What Was The Cause Of The Salem Witch Trials?

Do you have a neighbor that you really just don’t like? In 1600’s Massachusetts, there was a solution! You could tell everyone that they were a witch. Sure it might ruin their life, but hey, they’re out of yours. The Salem Witch Trials were a series of trials that occurred during Colonial America where many people, mostly women, were falsely accused of and wrongly punished for performing witchcraft. There is a well documented history of these accounts, including the causes, the results, and similar cases throughout history.

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

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and 1693 were among the most surprising and violent episodes in the history of America. It wasn’t violent due to a lot of people dying, in fact, only 19 people were killed due to this event. However, hundreds had their lives changed forever. Some, without any hope of it ever going back to how it was prior to the Trials. No, it was violent due to the fact that it was neighbor turning on neighbor. People that were once viewed as friends were turning on each other. One of the noblest families in Salem was torn down from their decadence and thrown into the mud, many of them being accused of witchcraft, never to return to their former glory. What sparked this horrific scene in America’s history? Why did it happen? Why did it take so long for it to stop? And most importantly, were the trials a mistake? Or were there actually witches in Salem?

One the articles say, “ The physicians were called in to examine the girls and no natural cause of the disturbing behavior” ( “The Salem Witch Trials, 1692”). The source of the affliction was not attributable to a physical illness. The community decided that the odd behaviors must be the work of Satan because of many practicing Christians, and those of other religions, had a strong belief that the Devil could give certain people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. (“A Brief History of the Salem Witch

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

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).

George Jacobs Sr. said, “You tax me for a wizard, you may as well tax me for a buzzard I have done no harm.” Although his words were true, many chose to either believe this hysteria or turn the other way. He died along with many other women and men. This was just the start of the many terrors of the Salem witch trials. Yet if you confessed to being a witch then you had a better chance of living, but if you denied you would automatically get hanged. They killed 19 people in similar ways, but the last person wouldn’t go to trial, so they stoned him. Within the year, the Salem Witch Trials were a very important event, because not only did most of the people convicted died, but because many people went about their day feeling vulnerable

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.

What caused the Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692? The three reasons that caused this were revenge, jealousy, and feeling empowered. Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, 20 people got put to death in Salem for witchcraft.

The 1692 events in Salem were not caused by a single person. Rather, the horrific miscarriage of

The Salem witch trials was one of the most famous witch hunt in history. More than 200

Salem witchcraft trials started in New England and caused a lot of deaths and hysteria for the people of Salem, Massachusetts. Innocent women and men were hung just for being accused by their fellow friends and neighbors. Witchcraft in the 17th century was a big taboo that people feared.

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

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.

Also, the last cause of the Salem Witch Trial was the lack of knowledge of the people. People was just accusing other people of witchcraft, but the accusers did not have an idea of what was going on in the town. For example in Document A says “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” but the people really did not know who was a witch and who was not a witch. This is lack of knowledge because that was not coming for the Bible or something it was just a version of King James, Puritans let other influence their beliefs and did not give a good knowledge about witchcraft. Other example is in Document B when it talks about all the things that happened and that all of that according to the Puritans was “Witchery” that was lack of knowledge because people really did not know what was happening. People was just finding a reason for their bad luck. Because the people did not find a good reason, their beliefs came out and people started thinking about the witchcraft in Salem.