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Salem witch trials information
Historiography of salem witch trials
Salem witch trials and historical analysis
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In 1692, as the puritans of Salem Massachusetts over-turn on each other, they started scapegoating many of their villagers with witchcraft. During this time many were murdered unfairly. The Salem Witch Trials was a reformation of the government. People believed that this was an era where the devil gave certain humans powers to harm others in joining them into their beliefs. It was certain to happen, because many had personal envy which caused many of the accusations,trials, and the implementations.
In Massachusetts during 1692, Salem Village underwent a time of grief, trial, death, and Witchcraft. The chaos in Salem Village began when young girls would have what they called “fits” and they would scream vey vulgarly and fall onto the ground and shake uncontrollably (Magoon 6). These fits frightened the surrounding people and the Doctors of Salem couldn't find a diagnosis. After studying and trying to understand the illness they had, the people of Salem came to the conclusion that these girls were possessed by the Devil (Magoon 7). The result would lead to one of the most recognized events in American History, the Salem Witch Trials.
Imagine one day being wrongfully accused of a crime and sent to jail without a fair trial or even a proper representative in court. That seems a little unjust, does it not? Unfortunately, many people in the past were imprisoned and killed for crimes they did not commit like in the Salem Witch Trials or the Scottsboro Trials. Even though the Salem Witch Trials and Scottsboro Trials were over two-hundred years apart, there are many similarities between them.
1) The Salem Witch Trials, which began in 1692, was a phenomenon of hysteria that took over the colonial Massachusetts ("Salem Witch Trials"). Back in 1692, a lot of things were happening around town that people could simply not understand. A group of young ladies were accused of witchcraft and were claimed to be possessed by the devil, in Salem Village, Massachusetts ("Salem Witch Trials"). These young girls were accused of witchery, because they were chanting something abnormal while twirling in a circle. Later, people began blaming each other of witchery, because of a person's criminal act or unexplained events.
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. Many people were accused and many died. There are many theories of what caused the salem witch trials but the main cause of the salem witch trials was caused by mass hysteria. It is important to learn about this today so that the same problem does not repeat in history. In the book, “Witches! by Rosalyn Schanzer the madness began in February 1692 when 9-year-old Betty Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams began to twist and turn in the home of the Reverend Samuel Parris there was only one possible reason for it: witchcraft.
In 1692, A town in Massachusetts by the name of Salem Village found itself in one most documented cases of mass hysteria in history. This saga started with three girls: Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Parris, and Ann Putnam a neighborhood friend. Abigail Williams, the niece of the town’s minister, began to display weird and questionable behavior. The town’s physician,William Greggs, was called to determine the cause of this sporadic behavior. The town’s physician determined that the three girls were under “the Devil’s influence” and they had been bewitched.
There were over twenty people who were tried and executed under the inference of studying witchcraft. Twenty people got executed and fourteen of them were women. Five of these women were imprisoned, including two pure infants. There were over 200 people in total who were accused of practicing this so-called “witchcraft”. This was all an immense rage that started in Europe that lasted from the 14th century all the way to the end of the 17th century and was unfortunately brought back up in the late 19th century.
If a citizen was accused for participating in witchcraft in any way they would first be brought to court to be interrogated . If the victim did not confess they would tell the individual to “ confess to god “. Once the victim was found guilty they were immediately sentenced to death. Although not all of the accused were excited or tortured a total of 14 women and 5 men were hung for either participating in witchcraft or for being accused in participating in witchcraft. With this being said no one should of ever been executed for this so called crime.
The Salem Witch Trials In the summer of 1692, a series of unfortunate events occurred in Salem, Massachusetts, The Salem Witch Trials. These witch trials resulted in the deaths of a score of people, both men and women and imprisonment of more than 200 of the villages residents (Blumberg). There are endless reasons as to why the Puritan village went into hysterics, including but not limited to paranoia, the Puritan’s strict religion, conflict between residents, economic turmoil, an ongoing war, and unexplainable events(Linder).
The Salem Witch Trials The belief of witchcraft can be traced back centuries to as early as the 1300’s. The Salem Witch Trials occurred during 1690’s in which many members of Puritan communities were accused and convicted of witchcraft. These “witch trials” were most famously noted in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Many believe this town to be the starting point for the mass hysteria which spread to many other areas of New England.
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.
Although, surely other causes may help explain the hysteria, for example, a common misconception that those with fits from illness were bewitched, to show the power of the town’s government in the slightest of situations, and etc. However, the most powerful argument was that ergot caused the “signs” of a witch and the Putmans’ western part of the village used that as a way to falsely accuse those infected with ergot. The three main convincing reasons for the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria, like the ergot a parasitic fungus that was a big cause misclassification of “signs” of the bewitched, the Putman family’s motivation to reacquire their position in the village, and the Puritans’ duty to not let a witch suffer to live. The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria
It is evident that the Salem witchcraft accusations were facilitated by numerous factors, and there were key figures who were accountable for causing the most damage. What caused and led the false trials into fruition was the naivety of the Salem theocracy and the influence by an allegedly infallible group. Thus, the Putnams and Abigail were the principal leaders of the group who accused, Reverend Gale spurred the initial craze on religious pretext, and the baseless and easily swayed judges, in particular Dansforth, allowed the claims to be turned into hangings. Foremost, among those responsible for the witch trials are the accusers made up of the town girls as well as the Putnams, who occasionally exercised their hidden agenda.
The winter of 1692 in January, at salem massachusett in the bay colony, the salem witch trials began, they lasted to about may of 1693. This was one of the darkest times in America 's history. The witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people that were accused of being a witch or practicing the devil 's magic. There was a very strong belief in supernatural practicing and the practice of devil 's magic or witchcraft in salem that caused the trails to begin. The practicing of devils magic was the belief of giving a women also know as witches the ability to hurt other men, women and, children.
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.
