Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Salem witch trials encyclopedia britannica
Analysis of the salem witch trials
Summary of the salem witch trials
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In colonial New England and Europe, belief in the supernatural, specifically in the devil’s procedure of giving some humans –witches –the power to impair others in return for their faith, was unfolded in the early 14th century. People who were thought to be different were accused of witchcraft and apprehended for trials. One of the first trials of Salem was in January 1962, when one of Reverend Samuels Parris’s slaves, called Tituba, would gather a bunch of teenage girls every day. Later in spring, the townspeople were shocked at the girls’ behaviors. It was believed that they danced a black magic dance in nearby woods, and some girls would fall on the floor and hysterically scream.
In 1692, a group of young girls from Massachusetts named Elizabeth and Abigail, believed they were being possessed by the devil and falsely accused several woman, men and children of witchcraft. Once the men and woman were accused they were ordered to attend multiple trials in which would be help in the Massachusetts general court. Once the men and woman were taken to trial they were proven guilty by the girls actions that proved the court these men and woman were apart of witchcraft. After the accuses were proven guilty in front of the court they were either held in prison and eventually died or hanged and died. There were multiple young girls who were apart of the witchcraft accusing other than just Elizabeth and Abigail.
Accused and Betrayed Throughout the late 1600’s women had been accused of being a part of witchcraft. In this time women went through many disgusting torture treatments and got charged with many different things. When a women had been accused she would be “treated” with many different types of torture until they had died or had admitted to doing witchcraft. Some of the tortures were called: “The Garotte”,” Dunking the Witch”, and “The Boots”.
The Salem Witch Trials started in 1692 and ended in 1711. The Salem Witch Trials were the period of the Puritan religion’s belief in witches in Salem, Massachusetts. The trials started with Betty Parris and her orphaned cousin Abigail Williams, when the girls began to contort their bodies, crouch beneath furniture and speak words that don’t make sense. When the girls were diagnosed as bewitched, it led to the witchhunt called the Salem Witch Trials. In Rosalyn Schanzer’s Witches!
During the Salem Witch Trials a lot of people were accused of using witchcraft. As a result many people died for other people’s lies, rumors, and selfishness. There is one person that really caused and is most to blame for all the chaos, her name is Abigail. Abigail is to blame for all that has happened in the Witch Trials, the reason for that is because of all the accusing and lying she has done. In addition, it all leads up to her for instance, she used a doll to accuse people of witchcraft.
In the late 1600’s, in Massachusetts, The Salem Witch Trials began. According to a young group of girls who claimed to be possessed by the devil accused women in the village of witchcraft. “There was series of hearings and prosecutions of innocent people” (Salem Witch Trials). “The hysteria concluded around 150 people thrown in witch jail” (Salem Witch Trials).
However, the reasonings behind this terrible event are still mostly unknown, and historians today, still ask: What caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? So, this event first started in 1692, The unfortunate Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. After this began to gain popularity, many other people began to accuse each other, until large, monthly executions were being held. The accused “witch” was brought before a priest or a judge, which usually wasn't fair, and was either sentenced as guilty or innocent.
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. Many people were accused and many died. There are many theories of what caused the salem witch trials but the main cause of the salem witch trials was caused by mass hysteria. It is important to learn about this today so that the same problem does not repeat in history. In the book, “Witches! by Rosalyn Schanzer the madness began in February 1692 when 9-year-old Betty Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams began to twist and turn in the home of the Reverend Samuel Parris there was only one possible reason for it: witchcraft.
The events in Salem in 1692, were but one chapter in a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe between 1300 and 1330 and ended in the late 18th century (britannica). In the Spring of 1692, paranoia broke out that is much too familiar to us today. Adolescent girls, in an effort to shift blame for their own delinquent behavior, used their current social climate to start a wave of mass hysteria and panic that involved multiple communities. Salem Village was half of the overall Salem community, and the other half was the more influential Salem Town (britannica). Salem Village leaders, that included the minister, the doctor, and the magistrates supported the girls unsubstantiated and otherwise false claims against villagers.
According to Christine Heyrman, the name Salem means peace. The Salem Witch Trials were disreputable for many reasons, which makes the Hebrew meaning of Salem sort of ironic because the trials were everything but peaceful. The trials occurred in a village in colonial Massachusetts during 1692-1693 (Blumberg). During this period, around 200 people were accused of witchcraft. One thing starting this period of time was the devil’s magic.
Salem was known for its dark events and history, the Salem Witch Trials was a great hysteria that happened during the spring of 1692 in Salem Massachusetts . This all happened because a group of young girls were said to be possessed by the devil in Salem Village. After this happened, several other women were accused of witchcraft. The first witch to be convicted was Bridget Bishop who, after many times, defended herself saying she had nothing to do with any of the events. But was hung on June 10th, 1692.
Puritans in the early 17th century were really just a bunch of religious assholes who brought death to many Native Americans. When King Henry VIII passed the act of supremacy, appointing himself as the official head of the Church of England, the Puritans in the 17th century left England and set off to the New World on the Mayflower, to pursue their own religion, Puritanism. When the Puritans arrived in the New World during what 's known as the Great Migration (1620-1643), they settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony which later became New England. Puritanism beliefs consisted of reading the bible and praying. They sought to have a pure and simple church, and believed they could pray in the New World to 'save ' those back in England.
The Salem Witch Trials The belief of witchcraft can be traced back centuries to as early as the 1300’s. The Salem Witch Trials occurred during 1690’s in which many members of Puritan communities were accused and convicted of witchcraft. These “witch trials” were most famously noted in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Many believe this town to be the starting point for the mass hysteria which spread to many other areas of New England.
They also believed that anyone who didn't agree with there religion that it was satan's work. They also valued education which was the bible. If you were a puritan how could read then you read the bible. They believed in predestination because they thought that god would save the choose ones ors the sanctification ones and the rest would be damned to hell, and they also believed in ethnocentric. Ethnocentric is when people are evaluating other people and cultures according to their standards of their own culture.
Not many people know much about what actually happened in the Salem Witch Trials. Maybe someone would think that it was just about witchcraft and crazy people being hanged, but it is a lot more than that. The Salem Witch Trials only occurred between 1692 and 1693, but a lot of damage had been done. The idea of the Salem Witch Trials came from Europe during the “witchcraft craze” from the 1300s-1600s. In Europe, many of the accused witches were executed by hanging.