Ergotism: The Salem Witch Trials Of New England

The infamous Salem witch trials of colonial Massachusetts took place between of 1692 and 1693. They involved the execution of fourteen women and five men within the the brief time period (Salem Witch Museum). New England at the time had been established by a homogenous Puritan population which emigrated from England (Taylor 165, 169). Abiding by a strict set of beliefs, the Puritans did not accept people of other backgrounds, therefore it might follow that the Salem Witch Trials of New England were a result of the strict Puritan society, which was actually primarily untrue. The Salem Witch Trials were not enacted as a result of Puritanism, but rather as a result of circumstance.
At the surface, the Salem Witch Trials appear to have resulted

When ergotism first infects the flowering head of a grain, it spews out a yellow-colored mucus containing fungal spores that spread the disease. The fungus eventually invades the developing kernels of grain, turning it into purplish-black sclerotia. Within the sclerotia are potent ergot alkaloids, including lysergic acid, from which LSD is derived, and ergotamine, which is now used to treat migraine headaches, demonstrating its psychoactive uses. The alkaloids affect the central nervous system and contract the muscles making up the walls of veins, arteries, and internal organs (PBS secrets of the dead). These disturbances to the central nervous system explain the previously unexplained maladies that plagued Salem such as temporary paralysis and fits. Characterized by “nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, weakness, numbness, and itching”, ergotism, caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea that grows on rye and grasses, is also responsible for gangrene of the limbs in victims (WebMD). When accusing Witches of inflicting “evil” on others, one commonly cited symptom was the death of the inflicted person’s body parts. Symptoms of ergotism were prevalent in other locations, such as Norway. In the 1621 witch trial of Siri Knudsdatter of Vardso, one of Knudsdatter’s confessions stated that when she and her

In a letter from 1807 upstate New York, Stearns (15, p.274) stated that “on examining a granary where rye is stored, you will be able to procure a sufficient quantity [of ergot] from among that grain”. While it is proposed that nearly all of the rye in Salem was infected with ergot, the factors that determined the development of ergotism were both the extent of the infection and period of time over which the ergot was consumed. Furthermore, the climate conditions of Salem, which included humid springs and summers, promoted heavy fungal infestation. The prime fungus conditions ended abruptly in 1692 due to a drought, which explains the lack of witch trials thereafter ( M. H. Thomas, Ed. The Diary of Samuel Sewall 1674-1729 (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 1973). In Swabia, of southwestern Germany, records of the number of witch trials per year were kept, along with the prices of Rye. The years with more witch trials coincided with higher Rye prices. Upon further inspection, this is logical because higher Rye prices would mean the locals had to be less selective with what they consumed, therefore they could not avoid ergot contaminated Rye. Additionally, the annual rings of the trees in the region showed the approximate temperature and humidity of the summer and spring that year, and it so happened that the years with especially humid summers correlated with the higher number of witch trials