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Why Did The Salem Witch Trials Happen

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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. The accusations of witchcraft continued and started to spread outside Salem Village, some beginning to fill up the jails in Salem and Boston (Ray). The most active accusers resided in Salem Village and, consequentially, they had the most executions which caused the community to greatly suffer. The people of Andover, a town outside …show more content…

Three writers decided to take some time and provide their insight as to why the trials occurred. Emily Oster looked into the economic side of the trials. She is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, is an American Economist, and received her B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Paul R. McHugh studied the psychiatric anomalies of those involved. he is a Professor of Psychiatry Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and has 2 certifications from the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology / Psychiatry; one in 1968 and one the following year. Austin Cline discusses the religious aspects that surrounded the society. He has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a M.A from Princeton University; is a guide from About.com; and focuses on agnosticism and atheism

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How Did Salem Witch Trials Occur In 1692

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In 1692, in the Essex County of Massachusetts, particularly in the community of Salem Village, a series of witchcraft afflictions, accusations, trials and executions began to take place. Afflicted with spells of black magic and sorcery, men, women and children were all rapidly involved in the activities of the witchcraft outbreak. As Salem's witchcraft outbreak began to spread throughout the community like a virus, more and more men, women and children were being arrested, tried, hung and executed. The very first incident of the Salem witch outbreak began when a group of young girls in the Salem Village met in their usual small, informal gatherings where they discussed their future.

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In 1692, A town in Massachusetts by the name of Salem Village became known for one most documented cases of mass hysteria in history. This saga started with three girls: Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Parris, and Ann Putnam a neighborhood friend. Abigail Williams, the niece of the town’s minister, began to display weird and questionable behavior. The town’s physician,William Greggs, was called to determine the cause of this sporadic behavior. The town’s physician determined that the three girls were under “the Devil’s influence” and they had been bewitched.

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In Salem Village, Massachusetts 1662, two-hundred people became inaccurately accused, hundreds imprisoned, and twenty-four executed. What historical event caused this? In the fall of 1661, nine girls began exhibiting possession like symptoms and the situation seemed to have only one explanation, witchcraft; however, the symptoms they experienced caught the eyes of historians and resembles a disease known today as Ergotism. The start of the accusations began in Autumn of 1661, nearly one year after the Puritans moved to the New World after living in England. They moved to what present day Americans call Massachusetts, in search of religious freedom from the Roman Catholic Church; the Puritans sought to build a holy city, or a city on the

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Just as most persecutions begin, the people of Salem were trapped by an emotion which led to a six-month witch hunt; they were enraptured with fear. Though the whole situation began with a teenage joke, the Puritan society was in a paranoid state by trying to stay pure in their religion. The Puritans were not only afraid of the Devil tainting them, but rather a shattered reputation, and possibly death, by being accused of witchcraft. So, many Salem residents accused their neighbors of being witches to avoid blame on themselves. While fear was a large motivator for the trials, it is also a fact that "most of the accused lived to the south of, and were generally better off financially, than most of the accusers.

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Isolation Quotes In The Crucible

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Salem is the perfect town for these witchcraft accusations to occur. Salem is a rural town that is isolated from the rest of Massachusetts. Since it is isolated the people won’t experience changes in culture like everyone else. The government was Puritanism so the Church had all of the power and Salem didn’t know about enlightenment ideas so they believed it.

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What were the causes of the Salem Witchcraft Trials? One of the causes for the Salem Witchcraft trials is Abigail Williams not telling the truth to her uncle Rev. Parris, after he caught them dancing in the woods around a fire. Also the next morning when her cousin Betty Parris didn’t wake up, then Mrs. Putnam saying that their daughter Ruth is acting strange. Then when the grown ups walked out room Betty wakes up and saying “You drank blood to kill Goody Proctor”(p.837)

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What was the cause and beliefs of the Salem Witch Trials? In the fourteenth century there was a belief that the devils practice were given to certain humans (History.com). Two young girls believed this because of the aftereffects of war, a smallpox epidemic, a fear of native american attacks,and a rivalry with a Salem town (History.com). In 1684 King Charles Ⅱ removed the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s Act because of the fear of the so called witches (“History of Salem Witch Trials”). At this time another belief was developed: that everyone was stressed because of the constant change of leaders (“History of Salem Witch Trials).

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1008 Words | 5 Pages

These refugees were from northern New York, Nova Scotia, and Quebec. The displaced people created a strain on Salem’s resources because they did not have their own resources and they used others. That aggravated existing rivalries between families with ties to the wealth port of Salem. (“Salem Witch Trials”, 1). The first witch case involved Reverend Parris’ daughter Elizabeth, age 9, and his niece Abigail Williams, age 11, in January 1692.

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