Preview

Causes Of The Salem Witchcraft Trials

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
423 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Causes Of The Salem Witchcraft Trials
Some of the causes of the Salem Witchcraft Trials are boredom, strong believe in occult, disputes/rivalries or personal differences, ergot poisoning, and a cold weather theory. After the girls were caught dancing in the woods and Parris saw everything that’s when everything started. Parris starts to question the girls and they come up with wild acquisitions, to avoid trouble.

I feel like boredom took toll on the girls because is in the late 1600’s they didn’t have nothing better to do. So I feel like the girls wanted something to do besides living their regular lives. I also feel like the girls were avoiding trouble because witchcraft was a serious crime back in those days. The girls could’ve been hung or some type of cruel punishment would

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    When people think about The Salem Witch Trial, the first thing that comes to mind is “oh it 's just a bunch of wannabe witches being killed.” But in reality they were innocent people being accused by a bunch of little girls trying to get got of trouble. People were very suspicious and paranoid about everything back then-if a few people in the village suddenly became ill, it was because of a "witch". Remember, they had no science to explain anything, so they had to make up stuff that seems ridiculous to us today. They feared what they didn 't know and understand, therefore seeking any kind of solution . . . in this case their fear led to The Salem witch…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Salem Witch Trials are known as a series of people being accused and prosecuted of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts beginning in February 1692 until May 1693. The trials began after a group of girls claimed that they were possessed by the devil. Several local women were accused of witchcraft and this began the wave of hysteria that would forever haunt Salem and leave a painful legacy for a long time to come. Nearly every major school of historians has attempted to explain the answer to the mystery of the trials, trying to understand why they occurred. From Marxists who blame class conflict, to Freudians who believe in mass hysteria, the more ecologically based historians who put the blame on hallucinogenic ergot fungus, and now more…

    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Overall I think the salem witch trials were caused by ergotism, growing lies and fame/jealousy. Ergotism was causing many problems throughout the colonies which eventually caused innocent men and women to be hanged. Also once the girls started lying, they could not stop because their superstition kept growing. Lastly the girls might have wanted to get famous for their work and to get rid of…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A legitimate cause for the accusations may result from a mental disorder. In the article The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary, it is acknowledged that, “The cause of her symptoms may have been some combination of stress, asthma, guilt, boredom, child abuse, epilepsy, and delusional psychosis” (Linder). Many of the possible symptoms may have caused the outbreak, yet delusional psychosis is more sensible. The form of a mental disorder causing the symptoms is a probable cause. The people of Salem were completely oblivious to the additional causes of the accusations. Salem could have avoided several lives may have been saved if some form of common knowledge was used.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1692, an event called the Salem Witch Trials occurred, because of this, the people from a village called Salem, Massachusetts were fearful because they could be accused a witch. This all started when a group of young girls began to act very strange. The behaviors of the girls’ ranged from, screaming, copying body movements, pain, falling on the floor, twitching, and many other symptoms.…

    • 247 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Salem Village, Massachusetts, 1692. The village lived in fear of the witches among their community…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In January 1692, A hysteria developed in a Salem Village located in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The beginning of the Salem Witch Trials started when two girls, Betty Parris, 9 years old and Abigail Williams, 11 years old began acting strangely. They began by having “fits” that could not be explained by the local doctor. The doctor who had no explanation for the fits or convulsion like symptoms deemed it witchcraft. This was the beginning of the hysteria that developed in the village and the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Salem witch trials were caused by jealousy, paranormia,and teenagers. Jealousy was a huge part because of the rich people having better land or have more money so people accused them to be able to own their stuff. Paranormia was a part of it because people were scared that the devil was entering their body to make them do bad things. Teenages were also part of it becsuse teeagers didn’t get a long with everyone, so when they didn’t they acted like the person was put a witchcraft spell on them. This is why the Salem witch trials in 1692…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Salem Witch Trials was a historic event that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692 and lasted until 1693. It’s known to be a dark time in American History (Brooks, Historyof Massachusetts.org). It first began when a group of teenage girls were exposed of practicing witchcraft and it then lead to bigger things Innocent people were killed and others were treated poorly. More than 200 individuals were wrongfully blamed and 20 were executed for denying the accusations (Blumberg, Smithsonianmag.com ). To this day no one is sure as to why the trials even started. There are numerous theories that state the causes of the infamous witch hunt but only a few of them are quite convincing. Many historians believe that religion is the main…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Salem Witch Trials Dbq

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A possible reason that the Salem Witch Trials took place is that there were many jealous girls. These girls wanted the married men to divorce their wives so the girls could marry them and take all their land and money. Most of the accusers were females that were single and between sixteen and twenty years of age, while the females being accused were forty-one to sixty years old and married (Doc. B). As you can see the teenage girls steadily…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 is one of the most well-known historical events. In 1692, 20 people were hanged for being a so-called “witch.” Most accusations were made by six girls, which included Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam Jr.. Witches were people whose bodies had supposedly been taken over by The Devil. But what really caused the Salem Witch Trials hysteria? The three reasons that caused the mass hysteria were how certain people, ages, genders, and marital statuses were targeted, the fact that the girls were so good at acting, they were able to fool the entire village, and that neighbor conflicts created tension and jealousy.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Salem Witch Trials of 1690s was an extremely dark time in American history. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were killed during the hysteria. The events that led to this hysteria caused the people of Salem to be deeply affected by this terrible time in our history. With that in mind, the outcome of these trials caused people to be killed even if they were innocent. Historians believe that this time in our history was immensely unfair and no one had a fair trial.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first cause of the Salem Witch Trials was fear of superstition among the Puritan community. The Puritans were pious and believed in the Devil, and believed that God would punish them horridly if they went against their strict moral code. “This is why the witch scare was taken so seriously and the accused were punished harshly” (“The Salem Witch Trials”). Because the Puritans were superstitious, when problems in Salem began, the community was quick to maliciously “blame the Devil and the witches that were carrying out his work for him” (“The Salem Witch Trials”). When the Puritans had no explanation for the girls’ strange behavior, “Salem…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Salem Witch Trials have long been an intriguing event in American history. Many historians have studied the witchcraft trials in order to determine what caused the afflicted girls to behave how they did. There have been several theories that have come about to explain their behavior. Among these theories is poisoning from food. Along with this, some think that the girls acted out of simple boredom or that they suffered from a mental illness.…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Crucible-Mccarthyism

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Multiple factors contributed to the increasing hysteria and accusations of witchcraft in Salem as well as in the 1950’s Red Scare. For example some people speculated that the girls were actually possessed though unlikely it could be possible. Another possibility is a fungus called ergot that has LSD like affects could have been in the girls’ bread. The most likely reason for their behavior what that they were playacting. (Davis 54-44). The girls knew how to act based on their learning’s of the devil in church so they played a convincing part. Just as…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays