Role Of Witchcraft In Salem

It was the year of 1629 when Salem was settled in what was then the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Just like most colonial settlers, the group that arrived in Salem was searching for religious freedom from the Church of England. In 1641 England declares that witchcraft is a capital crime; capital crimes include treason and it is punishable by death. The settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were a very religious group known as the Puritans; the Puritans strongly believed in The Bible, which includes passages such as Leviticus 20:27 “A man or woman that hath such a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death.” Ministers started arriving to Salem in 1629 and it was evident that the Puritans wanted to disengage from the Church of England. Around 1689 witchcraft met its ignition, Martha Goodwin starts displaying strange behavior after a dispute with Goody Glover, then her sibling’s began exhibiting the strange behavior as well; Goody was arrested

Elizabeth was a calm person who was very nice, Abagail Williams was her housekeeper before the outbreak of witchcraft in Salem and also her accuser; it is believed that Abigail and John, Elizabeth’s husband, had an affair, but the odds of an affair is very unlikely. Abigail and a girl named Mercy Lewis claimed that Elizabeth would visit them at the late hours of the night and torment them in the form of a spirit. Once Abigail and Mercy began complaining, a warrant was out for Elizabeth’s arrest, and very soon later she was to be examined. Men were also accused and arrested for witchcraft, and John Proctor was the very first male to be arrested. John protested the evaluation of his wife Elizabeth and he was then the first man to be accused and arrested for witchcraft. The Proctors’ owned a servant, Mary Warren, who once she started showing the same signs as the afflicted girls, John told her to stop and her “afflicted” symptoms almost ceased