In Salem Massachusetts, 1692, there were 8 girls who started acting strange. They started having seizures, muscle spasms, and delusions. Puritans believed in witches and that women were usually the witches. Puritans believed witches came from the devil, and that he sent witches to lead people the wrong way. In her study, Dr. Caporael does not prove that ergotism was the sole initiator of the trials. The study Dr. Caporael did, does not prove that ergotism was the cause of the trials, first, according to the article “Salem Witch Trials”, Puritans believed that women were usually the witches. Since the Puritans believed women were witches, ergotism does not fit into the theory that it was the cause of strange behaviors and people being trialed for it. The theory that ergotism was the cause of the trials can not be possible because Puritans also believed “women according to the sermons, had inherited Eve’s original sin”, as said in the article and they can not be trusted. Men and women were trialed but men were only trialed because they were involved with women that were believed to be witches. Puritans belief that women were usually the witches makes Dr. Caporael’s theory invalid and does not prove her theory of ergotism. …show more content…
Along with Tituba she helped the girls with white magic, couple of days later the girls started acting strange. “When a doctor could not find any physiology cause for the girls behavior some began to suggest something else was involved” as the article “Social Pressure and Witchcraft” by Michael Hines there is no sign of ergotism being involved. They later found out Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good experimented with witchcraft. After that, accusations were made by the girls. Still nothing has been said about ergot being the cause of the trials, again, Dr. Caporael’s theory is