Nearly anyone from the New England has heard of the famous Salem Witch Trials. A year of persecution, leading to the accusation of nearly 200 citizens of all ages. No one was safe; men, women, children, even pets stood trial and 20 were hung for the supposed crime of witchcraft (Blumberg). 1692 was a year of witch hunting. Most today blame the trials on hysteria, or perhaps a bad case of paranoia. It is viewed as the time a town was foolish enough to believe a group of crazed teenage girls. Witchcraft is considered fiction, reserved for fantasy novels and television shows. What must be remembered, however, is that despite the current view, the trials were a very serious matter to those of Salem 1692. To the people of Salem, they had every right to believe that what they were doing was justified. Through analysis of the event and its causes, one can conclude that the citizens of Salem had significant evidence to back their belief in witchcraft. What is arguably the most prominent factor in the Salem Witch Trials is religion. The entirety of the Puritan society was based on …show more content…
The first known witch hunts took place in the early 1300’s (Wallenfeldt). As early as the 1400’s, prominent and trustworthy European figures like the pope released pamphlets on finding and persecuting witches (Saari 13-15). The Salem Witch Trials weren’t even the first to occur in America; a woman in Boston had been hung for witchcraft shortly before the Salem trials began. The people of Salem even cited the Boston trials as proof for their accusations; because their afflicted girls had the same symptoms as those in Boston, then clearly both must have been telling the truth (Alexander 194). It would make sense for Salem residents to look to past events to try and understand their current situation, since this is something that happens frequently through history and even