The Salem Witch Trials are a well known event in history. There are multiple theories for why the hysteria occurred. Over time, as more evidence has been found and more has been learned about their life people have hypothesised new theories. Some of the theories for why such hysteria occurred include, weather affecting the food, the fact that the kids weren’t allowed to play as a result of the strict Puritan laws, and they didn’t appreciate differences between people. These are just a few of many theories about why the delirium occurred.
One reason that people believe the Salem Witch Trials started was due to their food. The summer right before all the pandemonium began was moist. The moist air causes a fungus to grow in the bread called Ergot.
…show more content…
The majority of the people being accused and convicted of being witches were people who missed church, had poor luck which was a sign of Satan, and were outsiders. Missing church for any reason meant that they belonged to Satan. When a person was sick or were unlucky people thought it was a result of the devil and these people with lousy luck were the first ones to be accused. As more people were accused and more people started accusing though there were more people who didn’t have terrible luck and had good respective names that were being accused. It may’ve continued because people realized they could claim that a person they weren’t fond of was a witch. Some neighbors would accuse each other, and a lot of people believe that they accused each other because they had disagreements about who owned what land. If this is true, then maybe it did not recur due to too many people were starting to not believe it. While many people may believe this speculation, there are numerous others who may find other theories more plausible.
In conclusion, there are numerous theories for why the Salem Witch trials started. Overtime these theories have been changed and new ones have been made as new information has been found. These are just a few among numerous speculations that have been made about what started the Salem Witch Trials. Whether the Salem Witch Trials started because
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.
Ultimately, I believe that the Salem Witch Trials’ main cause was mass hysteria and paranoia among the group. I can predict this, because in Exhibit A, Cotton Mather states, “ I will prove that Witchcraft exists. Those who deny it exists argue that they never saw any witches, therefore there are none.” I believe this is strong evidence supporting the over exaggeration of most people towards the trials and how hysterical people can become towards an unrealistic assumption like witches and witchcraft. Another piece of evidence supporting mass hysteria as the cause of the trials would be in Exhibit B, where Abigail Hobbs a 16 year old girls pleads guilty.
The second evidence of why Salem witch trials was inevitable is because King Philip’s War caused the Salem Witch Trials, because the war between the Wampanoag tribe and the English colonists made the puritans have a mindset that the natives were associated with witchcraft and worshiped the devil. It started because the colonists desired for occupying more and more
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
The reason that the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony could condone the acts of genocide that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials is because, while they had set themselves up to be a utopian society, it had not yet happened. Various reasons could have led to their settlement towards not becoming a utopia. The main reason for this is the very origin or the greek word “utopia,” which originally meant “impossible.” Other factors included simpler human concepts such as greed, hatred, and lust. These emotions were all present in the town of Salem, but they were hidden from notice by the towns folks devoutness to their church.
Many people were falsely accused of witchcraft, and there was no actual evidence of witchcraft. However, there is a lot of evidence pointing at many different probable causes. These causes give more of an explanation to how those accused were not actually witches. Therefore, the Salem Witch trials were not cause by actual witchery, but were caused by mental illness, epilepsy, and fungus. To start, there has been a lot of research
My theory of the Salem Witch trials is quite simple. I believe that these trials were fueled by panic, stress, and rumor. I say rumor, due to the fact that young, adolecent girls usually seem to spread the word a lot. Girls followed strict rules withtin their religion, as well as boys, BUT, girls were usually tending to the house. They never got outside, as boys did to hunt, and explore the outdoors, as written in Evidence Set C: Puritan Children.
The Salem Witch Trials; Madness or Logic In Stacey Schiff’s, List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials and Shah Faiza’s, THE WITCHES OF SALEM; Diabolical doings in a Puritan village, discuss in their articles what has been debated by so many historians for years, the causes of the Salem Witch trials. Schiff and the Faiza, purpose is to argue the possible religious, scientific, communal, and sociological reasons on why the trials occurred. All while making word by word in the writer’s testimony as if they were there through emotion and just stating simply the facts and theories. They adopt the hectic tone in order to convey to the readers the significance, tragedy, logic, loss, and possible madness behind these life changing events,
What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? What caused the Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692? The three reasons that caused this were revenge, jealousy, and feeling empowered. Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, 20 people got put to death in Salem for witchcraft.
Did you know that historians believe that the reason why the girls (accusers) had “fits” was because of bacteria in their rye bread that may have caused hallucinations? The Salem Witch Trials occurred from 1692 to 1693. During the trials, twenty people were executed: nineteen hanged and one pressed to death. The reasons for the deaths of these moral Puritans were the absence of life outside of church, fear, and strict interpretation of the Bible.
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 all, 10 of 18 depositions against Rebecca Nurse were signed by Putnams, but 2 of the other accusers had grudges against the nurse family as well’’. Revenge, Hysteria, and Popularity everyone has an idea on what caused the salem witch trials. It would take forever to just list out all the possible factors. Beleiving in the listed ones are the best bet. All the world can do is think and believe.
During the Salem Witch Trials a lot of people were accused of using witchcraft. As a result many people died for other people’s lies, rumors, and selfishness. There is one person that really caused and is most to blame for all the chaos, her name is Abigail. Abigail is to blame for all that has happened in the Witch Trials, the reason for that is because of all the accusing and lying she has done. In addition, it all leads up to her for instance, she used a doll to accuse people of witchcraft.
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.