Ergotism In Salem Village, Massachusetts 1662

The Massachusetts Bay Experiment, despite the fact that it began as a business endeavor, was profoundly grounded on religion. As John Winthrop said, they needed to make a "city upon a slope," or an ideal world where God's support could be accomplished. To accomplish this Promised Land, the Puritans dedicated themselves to their congregation life and God. Investing hours at administration consistently, the Puritans were a nearly weave group because of the force of the congregation. At whatever point any issue in the group developed, the Puritans looked to the congregation to give them an answer.

Tituba practiced what many people from Salem saw as black magic, but she practiced on the request of Abigail Williams. Later on she was requested to give Abigail a magic cup to kill John Proctor's wife. Since Abigail had an affair with him. Later on Elizabeth accused Tituba of the act. “ She makes me drink blood!”

There were several tensions throughout colonial America. In the beginning the colonies struggled financially. Many came to the New World with the promise of land and opportunity and it was difficult to get started. Many farmers lacked the proper tools to tend their land and many died from a lack of good medicine. The work was hard and labor intensive for crops like rice and sugar and this required indentured servants and later slavery.

Though Good and Osborn denied their guilt, Tituba confessed. Likely seeking to save herself from certain conviction by acting as an informer, she claimed there were other witches acting alongside her in service of the devil against the Puritans. As hysteria spread through the community and beyond into the rest of Massachusetts, a number of others were accused, including Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse–both regarded as upstanding members of church and community–and the four-year-old

Ergotism comes from a fungus called Claviceps purpurea. It infects wheat, rye and other various grasses that were commonly farmed in the time of the trials. When the crop is first infected, the head of a grain will release yellow mucus which contains fungal spores that can spread the disease. Within the Sclerotia, which are the purple or black grains that form after the yellow mucus, are chemicals such as ergot alkaloids like including lysergic acid (which LSD is made from) and ergotamine. These ergot alkaloids will affect the nervous system, causing spasms or contractions.

In the winter of 1692,trouble began in the village of Salem in The Massachusetts Bay Colony. According to my research it explains,it started with nine year old Betty Parris started acting weird. She would hide under chairs,flap her arms and jerk around. She would also blabble saying words no one could understand.

REVIEW OF LITRATURE A.) SUMMARY SOURCE A Although the whole book had information on the Salem witch trials. The introduction, chapter 1 and 2 and the conclusion had information regarding the research needed • Introduction: states what the Salem witch trials where and who they accused.

Can you imagine being accused of committing a crime that you did not commit? Innocent people were being accused of performing witchcraft and being witches. Salem witchcraft started in a town called Salem, which is in the state of Massachusetts, back in 1692. The story behind this was that three girls were one day begining to worry their parents. All the girls did was do normal kid things like climb on furniture and jump around acting crazy.

It was around this time that young girls, starting with Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam, began getting sick. Without an apparent cause, they fell unconscious, and would not wake (Miller, 8). Soon, other girls, including Betty’s cousin, Abigail, began to show bizarre symptoms. They had hallucinations, felt sensations like extreme cold, and generally became irrational and sickly. These are all main symptoms in ergot poisoning.

So speak utterly, Tituba, turn your back on him and face God- face God, Tituba, and God will protect you” (Miller 44, Act 1). Tituba, the lowest of the low, has her status temporarily elevated because of the witch trials. Normally, she is the one told what to do and told to obey; now, however, she has the power of life and death over others. With the “good” power and the “bad” power being displayed in the town of Salem, times got very puzzling for the court and

Then, Tituba is accused by Abigail. Reverend Hale and Parris are overlooking the process at the time. “Hale: You most certainly do, and you will free her from it now! When did you compact with the Devil? Tituba: I don’t compact with no Devil!

To begin, it is a popular belief that Tituba, a slave in the story, was justified in her confession to witchcraft in order to save her own life. After the girls of Salem peg Tituba as the culprit for corrupting their souls and torturing them, she is interrogated and accused by characters such as the esteemed Reverend Hale and town’s Reverend, Mr. Parris. Finally, Parris exclaims, “ You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!” (1.941-942). Tituba instantly confesses, and saves herself from a terrible death.

The disease came from fleas on rats from trading ships. Some people believe the nursery rhyme “ring around the rosies”came from this disease. Some of the symptoms were fever, unable to keep food down, deliriousness, headache, chills and weakness. Clothing Woman wore gowns, hats, corsets, underwear, collars, ruffs and shoes. Men wore doublets, breeches, underwear, collars, ruffs, hats and shoes.

N) also brings up the possibility of a fungus called ergot triggering the hysteria of 1692. Ergot grows on cereal grains and can be poisonous which was a “common condition resulting from eating contaminated rye bread” back in the seventeen hundred´s. Ergot is believed to have affected the accusers by causing symptoms such as “crawling sensations, tingling in the fingers, vertigo and hallucinations”. To better understand how ergot played a role in the Salem witch hysteria, an additional document listing how much rye and other cereal grains were consumed during the year 1692 would help determine a

I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir” (Miller 1119). Prior to Parris’s death threat, Tituba refuses “compacting with the Devil.” After realizing her life is at stake if she denies it, Tituba confesses to submitting to the Devil and attempts to make herself innocent and to unload this blame, which she had received from Abigail, onto the Devil and even onto others in the community by claiming that they work with Satan. In a panic, she begins to name others in the community that may be able to share in the blame of witchcraft with her and lighten her own punishments. I believe that while what she did was wrong, Tituba has proper justifications for her actions.