The Salem Witch Trials were a terrible event in human history that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The Trials started with a few people being accused of witchcraft and did not take long to transform into mass hysteria among the town.There are many theories for what caused the Witch Trials. Some people would argue that the girls led by Abigail Williams caused the Salem Witch Trials, or that the “ignorant” judge failed to see through their lies. However, the true reason why the Witch Trials took place is the society that people lived in and a parasitic fungus called Ergot.The Puritan Theocratic society caused victims of Ergotism to falsely accuse people of witchcraft which led to the Salem Witch Trials and the executions of 23 innocent …show more content…
Abigail Williams says, ”Why? Why do you come, yellow bird?”(Arthur Miller 114). In this line, Abigail claims that she is seeing a yellow bird, later she mentions that it is Mary Warren (115). Many people would argue that the girls were lying to get revenge on who they were accusing. However, those people do not realize that there is a parasitic fungus called Ergot which causes Ergotism if a person or animal is exposed to it for long enough (Caporael 3). Ergotism comes in two types, gangrenous and convulsive. In the gangrenous type, the limbs and portions of the body become gangrenous, die, and then fall off (Caporael 4). In the convulsive type, the symptoms “include crawling sensations in the skin, tingling in the fingers, vertigo, tinnitus aurium, headaches, disturbances in sensation, hallucination, painful muscular contractions leading to epileptiform convulsions, vomiting, and diarrhea” (Caporael 4). Throughout all records of the Salem Witch Trials, all of the symptoms of convulsive Ergotism are displayed (Caporael …show more content…
However, this does not yet explain why the suspected victims of Ergotism would seek to accuse other people instead of realizing that the were sick. To understand this, it must be known that this event occurred in the late 17th century. It is well known that medicine was not even close to as effective as it is in the 21st century and there was no easy way of identifying it as Ergot poisoning. When no explanation of a disease could be found by their doctors, it led them to believe that the causes could be supernatural (Arthur Miller 9). Most people would not default to thinking witchcraft if no normal disease could be found, but it is important to keep in mind that the Puritans were not most people. Their society heavily revolved around religion and prayer, and if one did not go to church on Sundays, people would be suspicious of what he/she was doing that was more important than church, much like how Reverend Hale was suspicious of John Proctor when he does not attend church often and one of his children is not baptized (Arthur Miller 64-65). The Puritan Theocratic Society was very strict and if there was any indication that witchcraft may be in practice, they needed to find it and stop it immediately (Puritan Legacy/Who were these Puritans? 9,11). From this information, it can be determined that, with no knowledge of Ergotism, a Puritan would definitely turn
No one really knows how the Salem Witch Trials really started. There are many conspiracy theories out there but none can be proved as fact. But Linda Caporael seems to think the trials began because of ergot poisoning and explains her reasoning in “Witchcraft or Psychedelic Trip?”. Caporael describes ergot and why she believes it to be the main cause of the hysteria. She goes on to state that ergot is a fungus that grows best in wet conditions and on the main crops that were in Salem during the time period (Caporael).
What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a large source of chaos for the small town that ruined the lives for people and their families. During this time many innocent people were accused of witchcraft and were thrown in jail while some were even hanged. It was a terrible event in history that was caused by jealousy, town division, and young girls.
“What caused the Salem Witch Craft Trials of 1692?” This question has been asked for nearly 323 years. Although it is a rather simple question, it does not have a simple answer. The answer is difficult in light of the fact that there are a variety of factors and events that helped create the trials. One aspect of understanding that may have been a factor in the Salem incident, is that the afflicted girls had mental illnesses at the time, causing them to hallucinate and falsely accuse other women of being witches.
Part of those reasons being, “the actions of the girls in the courtroom during examinations and trials when the girls fell into their fits based on the movements of the accused which caused them to cry out names” (Howlett.) As well as others turning to the work of Arthur Miller The Crucible for direction of what happened during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. They think as John Proctor states in the play “They‘re pretending!”(Mr.) Even though many theories say differently Ergot is one of the only reasonable explanations for the way that the accused had been acting. There was no other medical reason during that time and even when they were inspected by doctors they found nothing.
