Modern Day Witch Hunt In The Crucible

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Today, most people know witch hunts as something that happened in Salem, Massachusetts in 1693, but what most people do not know is that they are still happening today and causing major violence in communities around the world. The Crucible is a book that shares the events that happened during the time of the Salem witch trials; although centuries have passed by, qualities of modern witch hunts can be seen throughout this book. Which brings us to the question, how do modern day witch hunts compare to the witch hunt shown in The Crucible?
Witch hunts originated in Europe and have been going since the 1400’s. The first witch hunts began in the countries of France, Germany, Northern Italy Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands (Swancer). It all started around 1490, when Pope Innocent VIII issued a document that condemned witch craft. This document was based truly on folklore and the idea of witchcraft couldn't be proven at all (Swancer). Without bringing the idea witchcraft to the attention of the citizens, people probably would have never gone around trying to find witches in the first place. This caused an outbreak in witch hunts throughout Europe that eventually spread to the Americas through the new technology. …show more content…

Today, witch hunts happen in places that have poor medical care and few educational opportunities (National Geographic Society). In these countries people do not have the as much knowledge and understanding of things like diseases, natural disasters, and other occurrences as others might. This leads the people to believe that witchcraft is what is causing the events. Witch hunts are most common today in countries like India, Gambia, Ghana, Zambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, and many others (National Geographic

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