History 8 A Chase Voigt Mr.Faith March 21/23 Salem Witch Hysteria In the summer of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts many were put to execution for participation in witchcraft.[background] The leader of these actions were the Puritans. The puritans were a group of people who were unhappy living in England because of the churches. The puritans came to New England so they could experience and practice christianity in a new form.[background] Puritans believed every word in the bible was the word of god. That said, the bible mentions Devils and witches. They believed a witch was a person who was controlled by the devil. For example, The devil can make a young girl cry in church. One way the court accepted evidence the suspect in question was a witch was when a woman confused the words when saying the lord's prayer.[background] Because of these actions more people were being accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch trials had nothing to do with the devil and all to do with ergot. Ergot is a parasitic fungus that grows on cereal grains like rye. This infection is most common in the summer and spring. People can get this infection by eating bad rye bread. It was more common for women to get Ergot than men. The Salem witch trials accused 110 women and only 24 men.[Doc 5] …show more content…
The salem witch trial had 110 females who got accused of acting different.[Doc 5] This matches with the statistics of those affected by Ergot, which prove females were more liable to the disease than males.[Doc N] The accusers were confident they were not crazy and seeing bad things in people and accusing them. In Salem, rye was very popular so it would be common to have some bad rye. Just like fruit, not every single one is right. I believe facts over possibility, The theory that women were jealous of the men so they accused their wives of getting with the man is not reliable. That is a possibility not a fact, going back on history I want facts not