Salem Witch Hunts

Exploring, the historical references of the Salem Witch Hunts will reveal insights into the cultural makeup of this colonial society during the seventeenth century. Questions that present themselves are, were there a sense of mass hysteria or were there some other sociological phenomena that explained the social construct during that disturbing time frame.
In the winter of 1691-1692 Salem Village was not a happy-go-lucky place to live; the cold, damp, and dreary town of 600 was divided and afraid. The farmers who were from the western side of town were more focused on agricultural lifestyle while, the businessmen on the eastern side wanted to be closer to the commercial district and commerce. The problems between Salem Town and Salem Village settlements were based on social and economic policies. Thus you had people who wanted to separate from Salem Town, and those who decided to stay in the village.
Puritans believed witches could do harm to others and defined witchcraft as entering into a compact with the devil in exchange for certain powers to do evil. Witchcraft was considered a sin and a crime because it denied the sovereignty of God. A witch could call up the Devil in order to perform cruel acts against others. Reverend Samuel Parris’s daughter Betty Parris, his niece Abigail Williams, and Anne Putnam Jr. were the first three to experience this as yet to be identified malady. Some people believed that their sickness and convulsion were caused by a witch. These phenomena were the portents of terrible times to come; we know them as the Salem Witch Hunts.
The Salem Witch Hunts have been the subject of assorted types of academic analysis in search of an accurate diagnosis of what actually took place during th...

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..., Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974).
. Adams, “"The Specter of Salem in American Culture."” 24.
. Ibid.
. Muhammad Safeer Awan, “"From Witch-Hunts and Communist-Hunts to Terrorist-Hunts: Placing Arthur Miller's the Crucible in the Post-September 11 Power Politics.",” Pakistan Journal of American Studies 25, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 1-I.
. Ibid.
. Ibid. 1-I.
. Muhammad Safeer Awan, “"From Witch-Hunts …Pakistan Journal of American 25, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 1-I.
. Muhammad Safeer Awan, “"From Witch-Hunts … Pakistan Journal of American 25, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 1-I.
. Muhammad Safeer Awan, “"From Witch-Hunts … Pakistan Journal of American 25, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 1-I.
. Muhammad Safeer Awan, “"From Witch-Hunts … Pakistan Journal of American 25, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 1-I.
. Ibid.
. Ibid., 1-I.