Why Did Salem Witch Trials Occur

On October 31, thousands of people across the nation put on a black dress with a black pointed hat. Some even go as far as to paint their faces green and carry around a broomstick. Each of these people decided to be a witch for Halloween this year. However, little do these people know that the real life witches of the seventeenth century looked nothing like that. In fact, those accused of witchcraft over 300 years ago could be any one of us today. Some were young and some were old. Some were married and some were widowed. Who was a witch had barely anything to do with one’s appearance. So if it was not one’s appearance that made them a witch, why were people accused of witchcraft? Why did the Salem Witch Trials occur? These questions

Tituba was a woman who was accused very early in the trials. She had a slight history with the use of magic and was of Indian descent. These two factors led her to be a key candidate for accusation during 1692. She denied the charges against her at first but later confessed. With her confession, she set off the mass of accusations to follow. The colonists reasoned that if there was one witch there must be more. It did not help that Tituba was also an Indian. (Records of Salem Witchcraft,

This fear of the Indians was fueled by the Puritan belief in the supernatural and their impression that the Indians were the servants of the Devil. With the many examples found in multiple sources, it is hard to disagree with their arguments. The colonists also feared the Devil in the afflicted girls. They believed that the witches in Salem had agreed to be servants of the Devil himself. These servants tortured the girls and urged them to sign the Devil’s book too. Ann Putnam was one of the most notable afflicted girls during the Salem Witch Trials. This was largely in part to the fact that she was the daughter of a socially prominent family. She was responsible for the deaths of several people with her testimonies against them. In many of her testimonies, she claimed the accused witch tried to make her write in the Devil’s book. (Tolley, Ann Putnam) In her deposition against John Proctor, Putnam claimed his apparition urged her to sign his book, and when she would not, he bit, pinched, and almost choked her to death. (Rosenthal, 180) In another of Putnam’s accusations, she revealed that Rebecca Nurse had also urged her, Mercy Lewis, and Abigail Williams to write in the Devil’s book. (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 18) Because the Puritans believed so strongly that the Devil could be among them, Ann Putnam’s accusations and the testimonies of the other afflicted