Witchcraft In The 16th Century Essay

1692 was a bad time for women in Salem. Most lower class women were accused of witchcraft and killed. A lot of bad things were done to these innocent women, a lot of the time they were tortured to get a confession or to prove she was a witch. Some of these torture methods were inhumane and didn’t really prove anything. They were burned, stretched,crushed, swam; many methods were used and a lot of the time the odds weren’t in the accused’s favor. “More than 200 people were accused, and 24 died; 19 were hanged, four died in prison, and one man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death.” The accused that died as witches didn’t have their deaths recorded, they were lost in time and only documents from Salem give evidence that these handful of people died.

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. During the end of 1692 and the beginning of 1693 there were a series of court cases where over 100 members of the town of Salem, Massachusetts were accused of being witches. Witches are defined as people with special powers

Witchcraft. The Epidemic In the summer 1692 the town of Salem, Massachusetts spiraled into a witchcraft epidemic, 19 people were hanged and 1 person was pressed to death. People started to get marks and rashes on their body and when a doctor couldn 't even explain it they started accusing people of witchcraft. Bridget Bishop was the first victim of hanging during the epidemic. Then after that it went downhill.

Two young girls that accused people of witchcraft began this era of hysteria. The girls claimed they had seen people having fits, squirming on the ground, and screaming meaningless words. Once someone was accused they were to be put on trial; women were the only targets of these accusations. The individuals that were put on trial were not really given much of a chance to defend themselves. The innocent people had their possessions taken, their livestock was killed, and their kids had to take care of themselves.

Many executions were performed during this time and most of the executions were performed on innocent people who were just accused of being a witch and were not actually proven to be witches. The girls were executed because they failed the tests to prove that they are not witches there are many cases of witchcraft such as the case of mary cotton where becaused she may have wanted the attention or simply believed she was a witch that she thought the devil came to town and was attempting to try to curse all of the townspeople. she also seemed to believe that "the devil was going to blow up and bring down all the churches in the county" and make all of the people become possessed and plunge the world into a fiery like

When the suspected witches were examined, the examiners would look for three things. One of the things they would look physical evidence. The examiners would look for birthmarks, warts, moles, or other marks or blemishes on the skin.(www.ushistory.org/us/3g.asp) The people who lived in Salem believed

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.

Salem, Massachusetts, USA and occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned and even more accused; but not pursued by the authorities. 29 were convicted of witchcraft but only 19 were hanged. The best known trials were in the Court of Oyer and Terminer.

People began accusing others of being witches. The purpose of the trials were

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw a transition of Western Europe, when a series of inspiring historical events took place, such as the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the discovery of new world, and the emergence of nation-state. However, what existed in the same period were social impoverishment caused by economic development, political chaos caused by the rise of nation-state, and the religious conflict caused by the Reformation. The life of civilians was pushed to edge by the infertility of land and famine because of the climatic change. People believed that these disasters were the sabotage of devil and his servants, who used thunder, hail, frost, storm, flood, plague, pests to impair the will of God and brought

The only evidence needed to be gained to prove that someone is a witch is accusations, spectral evidence, and that the person can’t recite the lord's prayer. The main reason of the witch hunts were to prevent the work of the devil. If the person accused doesn’t confess to witchcraft they were put to death. If the person does confess they would sign a document writing down their confession which will be shown to the

As I said, what they possibly though were witchcraft back then could be something treatable by now. Unlike in 1690’s, they didn’t have proof to back their hypothesis that it was bewitching. But now that the reason behind the said incidents were already established and proved wrong by people who studied what might have happened back then. People might still believe witchcraft does exist in present time solely because they have no idea that it might just be an illness that they had no idea about. That the reaction of people around toward something can affect greatly on how things can be

Witchcraft Theory Back in Puritan life, many women were accused of practicing witchcraft. Many people feel the Salem Witch Trials were a fraud, but they cannot decide if this fraud was due to ergot poisoning, certain townspeople influencing the teenagers to accuse people in order to gain land or economic prosperity, or boredom of the teenage girls. Although there are many theories on why girls of Salem accused others of witchcraft, I believe the Salem Witch Trials occurred because the teenage girls of Salem were bored due to the strict religious environment. The Salem Witch Trials began during the spring of 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts (History.com Staff). During this time, young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and

During the hysteria of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, many people were accused of practicing witchcraft. Therefore, their reputation, was ruined. Other people committed many sins in order to keep their reputation clean in town. For instance, some characters had to lie, fight, and accuse other people of witchcraft which could get the individual out of trouble and keep their hands clean. when a person got accused of being a witch, the person’s reputation would get ruined and the person would go to jail or be hanged.

5. Evidently from the documents, the most frequently recurring phenomena the accusers felt was the witch 's presence awakening them in their slumber and in some cases said to be sitting on their chests choking them. The bewitchment of animals and creatures being another apparent part of testimonies. For instance, John Louder states "And some tyme after that I being not very well stayed at whome on a Lords day and on the after noon of s 'd day the dores being shutt I did see a black pig in the Roome Comeing towards mee soe I went towards itt to kick it and it vanished away,"(Bridget Bishop,TSB-4,11).