In 1692, in the small village of Salem, Massachusetts,a horrible massive witch hunt began; fear and suspicion swept over this Puritan town. Puritans settled in Salem Village along with very few other religions at that time. The Puritans left England to escape religious discrimination. They believed in the total trust in God and the absolute "sinfulness" of man. In order to be allowed to vote or serve on a public board, you were required to be a church member. A small group of girls began who were
For centuries people have been pondering the hysteria caused by the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The irrational accusations. The superstition. The visions of young girls, directing them to those who were supposed followers of the Devil. The unfair and biased courtroom trials that took place, branding many as witches, and sentencing them to death. What caused this hysteria that tore apart Salem in its hunt for witches? There are no perfect, or completely accurate answers, because we have no one
Throughout Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, 24 women, men, and children were prosecuted by the Puritans in the belief that those who behaved abnormally were witches. These executions are generally known as the Salem Witch Trials. Throughout the trials, those accused were unfairly tried and hung without a proper hearing. During the Salem Witch Trials, a person who was implicated to being a witch had limited defense. Instead of the court basing whether a person should live or not on evidence, they instead
The Salem witch trials were a set of trials between February 1692 and May 1693 in the Massachusetts town of Salem. The trials were based on people in the town who were accused of being witches or practicing witchcraft. A total of 200 people were accused and 20 were executed. Today, knowledge of these trials happening is vast but information regarding the reasons behind the townspeople committing these atrocities is not a lot. The reasons behind the Salem witch trials were the belief at the time that
Salem Witch Trials: The Intersection of Theological, Demographical, and Scientific Approaches in Understanding Looming largely over colonial American history, the Salem Witch Trials of 1962 have undergone immense scrutiny and scholarly attention over the centuries. This could be due to the nature of the event itself, being so horrifying and unaccountable, gripping the attention of many (Ray 19). The causes behind what drove such a violent witchcraft hysteria are constantly debated and argued
The trials held in Salem during the late 1600s were unfair, wrongly accused hundreds of innocent people of witchcraft, and later led to dozens of executions. There were significant events that led to this tragedy in Salem. There were also significant people who influenced the events. Eventually, the people of Salem realized they were wrong and apologized; however, they could never take back the horrific atrocities that happened during the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials began in early
The buildup that lead towards the Salem Witch Trials was of much tension. Due to a recent small pox outbreak, constant threat of Indian attacks, and a lasting rivalry between the Puritan Salem Village and Salem Town, something had to give with the villagers. That is what caused the Salem Witch Trials, the villagers’ enmity towards their neighbors and their aversion to outsiders. The first bewitchment occurred on January 9, 1692, when 9 year old Elizabeth Parris and 11 year old Abigail Williams started
The history of the Salem Witch Trials began when two girls by the name of Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams - 9 and 11 at the time - started to have seizures and uncontrollable screaming fits. When they failed to get better, a village doctor by the name of William Griggs was called and brought to diagnose the girls. Soon after the doctor diagnosed them with bewitchment other girls started exhibiting the same behavior as Abigail and Elizabeth. In late February arrests were made for the Parris’
The Salem Witchcraft trials are one of the oddest events in American History, perhaps one of the most tragic because of the unnecessary lives the Puritans took during the puzzling witch hunt. Researchers and historians have struggled with the same question year after year, what caused the mysterious actions the girls displayed which caused the Salem Witch Trials to occur. Some say it was the presence of ergot in the rye bread that caused the girls to have strange illusions; others say it was because
event was the Salem Witch Trials. According to an article, The Salem Witch Trials, “Rampant fear among the Puritans in the New England village of Salem sparked attacks against anyone who was suspected of witchcraft” (The Salem Witch Trials). The thing about the Europeans in early Massachusetts is that they were heavily religious. Witchcraft, in Salem, was considered a crime against Christianity that went beyond the law; normal legal actions were amplified, i.e. death by noose (The Salem Witchcraft Trials)