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Research Paper On The Salem Witch Trials

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The Salem witch trials was one of the most absurd and tragic events in history of pre-colonial America. A fine example of how believing in accusations and hearsay could affect a lot of people in a short span of time. the justice system is flawed and prejudice was allowed to reign over the people. I found this topic very interesting even though it is one of the most regretted in history. I’ve always been the type of person who likes reading all those weird and peculiar things on the internet. I’ve came across a few bizarre topics, histories, conspiracy theories, and other weird things you’d be curious about. I always had an interest with getting to know witchcraft, how it affected people negatively especially in the old times where they think …show more content…

They didn’t possibly think it was something else rather than bewitching. Because they didn’t have enough knowledge on illnesses back then. They didn’t understand it fully, but they concluded and made actions towards it. Even though they didn’t have any evidence to point out that witchcraft was to blame when the strange symptoms happened. The trials created a backlash, because it affected so many people, at a short span of time, mostly because of hearsay and a lying girl confessing at a court. They disregarded a person’s human rights just because of an accusation that they didn’t think or understand …show more content…

I think it is because, again they thought it probably was witchcraft. They had no idea that it was a serious illness. It was already established that they had limited knowledge about things that time. It was just recently that modern professionals discovered and concluded that it was, of course not witchcraft, but really just a bad case of ergot poisoning that induced hallucinations and the other strange symptoms that happened. 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

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In Salem, Massachusetts summer of 1692, a group of teenage girls were said to have been “under evil hands”. When the girls were asked, who had done this to them, they accused local middle aged men and women. According to Castillo, “the first three women they accused were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, the slave” (1692, Castillo). Tituba claimed to not be a witch however, her mother was. These three women were the first witches to go on trial, all three were found guilty.

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The first ones to be affected by witchcraft were Betty, who was 9, and Abigail, who was 11: both showed symptoms of ergot poisoning, and both fit in the age group (Pruitt). It is the same for the other girls; they all have symptoms related to ergot poisoning, and they are all in the same age group. Their guardian Parris was the minister of the town and they took the word of God seriously(Weller 1:05) so they had no reason to fake it because that would go against God, making them sin which was a really bad thing to them. Why would they do something that they knew would go against their faith by choice making it worse, unless it was

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According to the video people believed that the symptoms were caused by the witches power ( Document video). Although ergot poisoning may have started the trials, there were other reasons why it continued for example girls started getting attention so, people

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The Salem Witch Trials I. From June to September of the 1692 in the small farming village of Salem, Massachusetts, nineteen people were hanged on Gallows Hill for the crime of witchcraft. But as many as thirty-seven (sources conflict as to the exact number) may have died when one factors in the men and women who were hanged, those who died in prison, and the one man (Giles Corey) who was pressed to death. I am writing about this incident because I believe it to be significant to history for two major reasons. Firstly, this incident did not occur in the time or place where one would have expected it.

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The community on the other hand wasn’t so tolerant. If the girls did have witchcraft it was not medical thing but a legal one. The girls were victims of a crime that could be punishable by death. When the girl’s situation didn’t improve they were to ask to reveal who their tormentors were. Three warrants went out for the witches.

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Because religion had a major impact on this society, it made people go crazy when the word witchcraft got brought up within the Salem village. In The Crucible the girls started dancing around a fire and being rowdy and this behavior was unusual so it was just assumed that they were practicing witchcraft because Betty lie unconscious

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The Hysteria Behind the Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials, dating back to February 1692, was a series of hearings against a group of young girls and those claimed to be witches. The girls had professed that their bodies had been dominated by the devil and blamed innocent citizens of using the “witchcraft” behind it. Anyone who seemed slightly out of the ordinary were accused by the girls to have dealt with “the devil’s magic.” The court put these accusations to the test by performing various executions and distinguishing whether the supposed witches could escape or not.

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At first, the accusations began when a small child, in 1692, named Betty Parris got a sudden sickness that could not be properly diagnosed by a doctor. It was reported that she had spasms of pain, fever, contorted herself into different weird positions, and had several fits. At the time, there wasn’t any proper way to investigate and find a cure. So the doctor claimed that her illness could have been the result of a supernatural means, or witchcraft. Soon after, Betty’s friends, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., Mary Walcott, and Elizabeth Hubbard, and many other young girls all began showing the same symptoms as Betty.

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Have you ever been accused of being a witch? Well if you have you’re not alone because in the small town of Salem over 200 Salemites were accused of being a witch by most of the townspeople in 1692. The girls of Salem said that they were bewitched in the woods by Tituba but I believe that they lied because Betty Parris acted like she was sick for several days, Abigail tried to say that John Proctors wife was bewitching her, and Abigail said that John Proctors wife stabbed her with a needle in the stomach. In act 1 Betty Parris acted as if she was sick and wouldn’t “wake up” from her coma. I believe that Betty acted sick because she was in the woods with Tituba and all the girls and her dad saw her so Betty acted sick so she would not get in trouble.

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Oh my God! You won’t believe what happened in Salem, MA in 1692. Yeah I know it’s so many years back, but I bet you didn’t know what happened in Salem, MA. in 1692 and 1693, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft- the Devil’s magic- and 20 were executed.

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There had before been accusations of witchcraft before, but none

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Would you believe in witchcraft if what happened in Salem to your hometown? 1688, Samuel Parris a successful planter and merchant of Barbados moved to the city of Salem with his wife named Elizabeth, his only daughter betty, niece Abigail Williams and his slave from Barbados named Tituba. Samuel moved to preach at the village church

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In January 1692 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts a mass hysteria broke out. Eight girls began showing signs of a strange and unknown illness, with symptoms of delirium, impaired speech, convulsions, and screaming. The villagers wanted an explanation, so the doctor diagnosed the girls with bewitchment. Soon, accusations were being thrown out left and right. This lead to over 150 citizens accused of witchcraft, then sent to jail.

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989 Words | 4 Pages

The trials started when a group of girls claimed they were possessed by the "devil." Later, two more girls, Betty Paris and Abigail, were also diagnosed with witchcraft. After the identification of witchcraft, many of the town girls suddenly became "sick" with witchcraft.

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564 Words | 3 Pages

Some believed that the first women who were accused of witchcraft weren’t really witches at all. They believed, that they suffered from some sort of mental illness, such as epilepsy, or even a disease brought on by eating rye infected with fungus, which can elicit vomiting, choking, fits, hallucinations, and the sense of something crawling on one’s skin. But when doctors examined them, they found nothing wrong and said that they must be bewitched. People could be convicted of witchcraft without any solid evidence. Most of the evidence used against those accused of witchcraft amounted to “witness testimony” that the accused person 's spirit or spectral shape appeared to the witness in a dream at the time the accused person 's physical body was at another location.

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