The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692
The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692, which resulted in 19 executions, and 150 accusations of
witchcraft, are one of the historical events almost everyone has heard of. They began when three
young girls, Betty Parris, Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam began to have hysterical fits, after being
discovered engaging in forbidden fortune-telling (not dancing naked in the woods) to learn what sorts
of men they would marry. Betty's father, the Reverend Samuel Parris, called in more senior
authorities to determine if the girls' affliction was caused by witchcraft. Although Betty was sent away
fairly soon, and did not participate in the trials, the other girls were joined by other young and mature
women in staging public demonstrations of their affliction when in the presence of accused "witches."
The events in Salem have been used as a theme in many literary works, including the play by Arthur
Miller which we are going to read during this unit. They are interesting to anthropologists because
they display some of the characteristics of "village" witchcraft and some of the features of the
European witch craze. Many commentators have seen the Salem witch craze as the last outbreak of
the European witch craze, transported to North America. As in African and New Guinea villages, the
original accusations in Salem were made against people who, in one way or another, the accusers
had reason to fear or resent. Moreover, the first few of the accused fit the definition of "marginal"
persons, likely to arouse suspicion. However, as in Europe, the accusations spread, and came to
encompass people not involved in any of Salem's local grudges. As in Europe there was a belief that
the accused were in league with the Devil and "experts" employed "scientific" ways of diagnosing
witchcraft.
Interestingly, during the colonial period in Africa, shortly after World War II, there were a number of
witch finding movements in Africa, which resembled the Salem episode in some ways, and had a
similar status "in between" the sort of witch hunt found in Europe and the typical African pattern.
Typically, in these movements, "witch finders" would come in from outside a village and claim to be
able to rid the village of witchcraft. At this period there was great dislocation, with people moving
around because of government employment, a...
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...er trusted them. This was likely to be a more
acute problem in the U.S., since the people who were named by those who cooperated with the
Committee weren't hanged and put out of the way, just fired and left to try to lead the resistance to
McCarthyism. Namers of names sometimes found themselves with no friends at all, since
anti-Communists often still failed to trust them. The issue of resisting collaboration with the witch
hunters was important enough to Miller that he altered history, and portrayed the trials as stopping
when more people refused to confess when, in fact, a significant increase in confessions probably
served to cast some doubt on the validity of individual confessions.
Taking liberties with the text is one of the characteristics of the interaction between humans and their
myths. And a charter myth is certainly what the witch hunts in Europe and Salem have become,
though they have more basis in fact than most myths. The stories of the witch hunts are charter myths
for our time, to be told by feminists, left-wing intellectuals, and lawyers for President Clinton, each
taking what he or she needs from the story, adding or subtracting as seems fit.
	During the winter of 1691 and 1692 Salem Village had a mass hysteria over the possibility of witchcraft in their village. The movie shows this was brought on after Reverend Parris discovered some girls dancing in the woods. A black slave known as Tituba supposedly led the rite. Tituba was really American Indian Arawak in history though. Of course the village believed the girls were practicing magic but it may have been a result of the girls eating some moldy wheat. The girls suffered from violent fits.
During the time of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, more than twenty people died in innocent death. All of those innocent people were accused of one thing, witchcraft. During 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, many terrible events happened. A group of Puritans lived in Salem during this time. They had come from England, where they were prosecuted because of their religious beliefs.
Those who were very religious resented those who were wealthy. Many accusers accused individuals who have wronged them in the past, after being accused, trials would be unfair and unjust. The accuser never had any punishment for wrongly accusing a person of witch craft. At times, even rumors were enough to have someone hung. “Old feuds (disputes within congregation, property disputes) between the accusers and the accused spurring charges of witchcraft” (The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692) Douglas Linder stated on his list of causes of the Salem witch hunts; arguments between the accusers and the accused had been one of the factors caused the epidemic. Some accusers during these times had the intention of taking large establishments of property for themselves after the so called “witches” were hung. Many of the accused had lived near the prosperous Salem Town while the accusers were the poor farmers on the outskirts of Salem Village. Jealousy would have been enough reason to blame someone of witchcraft in 1692, whether or not they were a
In Salem, witches and witch hunts were all people would talk about. “Word spread like wildfire through the village,” (Fungus Theory, Bathroom).
