Salem Witches and Ergot of Rye

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Recommended: Causes of the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria

While researching texts written about the Salem Witch Trials, I found a few authors who published articles and books about the Salem Witch Trials. These authors often showed that the most likely cause of the fits coming from the victims was produced by ergot of rye. However, I could not find much discussion about another important source of the fits’ cause: witchcraft. My goal in this paper is to produce a convincing argument that the victims during the Salem Witch Trials that experienced strange behaviors came from ergot of rye rather than witchcraft.
To achieve this goal, I have organized my paper into four main sections. In the first section, I provide an account of what happened during the 17th century Salem Witch Trials. In the second section, I explain what happens during the existence of ergot of rye in a human and the effects it has on people. The third section includes an explanation of what community rye was during the Salem Witch era and what it did to each victim. The fourth section concludes the paper.

About the Salem Witch Trials Victims
The Salem Witch Trials occurred from 1692 to 1693. When two girls, aged 9 and 11, started having strange and peculiar fits, the Puritans believed that the cause of these actions was the work of the devil. The children accused three women of afflicting them: Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Tituba was a Caribbean slave owned by the Parris family. Sarah Good was a homeless woman. Sarah Osborne was a poor elderly woman. Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good pleaded innocent. Tituba admitted, “The Devil came to me and bid me serve him.” She described seeing red cats, yellow birds, black dogs, and a black man who asked her to sign his “book”. She confessed to signing the book. All three wo...

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...an. 2014.
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"Bad Rye and the Salem Witches."
• Damn Interesting.
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18 Feb. 2014.
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"No. 1037: Rye Ergot and Witches."
No. 1037: Rye Ergot and Witches.
N.p., n.d. Web.
18 Feb. 2014.
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"Ergot of Rye: History."
Ergot of Rye: History.
N.p., n.d. Web.
18 Feb. 2014.
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"Were The Salem Witch Trials Spurred By Food Poisoning?."
GreenMedInfo.
N.p., n.d. Web.
18 Feb. 2014. .

"Salem Witch Trials: The Fungus Theory."
Neatorama.
N.p., n.d. Web.
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