What caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692 was a series of persecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts from 1692 to the 1700s. This terrible event ended up with 20 dead people who were accused and executed. Eventually, this catastrophe ended, when the governor's wife was being accused. 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. According to U.S History, “The governor of the colony, upon hearing that his own wife was accused of witchcraft ordered an end to the trials. However, 20 people and 2 …show more content…
They mostly ate food like rye, which was able to grow fungus called ergot. This fungi may have affected the so-called witches. In particular, History Lists states, “If eaten, the fungus can cause hallucinations and convulsions similar to those that were reported to be experienced by the allegedly bewitched girls. And according to Linnda Caporael, professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who introduced the ergot poisoning theory, all the conditions were right for the ergot spread just before the Witch Trials.” The effects of ergot in the rye was similar to the symptoms of the “victims.” of witches. In addition, the conditions during the witch trials proved to be beneficial to spread and grow ergot in the
Why did Salem experience Mass Hysteria in 1692? The Salem Witch Hysteria (SWH) was a major event that occurred from 1692-1693. The event comprised of widespread hysteria that many witches were working with the devil to destroy the puritans. It started when various young girls began to fall on the ground into convulsions and fits, screaming the names of various people and accusing seemingly random people of practising witchcraft.
Although there were many possible causes for the Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692, social division and drama were the most significant. Interestingly, historians have found out about the differences that were present between the accused and the accusers of the witches that fueled the witch hunt. Accordingly, the eastern side of Salem was more powerful and wealthier than the western side of town, which consisted of most accusers who charged people on the east (Doc E). As it is possible to see, there was a division, or crack, in the community, and the western half became jealous or disliked the others in the other half.
Salem Witch Trials In the summer of 1692, 104 people were accused and put into trial for witchcraft. These trials were called The Salem Witch Trials, there has been a huge debate about why it happened for multiple years and no one has yet had a guaranteed reason why. So what actually caused the Salem Witch Trials? I believe the Salem Witch Trials was caused by a secret rivalry between two sides.
In 1692, as the puritans of Salem Massachusetts over-turn on each other, they started scapegoating many of their villagers with witchcraft. During this time many were murdered unfairly. The Salem Witch Trials was a reformation of the government. People believed that this was an era where the devil gave certain humans powers to harm others in joining them into their beliefs. It was certain to happen, because many had personal envy which caused many of the accusations,trials, and the implementations.
The Salem Witch Trials began during the year of 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. The event that sparked the trials occurred when a group of girls claimed to be enthralled by the devil and accused numerous other women of experimenting with witchcraft. As an upsurge of frenzy trickled throughout the town of Salem, a special group assembled in Salem to put their input in the cases. Based on statistics from an article it states, ”the first convicted witch was hanged. Eighteen others followed, while some 150 more men, women and children were accused over the next several months By September 1692, the hysteria had begun to abate and public opinion turned against the trials.”
The Salem Witch Trials were caused by townspeople accusing people with different social classes of witchcraft and mass hysteria. The only reason why the witch trials started was because of townspeople pointing out the outcasts. In the video “Salem Witch Trials, The World Behind the Hysteria,” states,”The first women accused of witchcraft were seen as different unwanted people.” This shows that the townspeople were afraid of different people and decided to confront them of witchcraft to kill them off.
Death and hysteria loomed over the town of Salem during the dark period known as the Salem Witch Trial of 1692. Over the period of 15 weeks, witch hunts and a number of unnecessary killings occurred. Although there is many speculations as to what caused this outbreak, it’s known that there is multiple reason. The Salem Witch Trials were caused by the accounts of Betty Parris and her cousin, the hysteria that consumed the town, as well as the idea of Ergotism overcoming Salem. One cause for the witch trial hysteria was the case of Betty Parris and her older cousin Abigail Williams.
The Causes of the Salem Witch Trials Much of modern America’s fear and infamous interest in witches has been derived most likely from the profound Salem Witch Trials. “The infamous 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,” stated History.com authors. However, many historians still deliberate how such events occurred in the first place. Based on several presented documents, some conclusions suggest that there was a prominent cause to the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials. All in all, the cause of the Salem Witch Trials was the attempt of Salem citizens to either defend or create family
However the witch trials started one thing is for sure, many lives and families were affected by these tragic events. In 1693 the people remaining in jail were released and four years later a day of fasting was declared for the many tragedies caused by the Salem witch trials. Eighteen years down the road in 1711, the Massachusetts colony tried hard to clean up the names of the people accused of witchcraft and even went as far as providing compensation to the family members affected by the false accusations (Staff,
Possible Causes of Salem Witch Trials Salem Massachusetts had an outbreak of bewitched people in the late 1600 hundreds. This accusation started when three teen girls had odd outbreaks of manic episodes that couldn’t be medically explained. The episodes started in 1692 is when the first person was accused of being “bewitched” and lasted until 1693, with 200 people accused while 20 were executed. Possible causes that led to the Salem Witch Trials include jealousy, disease, and fear.
The Puritans were becoming aggressive and threatened the existence of humanity due to their social beliefs about women and children. In 1692, a daughter of a leader of a religious organization, became strangely ill. Critics quickly pointed out that witches were the cause of the illness. Strange illness often attributed to witchcraft and the accusers, who were often members of the family, couldn’t comprehend that illness could be a side effect of stress or trauma. The strange diseases mainly attacked children, and they usually did not get medical attention.
The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day.
Imagine being a wealthy 45-year-old woman in 1692 being accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch trials were caused by jealousy, fear, and lying. People believed that the devil was real and that one of his tricks was to enter a normal person 's body and turn that person into a witch. This caused many deaths and became a serious problem in 1692. First of all, jealousy was one of the causes of the Salem witch trials.
The Salem witch trial was a time about accusing your fellow neighbor or being accused yourself, this all began in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. During this time many people were being accused of being a witch, a majority of the time it was because either someone truly believed that you were a witch and were reeking havoc or they were trying to find someone to take the blame if they were to being accused. So this leads us to question, what began the Salem Witch Trials? There were at least three causes of the Salem witch trials hysteria. These were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams story, Ergotism, and the acknowledgment of hysteria.
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.