 3
...The aftermath of the Salem Witch Trials was devastating, with nineteen innocent Puritans hanged and five deaths in jail due to harsh conditions (Wallenfeldt). Many theories have been proposed to explain calamity, but ergotism is the clear cause of the hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts during the trials. Ergot is a fungus that grows on grain and can cause horrifying symptoms including hallucinations, muscle spasms, vomiting, and gangrenous pain where the victims’ limbs are “eaten up by the holy fire that blackens like charcoal.” (Plants). There are two types of ergotism: gangrenous and convulsive. Gangrenous ergotism leads to extremities such as the falling off of affected body parts. There are many instances where gangrene has taken over the...
Words: 712 - Pages: 3
