Salem Witch Trials

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Salem Witch Trials In 1692 events that took place in Salem, Massachusetts led to the best known witch trial in America. Today these witch trials are known as the Salem Witch Trials. More than two-hundred people were accused of practicing witchcraft. A witch to them was someone who could do harm through magical means, they could curdle milk, hobble animals, and even cause young children to sicken and die (Aronson, Witch Hunt 31). People believed the Salem Witch Trials happened because English rulers started a war with France. This war was called King Williams War to colonist says Blumberg. This war made it so refugees had to flee to Essex and into the Salem village. Blumberg states: The displaced people created a strain on Salem's resources. This aggravated the existing rivalry between families with ties to the wealth of the port of Salem and those who still depended on agriculture. Controversy also brewed over Reverend Samuel Parris, who became Salem Village's first ordained minister in 1689, and was disliked because of his rigid ways and greedy nature. The Puritan villagers believed all the quarreling was the work of the Devil. (par. 4) Since all of these people fled to the Salem Village, the Salem people blamed several of them for everything that happened in Salem. They believed that all of those people brought the Devil to the Salem village (Blumberg, par. 3-4) One of the first things that began the Salem Witch Trials was three little girls becoming sick and then the Salem people accusing three women of putting spells on the three children. In January of 1692, Reverend Parris’ nine year old daughter, Betty, and his eleven year old niece, Abigail, started having huge fits. They would throw things, say things in odd ways,... ... middle of paper ... ...witch trial in America: The Salem Witch Trials. Work Cited -Aronson, Marc. Witch Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. -Blumberg, Jess. “ A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials.” 24 October 2007. Smithsonian.com. 16 February 2010. -Buckland, Raymond. The Witch Book. Canton, Michigan: Visible Ink Press, 2001. -Kallen A. Stuart. Witches. San Diego, California: Lucent Books Inc, 2000. -Linder, Douglas.” The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary.” September 2009. Salem Witch Craft Trials of 1692. 16 February 2010. /projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_ACCT.HTM>. -Sutter, Tim. “Victims of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.” Salem Witch Trials. 17 February 2010. .

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