How Did The Salem Witch Trials Of 1692 Happen

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The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 ended almost as soon as it began. Why did this happen, and why did it happen in Salem? Between June and September of 1692, over 20 men and women were hanged, an 81 year old man got pressed to death under heavy rocks and hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft.
In 1689 Samuel Parris moved to Salem as the village minister. He brought his wife Elizabeth, 6 year old daughter Betty and niece Abagail and and his slave Tituba. In the winter of February of 1692, Betty started acting strange. She was running around diving under furniture, and said she had a fever. Soon other girls started having the same problem. A minister named Cotton Mather had just published a book about witchcraft. Dr.William Griggs

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