Causes Of The Salem Witch Trials

All this hysteria in the town started causing many problems. The crazed girls began pointing fingers at many residents, including several of the most respected people of the community. Within months, the jail in Salem was over its capacity with townspeople that were accused of performing witchcraft. Seeing how the townspeople believed everything the girls were saying shows how gullible the community is. Ten months later, nineteen people had been hanged, stubborn Giles Corey who refused to plea Guilty or not Guilty was pressed to death by heavy stones, and more than 100 others jailed.

The Salem Witch Trials were started by a couple of bratty girls who decided it would be enjoyable to accuse someone of being a witch, and then contort their bodies and act afflicted any time that person came around. Sadly, the accusations of these girls were taken very seriously by the judge and adults of Salem. People were convicted of witchcraft simply because they had irregular moles or blemishes on their faces. Yes, the people of Salem were in a mass hysteria, filling up jails with “witches” to the point where the jails reached capacity and they could not fit any more people in them. They were able to accuse these people through mob mentality, Puritan culture, and forced conformity.

Hysteria began after a group of girls were possessed by the devil. In Salem, Massachusetts is where most people were accused of witchcraft. There were 19 men and women that were hung and one man was pressed to death with big rocks. There were many people that had never did witchcraft and they were accused of it and put in prison. After they were put in prison they had to wait many years for their trial.

Witches sent out their specters and harmed others. Puritans believed by putting heavy chains on a witch, that it would hold down their specter. Puritans also believed that by hanging a witch, all the people the witch cast a spell on would be healed. Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it.

Several centuries ago, many practicing Christians, and those of other religions, had a strong belief that the Devil could give certain people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. A "witchcraft craze" ran through Europe from the 1300s to the end of the 1600s. Tens of thousands of supposed witches (mostly women) were executed. Though the Salem trials came on just as the craze was winding down, the Salem Witch trials sparked them up again. Social pressure had to have affected the Salem witch trials just because of the citizens of Salem, just most of the characteristics of the people aren’t too good.

Many innocent people were brutally killed for being a “witch”. Families were broken and friendships ended. The fact that people accused friends and neighbors is horrible. It makes people rethink about who they can actually trust. Salem has been affected by these trials since 1692.

Twenty people executed, two hundred or more jailed, and the whole town of Salem in hysteria. Lasting two years, the Salem Witch Trials not only tore families apart, but killed many along the way as well. People were jailed from the reasoning of the court with no legitimate evidence. This historical time, in 1692-1693 was one of the most insane and violent periods that people living in small towns and villages experienced. In both Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Lisa Rowe Fraustino’s I Walk in Dread, hysteria, the Salem Witch Trials, and Mccarthyism are featured as main topics that create a similarity of themes.

The other “witches”, accused by Tituba, confessed as well and named others that they worked with to serve the devil. This caused an overwhelming atmosphere in the trials sending the Massachusetts colony and surrounding settlements into a hysterical panic. This pa... ... middle of paper ... ...ft, was the reason behind it all. This was the reason why so many innocent lives were taken and their family’s reputation and names destroyed. Bibliography: Ziglen, Sara “National Geographic: Salem Witch Trials.” National Geographic: Salem Witch-Hunt.

Throughout the trials ,Elizabeth would testify and accuse many of witchcraft. After the trials many people believed that Elizabeth had faked all of the strange behaviors in court, but it was too late for after the trials were over she had accused and killed many. “Elizabeth Hubbard maintained a spiteful and malicious role throughout the witchcraft scare…” (Hill, sec. 20). Elizabeth had been seen as the girl who threw violent fits.

There was a point in our history when people believed in witches. If you were accused as a witch, you would be tried, most of the time found guilty, and hanged. These events happened in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. During the Salem witch trials in 1692, more women were accused than men. At the same time, women were also accusers.