The Salem witch trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It was an outbreak of one Puritan accusing another, hearings, trials, and executions of the people found guilty of witchcraft. One day, three teenage girls claimed to be possessed and were throwing violent fits consisting of vomiting, choking and hallucinations. Were they just bored, or was something really going on? The Puritan society was very patriarchal meaning their society relied heavily on the men in the families. The eldest
1692 through May 1693 the town of Salem went from being a normal Puritan town to a hunting ground. The people of Salem where not hunting simple things like deer or foxes, these people where on the hunt for something that was being controlled by Satan himself. Witches had the town of Salem shaking in their boots and extremely suspicious of everyone around them. Innocent lives were taken and the town of Salem would go down in history as one of the most famous trials in America. In this research paper
the Salem Witch Trials. There are multiple factors that are thought to be cause to the infamous Trials, yet religion plays a strongly dominant role amongst the plethora of reasons. The events of Salem Village affected the colonies immediately following the trials, yet they had a lasting influence on the development of the ideals of the United States. The mass hysteria that accompanied the accusations in 1692 had been seen before in Europe, but it was fresh to America. Witchcraft and trials in Europe
people of Salem were in a mass hysteria. Sadly, these were exactly the type of situations happening in Salem, Massachusetts 1692. Rejection of the abnormal, corruption of government, and ignorance are the sparks the town of Salem needed to ignite the mass panic known as the Salem Witch Trials. Bridget Bishop, almost sixty years old, was the first “witch” killed of the Witch Trials. She was hung from a tree on June 10, 1692, signifying the beginning of the dark times that were the Salem Witch Trials
understandable that the witch trials in the Massachusetts area would become such hysteria. Though many historians have attributed the cause of the Salem Witch Trials to economic instability between the thriving seaports and the languishing agriculture and the political struggle between the highly patriarchal society and the independent women who started to defy the status quo of women, these are not the most compelling cause of the Salem Witch Trials. Through the system of the trials, the people who were
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and 1693 was a tragic set of events that took place in Salem, Massachusetts (Salem is now Danvers, Massachusetts.) It began with a “witchcraft craze” from 1300-1600 in Europe, when thousands of people were murdered, accused of performing witchcraft, the devil’s magic. In January of 1692, Reverend Samuel Parris’ daughter, Betty Parris, and niece, Abigail Williams, began behaving strangely, including screaming, throwing things, making strange noises, and putting themselves
Salem Witch Trials In 1692 events that took place in Salem, Massachusetts led to the best known witch trial in America. Today these witch trials are known as the Salem Witch Trials. More than two-hundred people were accused of practicing witchcraft. A witch to them was someone who could do harm through magical means, they could curdle milk, hobble animals, and even cause young children to sicken and die (Aronson, Witch Hunt 31). People believed the Salem Witch Trials happened because English
1692 marked a major event in history in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The Salem Witchcraft Trials still leaves this country with so many questions as to what happened in that small town. With all the documentation and accounts of the story, people are still wondering why 19 people died as a result of these trials. This paper will discuss the events leading up to the Salem Witch Trials and the events that took place during and after the trials, and the men and women who were killed or spent the
and follower of Satan. Most of these executions were performed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Mostly all of the accused were women, which makes some modern historians believe that the charges of witchcraft were a way of controlling the women who threatened the power of the men. During the witchcraft trials, hundreds of arrests were made, and some were even put to death on Gallow’s Hill (Karlsen 145). In 1698, the villagers of Salem won the right to establish their own Church. They chose the Reverend
This exchange in the Salem Witchcraft Trials was an important period in history because it illustrated the dangers of superstitions and prejudiced accusations which resulted in the imprisonment and execution of innocent people. There are many important events that led up to the Salem Witch Trials. Way back in 1233, when witchcraft was not familiar to anybody, Pope Gregory formed the medieval interrogation to bring justice against the growing heresy (The Salem Witch Trials 8) to arrest, try, convict