In 1692 a terrible tragedy occurred, it killed many and lead a town into ruins. This tragedy was the Salem Witch Trials. The witch trials started with two girls, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, who were thought to have fallen ill. their illness was classified as bewitchment due to their abnormal symptoms such as twitching, choking, and contorting their bodies in abnormal shapes. They soon began to accuse people in the town of witchcraft. Others in the town began to join in on the accusations and the town was terrified. Once the town calmed down it was too late, sixteen victims had been hung, one pressed, and one, four year old Dorcas Good, had went insane. No one knows exactly why this happened, but Rosalyn Schanzer’s book Witches! The …show more content…
just like today, kids will follow along with their peers or parents. “And Lewis said it was all the fault of Martha Cory, the very same Gospel Woman that Ann had already accused. Like Ann, Lewis claimed that she saw Martha Cory’s spirit roasting a spectral man on a spit inside her fireplace”(Schanzer 45). If one person became afraid of another because they were seen doing strange things or wearing strange vestments, then they might convince others that the person is an imp or a witch/wizard. “Common history has painted Annand her young peers as selfish, vicious fakers who fueled the witchcraft trials out of boredom or spite. This portrait, however, is somewhat flawed as it appears that in Ann’s case at least, the parents of the afflicted must have a strong influence with the child, as did the other adult accusers. Initially, Ann was fed names by her parents and minister”(-Minerdescent). The girls that were tricked into believing that the accused were guilty were most likely convinced that this was pious and that God wanted them to accuse the innocent. Or the girls might be influenced by their religion, reverends, and ministers. “These evil spirits are all around…. Go tell mankind that there are devils and witches…. New England has had examples of their existence…. and that not only the wigwams of Indians…. but the houses of Christians… have undergone the annoyance …show more content…
It last theory is that the afflicted girls accused the victims because they wanted revenge, but it is unlikely for children to hold a grudge with so many people. Most of the accusers came from high families, “Was some of the witch hunting the result of that big fight between Reverend Parris and the members of his congregation who refused to pay his salary”(- Schanzer 113)? Could it be that the parents of the accusers were malicious and fervently wanted to purposely cause their enemies to be condemned to death. It is quite a possibility due to the fact that people were not as friendly with each other as they are today. “But in the trials, neighbors also testified against neighbors, bringing up grievances as a way of getting revenge”(-Spiritual Travels). This would explain why so many people were accused. “In conclusion, the residents of Salem Village usually accused their neighbors of witchcraft because it was very common to have a history of conflict or tension with your neighbor at the time”(Teenink.com). Even if no one can prove that these were the main reasons for the Salem Witch Trials and there are still many other theories, these three give the best explanation. These three theories show that the girls only did i because they were ill or believed that it was right because someone they looked up to told them to do it. Although many lives were lost, we now
In Salem village, the Reverend Parris’ nine year old daughter and her niece Abigail Williams, began exhibiting strange, odd behavior, including shouting and barking. Soon after other girls from Thomas Putnam Jr. were exhibiting the same behavior. Peoples started crowding over their houses. These girls were trying to escape the fact that they were bewitched. So, the girls started blaming others of witchcrafting
This evidence helps explain the jealousy and boredom the young girls experienced during this period of time, Another possible cause for the Salem witch trials was that the girls were great liars and
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
This jealousy was created from other’s female gender, age and marital status. Based on document B provided, the accusers were around the age of 16-20, female, and accused mostly women (41-60), that were married of being a witch. Drawing to a conclusion, the accusers, younger and single girls, were jealous of old, married women who had their future set for them
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.
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.
The Salem witch trials were a large and well known part of our history. Beginning in 1692, three girls were accused of being possessed by the devil. There were many theories to the cause of the Salem witch trials, but there were three main reasons. The belief that the devil had taken over society, the belief that the devil was recruiting witches to work for him, and the belief that a disease caused by eating infected rye caused hallucinations. These were the main reasons for the cause of the Salem witch trials.
Dear whomever may be reading this letter, I am writing this to show the madness of the witch hunts here in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay colony. Two girls have accused three women of witchcraft, and one of them, a slave confessed to being a witch. She accused four women and three men, and to escape death the accused pleaded guilty and named others, whipping the people of the village into a rabid frenzy. As I am writing this twenty people have been killed, and I pray that no more are sent to follow them to the gallows. About two hundred have been accused, and it seems the only way to escape death is to name more witches.
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.
In Witches: The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer people in the town of Salem were Condemned for being witches. By the end of it all more than 200 people were accused and 20 were executed. Horridly they accused people from all ages, everyone from teenager to ancient was accused. But why? The Salem Witch Trials were caused by hysteria, popularity, and revenge.
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.
Bridget Bishop, a resident of Salem, was the first person to be tried as a witch. Surprisingly, Bishop was accused of witch craft by the highest number of witneses. After Bishop, more than two hundred people were tried of practicing witchcraft and twenty were executed. Many of these accusations arose from jealous, lower class members of society, especially towards women who had come into a great deal of land or wealth. Three young children by the names of Elizabeth, Abigail, and Ann were the first three people to be “harmed” by the witches.
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.
Talks about witches were then brought up and the girls began falsely accusing people of being witches. They do this in order to get people they do not like in trouble. People throughout the entire town then began accusing each other of working with the devil. Eventually hundreds of people were arrested and those who confessed to working with the devil lived while those who did not died. In the end some of the towns most known people are