The Effects Of The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trails A dark time in American history could be easily recognized in the chaos and mass hysteria stirred up during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, when many people lost their lives due to crazed accusations and extremist religious beliefs. Today Salem is known as the home of The Salem Witch Trails. Many people visit places like Gallows Hill and the House where they held the accusation meetings. Salem’s rich history makes it a very popular tourist attraction today. All the chaos began when a few young girls began having strange fits.

Throughout our world’s history there have been thousands if not millions of witch hunt cases around the world. During the Bubonic Plague people blamed witches for what was going on. Then in the early years of the Dark Ages people where convinced of these so called witches and other mythological creatures. At first people where scared to go outside at night because they thought that the witches, would get them. However, when people began to learn how to read, they realized that witchcraft was against what the bible says.

In the Crucible mob mentality is used in a way to have combined testimony against those accused. “’I saw Goody Hawkins with the devil’-Abigail ‘I saw Goody Bibber with the devil!’-Betty” (p. 1049). These accusations go on to blame 19 people in which 16 of those people died because of the mob mentality that went around the village that... ... middle of paper ... ...e leaders believed lived within Salem. Throughout the 17th century people were accused of being witches because of the things that ended up going wrong in the villages of the world. Assumptions were made hysteria had set in fear had begun to rise, blame was being placed, and the blackest most sinful secrets of the accused came alive and posted on the churches door for everybody to see.

Witchcraft was defined as entering into a compact with the devil in exchange for certain powers to do evil. It was considered a sin against God’s superiority; a strict rule against Puritan beliefs (Conforti). Although the Salem witch trials was an important and remarkable event that occurred to the Puritan people, there were not really witches in Salem, only hysteria and suspicion. In 1692, sequences of women had begun to have fits. Young girls who were trying out fortune-telling had begun to start acting as though they were being tormented.

The rest of the accused were thrown in jail for months with out trials . The Salem Witch Trials were brought up by the belief of the supernatural, a recent smallpox epidemic, and fears from being attacked from the Native Americans, and longstanding rivalry with other town’s people. They were also fueled by their fear of outsiders and the suspicions and resentment of their neighbors. The trials were the start of something bigger that happened. The events that took place in Salem in 1692 are a part of a greater pattern throughout our history to persecute innocent people, especially women, as "witches."

People who were considered to be their friends or neighbors were turning on them accusing them of witchcraft. This event caused problems with trust and paranoia between many people. Turns out that the Salem Witch Trials were just a hoax after all. The mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials began in early 1692. The trials initiated with young girls behaviors being out of the ordinary.

The Salem Witch Trials are a series of hearings and prosecutions of people being accused of witchcraft. Many of the people that were accused of witchcraft was in Colonial Massachuse... ... middle of paper ... ...under heavy stones because he refused to submit to go to trial on witchcraft charges. Hysteria had got to a lot of people. 19 had died from the Gallows Hill in Salem, but others had died in prison. Hysteria began after a group of girls were possessed by the devil.

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.

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 fear of Satan in Salem and him acting in the world was a major contributor to the cause of the Salem Witch Trials because this was what led to the other causes of it. It is believed that the main cause that led to the numerous accusations was when Tituba had confessed which means that Satan had recruited people as new witches. Since she confessed the judges and the people of Salem believed that there must be others like her, leading to the numerous false accusations and deaths. Other smaller events leading to the start of the trials are bored children and disputes between people of the community that led to more accusations and deaths. What made all of this worse was that the courts allowed for spectral evidence to be used in court and multiple people were wronged and sentenced to death.