How Can We Explain The Salem Witchcraft Episode of 1962?

In years previous to 1962, Parris had managed to acquire the village Parsonage and land surrounding, a decision later contested by many locals.  He was disliked due to this and many of the villagers did not support him.  However Thomas Putnam, father to Abigail Putnam, was a dedicated supporter of Parris.  This could suggest more than just coincidence that women in both men’s households were affected.  A majority of those against Parris were not church goers, therefore one could suggest in support of the idea that witchcraft was actually the cause, that some of those people were witches and had cursed Parris and Putnam’s families.  This seems far fetched and a more feasible explanation, tying in with the idea that the fits may have been caused deliberately, and assuming witchcraft was not present, could be that Ergot infested rye was planted in the food of both families.  This existence of Ergotism will be investigated more thoroughly later on.  

This evidence of trouble before the witchcraft episode shows that there were petty squabbles over land and power in the village, which was divided more or less between two farms, and that even if the fits were caused by Ergotism, whether deliberately or not, the accusation of witchcraft could be used to get even and seal an enemy’s fate.  The mass hysteria caused meant that accusations were flying left, right and centre and many well respect members of the church were accused, suggesting foul play in that jealous persons were using the scare as a means of seeking revenge.

 This would also be apparent in the case of George Burroughs, the only minister to be hung for witchcraft during the trials. He was a minister in Salem for a short while but left after a heated argument with John Putman over wages.  The Putnam family held a grudge for this and due to being largely in control of the village affairs, had great influence as well as power and had Burroughs arrested, after which he left for good.  After nine years of serving in Maine as a minister, he was brought back to Salem, tried and hung after being identified as a witch by the Putmans.  However records suggest that he was a good, honest man, who acted selflessly, willingly giving back 175 of the 200 acres of land, he received for his services, and was also described warmly, only having gone to Salem to try and heal the rift between the two feuding parishes through his ministry.                

  Others had also accused him of being the ringleader, a wizard or conjurer and it was documented that “During his examination, the suffering of the afflicted girls was so extreme that the magistrates ordered them removed from the court house for their own safety.”  This would appear to be a fabricated case, initiated by the Putmans with the girls pretending, supported by the admission of one of the witnesses, even before his death, that her accusation was “groundless and made out of fear”.  Also Burrough’s family later received compensation from the Government for his wrongful death.  This highlights the fact that not all cases were real, in fact many believe that most of the people hung were probably innocent, and that the events were full of “fraud and imposture”. But still, nineteen men and women died for the sake of their faith, as, if they had admitted to being witches their lives would have been spared.

It is clear that these false accusations, made for various reasons, fuelled the mass hysteria and were the reason for the witch hunt being of the scale that it was.  However it does not explain the episode as the accusations began after Griggs suggested witchcraft as being responsible after finding no other explanation for the victim’s behaviour.  To explain the episode, one must look at possible causes for the victim’s symptoms.  In the first cases of Betty Parris, Abigail Williams and Ann Putman and various cases after that the symptoms were very similar. They were described as, ‘These children were bitten and pinched by invisible agents; their arms, necks, and backs turned this way and that way .... Sometimes they were taken dumb, their mouths stopped, their throats choked, their limbs wracked and tormented so as might move a heart of stone, to sympathize with them, with bowels of compassion for them.’ It was also said that the children were too young to have made up such behaviour and it was too gruesome to be acting.  It is therefore clear that they were affected by something, and some of the victims did genuinely think they were being bewitched, as was written, ‘The behaviour of the afflicted persons was not fraudulent but pathological.  They were hysterics, and in the clinical rather than the popular sense of that term.  These people were not merely overexcited; they were mentally ill long before any clergyman got to them’.  This may accurately describe some of the victims but it would be too much of a coincidence for all them to be mentally ill.

 After the first victims, rumours began spreading and many began to get symptoms most probably due to paranoia and extreme fear, caused by scaremongering by the Clergies who were described as power hungry and wanting to gain control by making people believe it was only them that could help them.

