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Salem Witch Trial Hysteria Of 1692 Essay

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What Caused the Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? Nineteen people hung and one was pressed to death but what for? Boredom and hatred filled people’s empty lives in 1692, especially in Salem. The biblical quote, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” was taken seriously, and a feud between the east and west side of the town caused controversy. So what provoked this tragedy? Evidence shows that the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692 was caused by boredom, personal, and religious bias. One of the most important things to consider is the biases the accusers might have had. When looking at a map of Salem one may observe that more than ninety percent of the accusers lived on the west side of town, and more than eighty percent of the Accused witches
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The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day.

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A very famous episode in American history, the Salem witch trials of 1692 resulted in the execution by the hanging of at least 20 or more people that were accused of being witches. In addition, there was a man that was pressed to death by heavy weights for refusing to enter a plea; at least ten people died in prison, including one infant and a child; and more than two hundred and fifty individuals were in jail while awaiting trial. Due to the survival of many records, including notes, depositions, and official rulings, trials, arrests, the main facts of the accusations and executions are known. What has always been interesting to scholars is the search for the causes of the "witch hysteria. " The offered explanations for the witchcraft occurrence

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Ultimately, I believe that the Salem Witch Trials’ main cause was mass hysteria and paranoia among the group. I can predict this, because in Exhibit A, Cotton Mather states, “ I will prove that Witchcraft exists. Those who deny it exists argue that they never saw any witches, therefore there are none.” I believe this is strong evidence supporting the over exaggeration of most people towards the trials and how hysterical people can become towards an unrealistic assumption like witches and witchcraft. Another piece of evidence supporting mass hysteria as the cause of the trials would be in Exhibit B, where Abigail Hobbs a 16 year old girls pleads guilty.

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