Cause Of The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials was an unexpected tragedy that lasted for about a year. Several innocent people were sent to their deaths, chiefly caused by teenagers seeking entertainment. (The Salem Witch Trials: Wilson). Other catalysts were also family feuds, epileptic seizures, and a fungal agent in rye. (Salem Witch Trials: Wilson)(The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary).
Rye can be eaten when made as bread or cereal, because it’s an ingredient that is similar to wheat, but sometimes it can be infected by ergot. Convulsive Ergotism is caused by a fungus that takes over the still growing kernels of the rye grain, this is usually caused when exposed to warm or damp environments. One such occurrence affected the rye eaten by Salem residents. Ergot causes people to have violent fits, a crawling sensation on the skin, vomiting, choking, and hallucinations. (The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary).
The Puritans were a group of people originally from England that pulled away from the Catholic church, mainly because they wanted to “purify” their religion. They believed that they could lose God’s faith in them if they didn’t live pure and upright lives. The word Puritan even means against pleasure, and also referred to people who were thought to be intolerant, egotistical bigots. (Wikipedia: Puritan)(Salem Witch Trials: Wilson) A bigot is a person who strongly doesn’t like other people, ideas, etc. (merriam-webster: bigot) They thought that if they worked hard to get money it was a good thing, even at the cost of their neighbors, and to them it meant that in some way God had blessed them. The Puritans believed that they were God’s chosen people, also known as his “elect”, and when they died, they would go and roam Heaven with him...

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...easons why we could not join with Mr.Parris in prayer, preaching, or sacraments…the said Mr. Parris having teaching such dangerous errors, and preached such scandalous immortalities, as ought to discharge any from the work of the ministry…” (Salem Witchcraft: Compromising More Wonders of the Invisible World, Collected by Robert Calef; And, Wonders of the Invisible world, by Cotton Mather: Together with Notes and Explainations. Page 161 middle). (The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary).
About twelve months after the first incident, nineteen of the accused were killed, four had died in prison, one man had been pressed to death, and two-hundred people were arrested. The Salem Witch trials was a horrific period in history. This was mainly due to teenagers having fun, family feuds, epileptic fits, or diseased rye. (The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary).