Salem Witch Trials Cause And Effect

It all started on June 10 when Samuel Paris’s daughter became sick and had weird fits that couldn’t be explained. She was later diagnosed as a witch (National Geographic Society). Seeing and experiencing this unexplainable behavior freaked most people out. This was one of the many cases that led to the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials was a terrible event in history that was caused by religious hysteria and economic divisions in the community, and ultimately led to the torture and murder of many people.

One main cause for the Salem Witch Trial was religious hysteria. Puritans believed that any sin should be punished. Witchcraft and magic were major sins that were considered the greatest crimes to commit. There was a constant fear

These divisions were known as Salem Village and Salem Town. Salem Village was mostly poor farmers who cropped, while Salem Town was more of a rich town at the center of trade with London. Salem Town was mostly populated with wealthy merchants. At one point, Salem Village tried to separate from Salem Town because the town wanted to collect taxes on the crops that the Village grew. Salem Village eventually split up into two separate factions. Those who lived near Ipswich were mainly merchants who supported the economic changes. The farmers who lived in Andover believed that the worldliness of the economic changes threatened Puritan values. These two factions were created by Samuel Paris’s father (Salem Witch Trials- Economic and Social

One way to see if someone was a witch was the touch test. If someone threw a fit and became calm after they were touched by the person accused of being a witch, they were a witch. Another way to see if the accused was a witch was to do the poke test. This was where they were poked by needles. If they didn’t feel it or bleed, they were a witch. Some of the worst tests they did were bound submersion and dunking. Bound submersion was where they tied your hands and feet together, attached a heavy rock to you, and threw you into some deep body of water. If you were a witch you floated. If you were innocent you sank. Ultimately, if you were innocent, you’d die from drowning. Dunking was where the accused was held under water repeatedly until they broke down and confessed to being a witch. Pressing was the other horrible test they did. You were placed between two stones and crushed into submission. This was only used once on an 80 year old man (Linder). Overall, 24 people were murdered, mostly consisting of women. There were 19 men and women hanged, which consisted of 6 men and 13 women. There was also one man pressed. Four others died in prison from being accused of witchcraft . They were accused of being a witch by defending someone else who was being accused of being a witch or warlock (Salem Witchcraft