Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

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The Salem Witch Trials
Do you believe in witchcraft? The people in the dreadful, horrific, gruesome salem witch trials did. The Salem witch trials were a horrendous time in history.They were a time when many people, mostly women were accused of being witches. Some were killed others imprisoned. It turned family, friends, and neighbors against each other. Even though it didn’t last for a very long time, many things occurred in that short period of time. The Salem witch trials began because of a couple of young girls claiming to have been possessed by the devil. Essentially, what lead to the salem witch trials was an argument between goody glover and martha goodwin, a doctor's diagnosis of two other young girls, and the arrest of tituba, sarah …show more content…

They were thought to have been given the power to hurt people by the devil, if they remained loyal to him. In 1629 the town of salem is settled and in 1641, witchcraft becomes a capital crime. It however, wasn't until 1688 that the first “witch” is hanged, following a witch trial. Goody Glover was a laundress of the Goodwin family. After an argument that occurred between Glover and Martha Goodwin, Goodwin began to experience rather weird behaviors that rose some eyebrows. Then a few days later, her two sisters and younger brother also began to experience behaviors just as bizarre. As a result of all this, Goody Glover was arrested and accused of bewitching the Goodwin children. Following her arrest Cotton Mather meets with Goody Glover two times, in hopes of making her repent her witchcraft, that she supposedly did on the goodwin children. She however, never confesses to anything and, is later hanged, as it was still believed that she had in fact biwitched the Goodwin children. After all this Cotton Mather takes Martha Goodwin into his home, her bizarre behavior however continues to worsen. Around one year later Memorable Providence, a book written by Cotton Mather, is published. The book relates to witchcraft and