Witchcraft has been present in many other religions, not only the Puritan religion. Witchcraft was also found in Catholic and Protestant parts of Europe. The Salem Witch Trials were smaller in comparison to those in Scotland, France, or Germany (Hall 3). Though the trials in Salem were smaller, people recognize the Salem Witch Trials as one of the worst times in American history (“Witch Madness” 4). The Puritans believed that the Devil was alive in their community (“Witch Madness” 2). The accusations started in February 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts when young Puritan girls were found using magic. The Salem Witch Trials began when Betty Paris, Abigail Williams, and some of their friends began to act strange with odd fits (Hall 1). Because many mental and emotional disorders were not understood, the people of Salem believed it was the work of witchcraft. When sickness or even misfortune came, the most
The element of suspense is shown in both literary texts in the first scenes and chapters; this symbolises a possible foreshadowing of the protagonist’s change of behaviour. Shakespeare describes Macbeth
The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were the largest outbreak of witch hunting in colonial New England up to that time. Although it was the largest outbreak, it was not something that was new. Witch-hunting had been a part of colonial New England since the formation of the colonies. Between the years 1648 to 1663, approximately 15 witches were executed. During the winter of 1692 to February of 1693, approximately 150 citizens were accused of being witches and about 25 of those died, either by hanging or while in custody. There is no one clear-cut answer to explain why this plague of accusations happened but rather several that must be examined and tied together. First, at the same time the trials took place, King William's War was raging in present day Maine between the colonists and the Wabanaki Indians with the help of the French. Within this war, many brutal massacres took place on both sides, leaving orphaned children due to the war that had endured very traumatic experiences. Second, many of the witch accusations were based on spectral evidence, most of which were encounters of the accused appearing before the victim and "hurting" them. There were rampant "visions" among the colonies' citizens, which can only be explained as hallucinations due to psychological or medical conditions by virtue of disease, or poisoning.
The judges also decided to allow the so-called “touch-test” (defendants were asked to see if their touch, as was generally assumed of the touch of witches, would stop their contortions) and examinations of the bodies of the accused for evidence of “witches’ marks” (moles or the like upon which a witch’s familiar might suck)
Because these witches were servants of the devil, they were thought to be the enemies of God and Christianity; they were the "ultimate heretics" (265). The "witch craze" era lasted for about 200 years, from 1560-1760 all over Euro...
In 1692, the occurrence of “witchcraft” began after the Massachusetts Bay Charter revolution and the outbreak of small pox. The rebellion caused hysteria and a sad injustice. Friends were pinned against friends; upstanding citizens were forced to flee for their lives and men and women were put to death (Jurist Legal News and Research Services 2008).The fear of the devil influenced the cruelty that took place. Most of the settlers that established their homes in the colony were puritans, a member of a group of English Protestants who revolted against the Church of England. The belief that God punished sinful behavior with misfortune did not help circumstances. The puritans targeted outcasts, people who never really fit it in; they wanted to rid the towns of these suspected sinners.
The epoch of Medieval European history concerning the vast and complicated witch hunts spanning from 1450 to 1750 is demonstrative of the socioeconomic, religious, and cultural changes that were occurring within a population that was unprepared for the reconstruction of society. Though numerous conclusions concerning the witch trials, why they occurred, and who was prosecuted have been found within agreement, there remain interpretations that expand on the central beliefs. Through examining multiple arguments, a greater understanding of this period can be observed as there remains a staggering amount of catalysts and consequences that emerged. In the pursuit of a greater understanding, three different interpretations will be presented. These interpretations, which involve Brian Levack’s “The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe,” Eric Boss’s “Syphilis, Misogyny, and Witchcraft in 16th-Century Europe,” and Nachman Ben-Yehuda’s “The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th centuries:
Salem held it final witch trial in 1697. As quickly as the hysteria swept though the village it left… During the second period of hysteria there were 46 prosecutions and at least 11 executions.
Were the witch-hunts in pre-modern Europe misogynistic? Anne Llewellyn Barstow seems to think so in her article, “On Studying Witchcraft as Women’s History: A Historiography of the European Witch Persecutions”. On the contrary, Robin Briggs disagrees that witch-hunts were not solely based on hatred for women as stated in his article, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community”. The witch craze that once rapidly swept through Europe may have been because of misconstrued circumstances. The evaluation of European witch-hunts serves as an opportunity to delve deeper into the issue of misogyny.
The book begins with a brief history of the colonial witchcraft. Each Chapter is structured with an orientation, presentation of evidence, and her conclusion. A good example of her structure is in chapter two on the demographics of witchcraft; here she summarizes the importance of age and marital status in witchcraft accusations. Following this she provides a good transition into chapter three in the final sentence of chapter two, “A closer look of the material conditions and behavior of acc...
The Salem Trials took place between the 10th of June and the 22nd of 1692 and in this time nineteen people. In addition to this one man was pressed to death and over 150 people where sent to jail where four adult and one infant died. Although when compared to other witch-hunts in the Western world, it was ‘a small incident in the history of a great superstition,’ but has never lost its grip on our imagination’ . It’s because of this that over the last three centuries many historians have analysed the remaining records of the trials in order to work out what the causes and events were that led to them.