The Main Causes Of The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials is a well-known topic taught in history classes and in English classes. It was a time in which numerous, innocent people (mostly women) were killed because they were believed to be partaking in witchcraft. There are many possible causes as to why the Salem Witch Trials occurred. These known causes stemmed from the belief that Satan is acting in the world whether it be through giving a disease or recruiting new witches to work for him, kids that were bored and brought it upon themselves to lie that they were witches to have fun, and confessions leading town officials to believe that their belief that witchcraft may exist is true since people are coming forward and confessing. Back in this time period, people were

Before the Salem Witch Trials even began there were still accusations of witchcraft being made starting with Margaret Jones in 1648 but no one had ever confessed before, giving the town officials/judges nothing to prove that witchcraft existed ("The Salem Witch Trials: Facts & History"). What the main cause of the Salem Witch Trials was believed to be was Tituba when she confessed to witchcraft. This community was highly religious and had a strong fear of Satan, as mentioned above, and so when Tituba confessed that she as well as others were witches working for Satan, it caused mass hysteria and caused the massive witch hunt to begin ("The Salem Witch Trials: Facts & History"). Before Tituba confessed there had been no proof that witchcraft existed, however, after she did this led to a witch hunt due to the belief that there could be more “witches” out there causing destruction to the

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 is 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 then the judges and the people of Salem believed that there must be more like her leading to the many false accusations and even numerous deaths. Other smaller events leading to the trials is bored children and disputes between people of the community that led to more accusations and more deaths. What made all of this worse is that the courts allowed for spectral evidence to be used in court and multiple people were wronged and sentenced to death. These trials and wrongful deaths are what made up the Salem Witch Trials, these causes are to the blame for this sad historical