The fact that the people against Parris were not church goers could indicate quite the contrary in that they were not religious and therefore would not believe in witchcraft, however this is unlikely as it was a common part of British folklore.  This existence of people not going to church introduces another suggestion for the cause of the witch hunts as some were in fact attending the Anglican Church. It was built in 1969, much to the annoyance of the Puritan majority which they saw as possibly leading to a rapid decline in Puritanism.

        ‘Witches were thought to be humans, typically women, who had agreed to serve the Devil. In return for favours and certain amazing powers from the Devil, they attempted to help "The Old Deluder" bring ruin upon the Christian community.’  This belief supports the suggestion that the witchcraft episode may have been started to empower women as they led very suppressed lives in Puritan communities in that period.  Many did in fact practise witchcraft, however whether it had any real effect, or was just in the victim’s mind is a matter of personal opinion.  Due to such hysteria it is clear that many young girls would support any accusation of witch craft in order to try and rid themselves of any possible threat.

More recent investigations into the events at Salem have suggested that the cause, rather than that of witchcraft, was in fact Convulsive Ergotism. Ergot is a fungus that grows on rye that, if ingested, caused a number of bad side effects.  ‘These 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 diarrhoea.  The involuntary muscular fibres such as the myocardium and gastric and intestinal muscular coat are stimulated.  There are mental disturbances such as mania, melancholia, psychosis, and delirium.  All of these symptoms are alluded to in the Salem witchcraft records.’ In addition, the conditions in which Ergot grows (warm and damp), fit the description of the weather in 1961 found in Samuel Sewall's diary, as being warm with early rain in the spring, progressing to a hot and stormy summer. The Rye, which was a major crop in North America, would have been stored in large barns before being thrashed just before temperatures drop near winter.  This means that it was more than likely that the rye was contaminated with Ergot.  Also, there was a drought the next year, 1692, therefore causing no contamination, hence the cease of the witchcraft episode.
        

Many people had something to gain out the episode, whether it be the conviction and hanging of an enemy to get even, to decrease the power of others therefore increasing their own or the elimination of a rival.  This was not the original cause but was the catalyst, along with extreme fear and scaremongering that lead to the vast number of hangings, both male and female.  Suggestions as to the reasons, listed in various texts, for the explanation of the witch hunting were that ‘it resulted from the pranks of bored adolescents, the influence of oligarchical and power-hungry clergy, local petty jealousies and land grabs, mental aberrations, spiritualist goings-on, political instability, a conspiratorial holding action against the disintegration of Puritanism, mass clinical hysteria, a continuation of the suppression of certain types of women, and even physical reactions to ingested fungus.’ 

After researching these possible causes, with the added advantage of hindsight, due to overwhelming evidence, it would appear that the Salem Witchcraft Episode of 1962 was, although affected by the various factors listed, primarily begun by Ergotism. The similar symptoms, the evidence of Ergot in the Rye in Salem, and the fact that Ergotism tends to affect women more than men, as was the case, are just some of the evidence presented that make a logical, valid explanation.  However Salem was taken over by witchcraft, conjured up in the minds of the people and made worse by fear.  Yet despite scientific and logical explanations to explain the phenomena, it is still a fascinating subject on which to do research as there were and still are many people who believe in witchcraft so the conclusion depends very much on one’s belief, or non-belief in white or black magic as no-one can ever be certain!

Bibliography

1) ‘Witchcraft at Salem’ Chadwick Hansen. Hutchinson& Co Ltd 1970

2) ‘Salem Possessed’ Paul Boyer& Stephen Nissenbaum. Harvard University Press 1974

3) ‘Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem’ Elaine G. Breslaw. New York University Press 1996

4) ‘The Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692’ Leo Bofanti. Burlington Pride Publications, Inc 1992

Websites

1) Richard.B Trask ‘The Devil Hath Been Raised’ ‘97

2) KS ‘(no date)  

3) Anastasia Karson. ’99.

4) Linnda Caporael. ‘Ergotism : The Satan Loosed in Salem?’ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_salem/clues.html  WNET New York. 2002 Educational Broadcasting Corporation

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