In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, accusations of witchcraft caused fear and confusion throughout the town. Neighbors were accusing neighbors and everybody feared that they would be the next to be accused. In late February, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams had accused Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. These three were seen as misfits in the society by many and none of the three were members of the church. On March 11, 1692, under the pressure of Reverend Samuel Parris, the girls accused Goodwife Martha Corey, a god-loving midwife who never would have been taking part in any type of witchcraft.
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in Massachusetts are historically known as the tragic event where many people were accused of witchcraft and 19 of those innocent individuals were found guilty and then executed. These individuals were accused by a group of young girls that claimed that they were ‘bewitched"or possessed by the devil. These girls were experiencing symptoms such as hallucinations, convulsions, etc. Doctors then could not diagnose this, so they turned to blame it on witchcraft. In 1976, Linnda Caporael, who is a historian, developed a theory that ergot poisoning was the cause of the Salem Witch Trials.
When Elizabeth “Betty” Parris, Abigail Williams, and the other young girls started to experience strange fits and hallucinations, doctors struggled to find the cause, as Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History explains, “The girls began having hallucinations and strange physical ailments, some of them babbling incoherently. Doctors were called in and diagnosed witchcraft”. Most of them had never heard of an extreme case like Salem was encountering, so it was hard for them to diagnose exactly what the problem was. Eventually, “they [doctors] deemed the symptoms to be so unusual as to be supernatural, essentially passing the problem on to religious leaders. From that point the problem was viewed as a spiritual one, and the ministers became involved” (Carlson 51).
In 1692 Salem, Ma. the daughter of Samuel Parris and the daughter of the Putnam family won't wake up. The townspeople believe they are bewitched. We learned the girls were crazy and were told they were possessed. They were not possessed, but they were under pressure.
A few months after around January and February of 1692. The girls stated having outrageous behavior and feeling ill. The people of Salem didn’t know what to think of the situation. They called a local physician William Griggs he couldn’t determine the cause of the behavior. He Proposed that the outburst that
In 1692, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, there was a group of young girls who were accused of being bewitched. The girls behaved in abnormal ways. The strange behavior began after Reverend Parris caught them in the woods with Tituba, who was Parris’s slave from Barbados. The girls called witchcraft on Tituba and she confessed and named two other women with the devil, including Sarah Osburne and Sarah Good. With Tituba's confession, the young girls, scared of getting in trouble, claimed to see other women and men contributing with the devil.
In January of 1692 nine year old Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams who was only eleven years old began to be accused of being witches. This was due to their uncontrollable outbursts and screaming episodes they'd have. Not too long a few other girls including Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcot, and Mary Warren started having similar symptoms. In late February, Sarah Osborn, Sarah Good, and Tituba had arrest warrants against them. The three accused witches were brought in for questioning by Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne.
February 1692- Eleven year old, Abigail Williams, and nine year old, Elizabeth Parris, experienced hysterical fits of violence and odd behavior. The two young girls were taken to a doctor who diagnosed the use of witchcraft. What people didn’t know is that the girls had been having their own secret conferences involving the forbidden play. “On 29 February 1692, warrants went out for their arrest.” (Lindenauer, Leslie J. "Salem Witch Trials."
In Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, tensions were elevated. Many of the Massachusetts colonists experienced satanophobia, or the fear of Satan, for many years. This fear became heightened after three girls, 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris, 11-year-old Abigail Williams, and 11-year-old Ann Putnam began showing strange symptoms: extreme outbursts of screaming, violent contortions, and uncontrollable fits. But there were several other girls who showed similiar signs; they were all known as the 'Afllicted Girls'. After Elizabeth Parris's father questioned the doctor about her condition, the doctor came to the conclusion that the girls were bewitched since he found nothing physically wrong with them.
The accusations of witchcraft first began in Salem Village, a small administrative district outside Salem Town, at the end of February 1692 (Ray). Following Reverend Parris's arrival in 1689, conflicts arose among concerned villagers about the benefits Parris was to obtain (Ray). In January 1692, Parris's daughter, Betty Parris, and niece, Abigail Williams, began to have exhibit erratic behavior and extreme physical contortions. Betty Parris and Abigail Williams friends also exhibited similar behavior. Local ministers, including Reverend Parris, were unable to remedy the girls' behavior through prayer and the suspicion of witchcraft is brought up.
Findling stated that in February of 1692, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, the first two to fall ill, started going into trances, blurting out nonsense, and falling into epileptic-like fits. “Their bodies were supposedly twisted as if their bones were made out of putty” (Findling 160). Findling also wrote Reverend Parris, Betty Parris’ father, hired multiple doctors to examine the girls. None of them had an answer to the unexplainable illness until Doctor William Griggs finally diagnosed the young girls with witchcraft. Concerned for his daughter and niece, Reverend Parris asked his congregation to pray for them.
In late January of 1692, cousins Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams started to demonstrate a strange behaviors. They would bark, flap their arms, contort their bodies, and act as though being choked. This is concerted to be the very start of what will be known as the infamous Salem witch trials. Salem went into a frenzy.
The idea of witches and witchcraft as a whole dates back thousands of years ago when the old Testament’s book of exodus declared witches as messengers of the devil himself. In many cultures witches have been blamed for the horrible actions of mankind and the misfortunes for which no cause could be identified. When no other explanation for famine and disease could be found, witches were there to be falsely persecuted. One of the most well known accounts of witchcraft first took place in 1691 and the chaos that ensued has made it one of the most recognizable periods of U.S.history.
Our story begins when in the spring of 1692 came paranoia when a group of young girls were beginning to thrash around and do the most odd of things. The doctors were soon consulted and they said that the girls were bewitched. The girls were asked and gave three different names; Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. After naming these three women, the girls later began naming more and more locals, this beginning the Salem Witch Trials.
During 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, many girls were accusing older women of witchcraft. Many of the people were puritans and townspeople. Puritans were religious people and thought the witches were from the devil. They would think that the devil took over a regular person’s body and make them do things they didn’t mean to do. The reason why everyone started to panic was because many young girls were telling the jury that these people were doing bad things to them.
