Why Did the Salem Witch Hunt Occur Many American colonists brought with them from Europe a notion in witches and an intrigue with alleged manipulation with the devil. During the seventeenth century, people were executed for witchcraft

Authors Avatar

Writer Surname    

[Writer Name]

[Supervisor Name]

[Subject]

[Date]

Why Did the Salem Witch Hunt Occur

Many American colonists brought with them from Europe a notion in witches and an intrigue with alleged manipulation with the devil. During the seventeenth century, people were executed for witchcraft all over the colonies, chiefly in Massachusetts. Various of the accused were women, inducing some recent historians to recommend that charges of witchcraft were a way of dominating women who endangered the present economic and social order at that time.

In 1692 the famous Salem, Massachusetts, witchcraft trials took place, and that summer hundreds of people in the colony were taken into custody without any reason whatsoever.

To comprehend the events of the Salem witch trials, it is essential to investigate the times in which allegations of witchcraft occurred. There were the everyday stresses of 17th-century life in Massachusetts Bay Colony. A strong creed in the devil, factions among Salem Village fanatics and antagonism with nearby Salem Town, a recent small pox epidemic and the intimidation of assault by warring tribes constructed a fruitful ground for fear and skepticism.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 resulted in nearly 200 people imprisoned, 20 executed and a further 8 dying in prison. Most of the participants knew each other. Either blood or marriage tied some together. This was true of my ancestors, some were victims, others prosecutors and still others the afflicted.

Join now!

The trials came about because of the action of a small group of teenage girls who had spent the winter of 1691-92 at the home of their friends, Elizabeth and Abigail Paris. There the girls became fascinated with the tales of the slave Tituba who told of black magic and of spells being placed on people. The 9 girls were Elizabeth Paris, Abigail Paris, Ann Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Warren, Mercy Lewis, Mary Wolcott, Elizabeth Booth and Susan Sheldon. Of these nine girls, only one is related to me, Ann Putnam. Her grandmother was Priscilla Gould, the sister of Zaccheus ...

This is a preview of the whole essay