Cause Of The Salem Witch Trials

The infamous Salem witch trials began in the Salem village of Massachusetts in 1692, when a group of young women claimed to be possessed by the devil thus setting a spark of other local women accusing each other of practicing witch craft. Even though none of these were said to be true, however those that were accused were usually either trialed or hanged in front of the fearful townsmen. As a result of these accusations on fellow townsmen over 150 people died from the Salem Witch Trials. The practice of witchcraft was commonly believed in the English colonies, the people of Salem Village was very edgy and fearful of death. They were afraid of death by starvation, death by exposure, and death by savages, due to these paranoia it led to the paranoia

Tabooed in England by Catholic leaders, they choose to migrate to North America to start new and escape the discrimination that was put upon them. Upon coming to the new world they settled in Massachusetts and established a strict religious system where a person had to attend the norm of a weekly three hour sermon that everybody attended. Those that didn’t attended or choose not to attend were deemed as a witch because they choose to ignore god and are seen aligned with the devil and influenced by him

Thus the first witches to be accused were Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn who were accused of bewitching them and had been in recent contact with these two. Although accused Tituba was the first to admit to being a witch and confessed that Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn and four other women of being witches. She admitted that four other unnamed women made her hurt the children. With that it started the Salem Witch Trails and begged the questions who the other four witches were? Soon others were accusing their neighbors or fellow townsmen of being a witch just to save themselves from being accused. Shortly after a number of women were accused thus overwhelming the court system of Witchcraft cases. In the early stages of the Salem Witch Trials many women who were accused usually fitted the image of being a widowed or not going to church every week. During these the early times many townsmen believed in norm and the society that the Puritans lived upon mostly reflected it. However as many months passed it began to get so ridiculous that it was over land disputes and family crops. Most people who accused of being a witch if their neighbors crops were wiped out or