Salem Witch Trials Essay

Review of Literature With favorable conditions for itself and its host, ergot’s existence in Salem appears difficult to dispute. Consequential to alternatives such as wheat’s poor growth in the area, rye was a common and more importantly to the people “reliable” crop in Essex County, Massachusetts(source 1). Due to rye’s imperativeness to ergot’s growth, the prevalent amount of the crop presumably allowed for the fungus to multiply. This hallucine causing plant disease prefers “cool conditions that are also wet”, which occur in the coastal location of Salem(source 3). Ergot flourishes in conditions similar to Salem during the 1692 trials, which by extension reaffirms the claim of its existence and ability to affect the tragic events

Symptoms such as “tingling hands/fingers, vertigo, hallucinations, vomiting, muscle contractions, mania, psychosis, delirium, and melancholia” appear in sufferers from the rye infesting fungus and correlate with those allegedly under the influence of “the devil or witchcraft” in 1692(source 1&4). Tituba, one of the many women accused, reported to her interrogator she sighted creatures that possessed “wings and two legs and a head like a woman” which appears explained by supernatural forces, unless the witness suffered from ergot poison, therefore this account ,while admittedly conjecture, might be attributed to the hallucinations sustained with the disease(source 3) It is important to note convulsive ergotism expresses itself in varying ways depending on its victim and the severity of their exposure to its toxicity(source 2). Despite that some suggest the accused people of Salem invented their symptoms this does not offer explanation for the animal’s behavior in the area; exemplified by a dog, who’s actions corresponded with the symptoms of bread poisoning after he ate “Tituba’s witch cake”(source