This Puritan society was deeply rooted in male dominance and as a result many innocent women lost their lives to these false charges of witchcraft simply because they were undesired or challengingly wealthy. This highly religious community used religion to justify a horrific display of
Witches in the New World “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (Exodus, 20:18). In February of 1692 and lasting just over a year, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 19 were executed, 14 of them women, in a small fishing village called Salem. Once branded with the deadly label of witch, one either confessed or named other witches in desperation to be ridden of the title.
The Causes of the Salem Witch Trials Much of modern America’s fear and infamous interest in witches has been derived most likely from the profound Salem Witch Trials. “The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft,” stated History.com authors. However, many historians still deliberate how such events occurred in the first place. Based on several presented documents, some conclusions suggest that there was a prominent cause to the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials. All in all, the cause of the Salem Witch Trials was the attempt of Salem citizens to either defend or create family
Mystery Mania: Research Essay The Salem Witch trials were known as the largest witch trial in history. At that time, supernatural beings and Satan were considered part of everyday life, so when an epidemic of fits of madness broke out within the nation, mostly targeting young girls, people began to panic and blamed all this on the practice of black magic. A total of about two-dozen people were trialed and executed. But was it really because of witchcraft that people were having fits, and what were the strange sightings around the town of Salem?
In Salem, Massachusetts, Puritans were strong believers in the Bible. The Bible states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans beliefs led to them accusing 20 innocent people of being a witch, this resulted in their deaths in 1692. Even though the Puritans couldn’t see it at the time, their accusations were really based off jealousy, lies, and Salem being divided into two parts. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was jealousy.
In Salem, Massachusetts 1692, there were no true witches, meaning no one really signed the devil’s book and went around hurting others; even the ones who confessed to being witches were guiltless (“World”). The witch trials of Salem in the spring of 1692 were a “classic example of scapegoating”(Brooks). Today’s theories as to why these trials happened include epilepsy, boredom, abuse, suffering from a disease from eating rye, or mental sickness (Brooks). As illustrated in The Crucible, social and political tensions contributed to the mass hysteria that resulted in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. There were many factors that sparked the witch trials.
Ignorance of medical and scientific explanations: Puritan attitudes towards the witch trials were largely governed by the authoritative figures present at the time. Any medical explanation given was disregarded, thus showcasing how the villagers’ views could be easily manipulated. They chose to only consider two possible extremes for the cause of this outbreak; either the women were possessed or they were fabricating such behaviors. Chadwick Hansen describes the behavior of the bewitched being a 'neurotic syndrome '. It was known patients experiencing this disorder turned "their mental worries into physical symptoms such as blindness, paralysis of various parts of the body, choking, fainting, or attacks of pain"(The
N) also brings up the possibility of a fungus called ergot triggering the hysteria of 1692. Ergot grows on cereal grains and can be poisonous which was a “common condition resulting from eating contaminated rye bread” back in the seventeen hundred´s. Ergot is believed to have affected the accusers by causing symptoms such as “crawling sensations, tingling in the fingers, vertigo and hallucinations”. To better understand how ergot played a role in the Salem witch hysteria, an additional document listing how much rye and other cereal grains were consumed during the year 1692 would help determine a
Imagine being a wealthy 45-year-old woman in 1692 being accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch trials were caused by jealousy, fear, and lying. People believed that the devil was real and that one of his tricks was to enter a normal person 's body and turn that person into a witch. This caused many deaths and became a serious problem in 1692. First of all, jealousy was one of the causes of the Salem witch trials.
The Salem Witch Trials accusing others of a feared crime showed definite evidence that mass hysteria was to blame. Salem was a religious settlement, following Puritan beliefs (Miller, 6). A large fear for everyone in Salem was the touch of the Devil (Miller, Arthur). According to Puritan beliefs, if a man or woman was touched by the Devil he would convince them to do witchcraft. Once word was mentioned the Devil had possibly touched Salem, the fear spread.
The Salem witch trial was a time about accusing your fellow neighbor or being accused yourself, this all began in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. During this time many people were being accused of being a witch, a majority of the time it was because either someone truly believed that you were a witch and were reeking havoc or they were trying to find someone to take the blame if they were to being accused. So this leads us to question, what began the Salem Witch Trials? There were at least three causes of the Salem witch trials hysteria. These were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams story, Ergotism, and the acknowledgment of hysteria.