Salem Witch Hysteria Essay

Hailey Dudas

Why did the Salem Witch hysteria start? There is a debate about what originally started the Salem witch hysteria, maybe there was a fungus going around and getting into people's heads and making them have random spasms, maybe there were demonic possessions. To this day, no one is set on one thing that did start the hysteria. But there are a lot of theories as to what. One thing that we know for sure is that the Salem Witch Trials happened, and it happened to real people.

First off, what was the Salem witch hysteria? The Salem witch hysteria was back in 1692 when the people of Salem Massachusetts were experiencing some sort of mania. People were experiencing hallucinations, convulsive attacks, and psychosis.

Jealousy could have played a part in which the town of Salem was sorta split into two. One side of the town was where the more wealthier people lived closer to the heart of Salem Town. The other side was where the farmer lived the less wealthy. If you were to pull up a map of where the people who accused people and where those people were and who defended them, you can see that most of the accusers lived on farms and were also single women, and the accused witches were mainly closer to the town with husbands, or the more wealthier side of town. When the Salem hysteria started and there was no good explanation as to why people were experiencing hallucinations, tingling, confusion, and mania. Some people could have seen this as an opportunity to bring the wealthier people down. And it kinda seemed to work for a while. Until, the special judge’s wife was accused and he wanted to stop the

Ergot poisoning mostly affected women and children with effects of skin crawling, tingling in the fingers, and mania to name a few. But very similar to what the “witches” were going through.

The town of Salem was bored at this time in history. They didn't have any TVs, no government, they read all the books, and there was not much to do in Salem. Salem felt like it was groundhogs day everyday. When people started to go through mania, this gave the town something new to focus on. The townspeople started to point and accuse others and kill people for entertainment. They believed that the devil was in town and making the people serve him.

The people of Salem were fundamentalists. They believed that every word in the bible was true and was to be followed to the “T”. So, when people started to experience things that people could not yet explain, they turned to the bible. They believed that it was the devil's work. They hated the devil and so anyone who had to “work with him” was evil and was a danger to the town.
The trials happened because, someone experiencing symptoms of possession would have to blame someone else for taking control over them, taunting them, or telling them straight up that they practice