The Salem Witch trials popped up around 1692 and they were a disaster. The reason why they came up was because of their religion. The people in the town of Salem were puritans. This means their religion was very strict and that they believed in the devil. The way this all started was that the people who were accused of being witches were acting funny. Studies that were tested later said the reason why was because of something they ate. The people of the town were worried about these people because of rumors that were about these people. As the author says in the article, “One night, while trying to see the faces of their future husbands in an egg white dropped in a glass of water, one girl believed she saw the shape of a coffin” (Zeglin). Because the people thought they were seeing into the future, they had to be witches. They got accused and the girls said yes to being witches, but the said they wouldn’t do it again. They also blamed tons more of people to make this a big huge event. This caused around twenty-five deaths and all of it was for no good reasons as the state of Massachusetts later claimed that it was a
Revenge, Hysteria, and Popularity everyone has an idea on what caused the salem witch trials. It would take forever to just list out all the possible factors. Beleiving in the listed ones are the best bet. All the world can do is think and believe. Society will never know how or why the salem witch trials happened. OR WILL
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.
Not many people know much about what actually happened in the Salem Witch Trials. Maybe someone would think that it was just about witchcraft and crazy people being hanged, but it is a lot more than that. The Salem Witch Trials only occurred between 1692 and 1693, but a lot of damage had been done. The idea of the Salem Witch Trials came from Europe during the “witchcraft craze” from the 1300s-1600s. In Europe, many of the accused witches were executed by hanging. Many practicing Christians, at the time, believed that the Devil could persuade people to use the powers that he gave them to harm others. The Salem Witch Trials occurred because of resource struggles, many women were accused and tortured, and in the end the Governor realized that it was a big mistake. (“Salem Witch Trials”, 1).
Tituba, the slave of Reverend Parris, is the first to admit to dancing with the devil. Based on the background knowledge of the time, slaves were not considered part of the class system, so she was not valued as a community member. Tituba is conscious that she is in danger, “she is also very frightened because her slave sense has warned her that, as always, trouble in this house eventually lands on her back” (Miller, pg. 6). Tituba attempts to tell the truth about Abigail when she says, “You beg me to conjure! She beg me make charm” (Miller, pg. 44) but realizes that her word against Abigail will not stand. So, she decides to manipulate the situation by saying that the Devil has come to her and she has resisted his commands to kill Mr. Parris.
The Salem witch trial was a time about accusing your fellow neighbor or being accused yourself, this all began in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. During this time many people were being accused of being a witch, a majority of the time it was because either someone truly believed that you were a witch and were reeking havoc or they were trying to find someone to take the blame if they were to being accused. So this leads us to question, what began the Salem Witch Trials? There were at least three causes of the Salem witch trials hysteria. These were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams story, Ergotism, and the acknowledgment of hysteria.
One thing that might have caused the witch trials is profit, “ Mary Walcott ,Anns step cousin ,named an astonishing 69 witches”(page 56). This almost proves that she might have been accusing people for money/profit. “Abigail Williams, fingered 41 different witches for attacking her; Ann Putnam Jr. accused 53;her servant Mercy Lewis named 54; and a girl named Mary Walcott who was Ann’s step-cousin, named an astonishing 69 witches”(page 56). This means they were fervently,maliciously, wanted to abolish some of these people,and that most of the accusers stated accused more than 40 people. “Not all witches are human beings. A girl accused 2 dogs of belonging to the devil and said they would cause fits by simply staring at their victims” this might prove that these people did not like dogs and
In Salem, Massachusetts there were Witch Trials held during the summer months of 1692. Throughout the seventeenth century in New England, witchcraft was said to be a crime punishable by death. Puritans came to New England in the early 1600’s to practice their Christianity in the purest form possible. They believed every word in the bible and that the words of God were to be followed down to the last sentence there was. Havoc started occurring around the town and 19 women along with men were hanged for witchcraft. Over 100 individuals were suspected to be witches in result to weird behavior before a disaster happens.
Do you want to be hanged because you are practicing witchcraft? The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria happened in the year of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. The story is that the people of Salem, Massachusetts were Puritans. The Puritans thought that they were going to be like a “city upon a hill” which meant they thought that they were going to make it look like they were more perfect than everyone else and they were closer to God. They made it like this because they believed that every word in the Bible was the true word of God and was to be followed to the exact letter of every word. But do you want to know what caused the Salem Witch Trials hysteria? There was three causes of the salem witch trials hysteria. These were, the people of Salem, Massachusetts were practicing witchcraft, the devil was possesing people, and there were people in Salem, Massachusetts
The Salem witch trials were the prosecution of people accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts from June to September 1692 by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Though the trials were held in Salem, the accused were brought in from the neighboring towns of Amesbury, Andover, Topsfield, Ipswich, and Gloucester as well. To this day the trials are considered the epitome of injustice, paranoia, scapegoating, mass hysteria, and mob justice. The results were almost 200 arrests, 19 executed “witches”, one man pressed to death, one man stoned to death, and two dogs killed because they were suspected to be familiars of their owners who were accused of being witches. (Familiars are evil spirits in the form of animals used by witches to cast spells and perform
During the early 14th century, something odd happened in Europe and colonial New England. People started believing in the supernatural. Specifically, the devil giving “witches” the power to hurt and harm others as long as they remained loyal to him. Early 1692, young girls started having fits. These fits consisted of violent contortions and uncontrollable outbursts of screaming. A nearby doctor diagnosed the fits as bewitchment. The first girls to have these fits were a nine year old Elizabeth Parris and an eleven year old Abigail Williams. These fits started here and spread throughout the community. People began accusing others of being witches. The purpose of the trials were
Between February 1692 and May 1693, there were a series of hearings where people were being accused of witchcraft. The outcome of the hearings ended with 20 people being executed, but more than 200 people were accused of performing witchcraft. The hearings and prosecutions are very well known as the Salem witch trials. The trials took place in colonial Massachusetts. Nineteen accused witches were convicted and hanged on Gallows Hill in 1692. One accused witch was crushed to death after he failed to plead guilty or not guilty. As many as thirteen other accused witches died in prison.
In Exodus 22:18, it proclaims, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!” In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, the Puritans believed every word that the Bible said, causing the death of twenty people because they were accused of witchcraft. What caused the panic and alarm that lead to the death of twenty people in Salem? There were three causes: conflict between young girls and older women, lying teenagers, economic and political power divided between two sides of town.
Arthur Miller’s main purpose in writing The Crucible was to show the similarities between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trials and to warn against government propaganda. At the time that The Crucible was published, America had a huge fear of communism. Anyone accused of having ties with the communist party was shunned. It much resembled the Salem Witch Trials in how the government, or leader of the time, used fear against the people to gain power. For example, Joseph McCarthy can be compared to Reverend Parris in how they both lead the people into the belief that there were intruders in their mists that had plans to sabotage the community.
In Stacey Schiff’s, List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials and Shah Faiza’s, THE WITCHES OF SALEM; Diabolical doings in a Puritan village, discuss in their articles what has been debated by so many historians for years, the causes of the Salem Witch trials. Schiff and the Faiza, purpose is to argue the possible religious, scientific, communal, and sociological reasons on why the trials occurred. All while making word by word in the writer’s testimony as if they were there through emotion and just stating simply the facts and theories. They adopt the hectic tone in order to convey to the readers the significance, tragedy, logic, loss, and possible madness behind these life changing events,