What Was The Right Factor In Salem Witchcraft Hysteria

I think the leading factors in the Salem witchcraft hysteria were politics, religion, superstition, and acting. All the accusations made during the trials and examinations were based off of “spectral evidence” and what 12 year olds were saying. However, during the time period all the children were seen as good Christian children. Perhaps more common sense could have been used but, since the town was run based off of religion the priest’s word was like the law.

Politics played a major role because in the movie, “Three Sovereigns For Sarah,” it was said that Rebecca’s family had come into possession of land and power too quickly for the liking of the other people. It was a time when if you owned land you could vote and that fact was threatening

To have somebody become “possessed” by the Devil was a huge sin. Even being accused of doing the Devil’s work was a huge sin because God was the only upper power that was accepted during the time period. If a person could “see” the black man whispering in the ear of another or the yellow birds surrounding a person, then that person surely was a witch. But what of the people that claimed to be good Christians, all they did was stand around and watch as one by one the accused were hung. Did they justify standing around watching doing nothing as God’s will. Was it the right thing to do? All of the accused prayed and believed that it was God’s will for them to be accused, but it really wasn’t the case. The only ones that had forsaken God were the supposed “afflicted.” The public turned their backs on the accused and believed that they should die. But in some cases, people signed petitions to try and get the person free; but sadly, many of them fell on deaf ears. The people that said that they were witches we saved because they were feared. And what of the one man that was killed? He refused to confess and so he was pressed to death. Was all that really God’s work or the work of greedy parents and

Most of the things they said and did were for attention. or because they were told to by their parents. What started as a game led to a town wide event. In my opinion this just shows how important it is to give your kids attention. Abby the preachers niece started the witch hysteria by getting her father’s slave Tituba to teacher her simple witchcraft. This in turn scared the preachers actual daughter. She became terrified and was constantly having night terrors. Soon Ann Sr. caught, she had the girls “teach” her what they knew and in turn they created the hysteria. It was always Abby that started the “fits.” As time went on the girls became more independent but the others always played along. Some of the things that the girls said made you really wonder how nobody saw through their entire act. At times some of the things that they said were very childish. Another shocking part of the hysteria is that “spectral evidence” was taken as gospel. The people that were doing the judging had to have believed that they saw the things being described to them or the hysteria wouldn’t have lasted as long as it