The Salem Witch Trials: Helpful Or Harmful?
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.
The Salem Witch Trials is still alive today ,but just in a different way in Trump’s mind. Should we be worried? Even though the country is founded on freedom of religion ,how is this ban legal to our government. From the witch trials to Trump this method has stayed the same, but is now affecting countries and not just a town. Is Trump finding bad guys in the same way that the witch trials did in 1692?
The hallucinogenic and mind altering effects of ergot poisoning seems to be the most widely accepted theory. Prior to the events in Salem, ergot poisoning was responsible for the deaths of large numbers of people in Europe throughout the middle ages in what came to be known as Saint Anthony’s Fire (Goldberg, 275). Symptoms of ergot poisoning include hallucinations, disorientation, spasms, and a burning sensation in the hands and feet (Secrets of the Dead). These symptoms were similar to the behavior of both the accused witches and the supposed victims of witchcraft, who apparently suffered from torture by an unseen force and reported being bitten and scratched (The Salem Journal: The Aftermath). Or perhaps it is no coincidence that many of the accused witches were girls between the ages of 11 and 20, living in a society that had little concern for the hormonal changes of puberty.
In Salem, Massachusetts, Puritans were strong believers in the Bible. The Bible states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans beliefs led to them accusing 20 innocent people of being a witch, this resulted in their deaths in 1692. Even though the Puritans couldn’t see it at the time, their accusations were really based off jealousy, lies, and Salem being divided into two parts. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was jealousy.
Ignorance of medical and scientific explanations: Puritan attitudes towards the witch trials were largely governed by the authoritative figures present at the time. Any medical explanation given was disregarded, thus showcasing how the villagers’ views could be easily manipulated. They chose to only consider two possible extremes for the cause of this outbreak; either the women were possessed or they were fabricating such behaviors. Chadwick Hansen describes the behavior of the bewitched being a 'neurotic syndrome '. It was known patients experiencing this disorder turned "their mental worries into physical symptoms such as blindness, paralysis of various parts of the body, choking, fainting, or attacks of pain"(The
About 235 years ago in 1692, Salem, Massachusetts went through a witch hunt. The witch trials lasted less than a year. The first arrests were made on March 1, 1692 and the last hanging day was September 22, 1692. 20 people were killed during these trials; 19 hanged and 1 crushed to death. There were about 8 young girls that were accusing the people of Salem, the oldest being 17 years old.
Mental Illness in Salem Witch Trials Introduction Witchcraft is the practice of magic and the use of spells and the invocation of spirits. According to Salem Witch Trials, 2015, the Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts claimed to have been bewitched by several adults in the town. More than 150 people were accused and hung, including men, women, and children (Salem Witch Trials, 2015). There were three girls in particular that sparked the trials: Abigail Williams, Betty Parris, and Ann Putnam. Also stated in Salem Witch Trials, their behaviors changed drastically; they began to hallucinate, shout in church, have fits, not eat, not wake up, attempt to fly, and feel as if they
The Salem Witch Trials are regarded as one of North America's most infamous cases of mass hysteria. In 1693, Cotton Mather, a Puritan minister, wrote The Wonders of the Invisible World, an account of the Salem Witch Trials. Throughout the account, he states that witchcraft existed and that the devil exhibited its power through witchcraft. Mather, in the creation of this book, used religious pretext referenced from Against Modern Sadducism by Joseph Glanvill, which was a book that explored the concept of witchcraft and its application to society. Witchcraft had been a part of the scholarly conversation for decades leading up to the Salem Witch Trials, with those two works being the hallmark sources of witchcraft in the late 1600s.
The definition of hysteria is ¨exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people.¨ When members of society become hysterical it becomes difficult to function as a community. They develop a fear so great, they will try to do everything in their power, to prevent this from occurring. Even if the means of prevention involves innocent people dying and the government becoming corrupt, the society will act upon their fear of evil. They become frightened, aggressive and unwilling to trust people they’ve known their whole lives. Throughout history there have been numerous examples of mass hysteria.
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.
Since England had their own witch hunts, it was said that the anxiety spread to New England mainly because of a pamphleteer Cotton Mather. It started early 1692 when the daughter and niece of Salem local minister, Samuel Parris had strange violent convulsions and loud outbursts. The only local doctor of the village which only could read but not write, then concluded that the girls were bewitched. There were three primary “suspected” witches, the minister’s slave Tituba, Sarah Good
One cause of the witch trial hysteria was the story of Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, the two were cousins, they decided to visit a fortune teller. This occurred on February 29, 1692, shortly after receiving their fortunes Parris’s father, who was a priest, began to notice that his daughter was acting strange, he eventually found out about the session with the teller and was
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.
Over 300 years ago, more than 100 citizens of the colony of Massachusetts were accused of the crime of witchcraft, and many executed. Although this era in history, known as the Salem Witch Trials, lasted only mere months, its impact on the American criminal justice system has lasted until present day. Although both the trials in Salem and modern America are based on a similar justice system, there are vast differences, specifically in the rights of the defense, most notable in the separation of Church and State, the standards of evidence, and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The modern American criminal justice system, in comparison to that of the time of the Salem Witch Trials, has changed drastically. No longer is the rule of law based on
How two little girls (Abigail and Betty) where the first to suffer from fits of hysterical outbreaks and how many accusers came forward and described how they or their animals had been bewitched. It mentions the court cases and how there were more woman than men accused of practicing witch craft. It also states how historians believe the girls were faking their fits from the start. Also mentions how religious Salem was at the time which influenced the trials. •
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