To understand the reasons behind the hysteria, you have to know a little about the people who settled the area of Salem Village. Mainly Puritans inhabited Salem Village. There were very few other religions at that time. The Puritans left England to escape religious persecution. Puritans wanted to purify the national church by eliminated what they saw as Catholic influence. They believed in the total sovereignty of God and the absolute sinfulness of man. They wanted to establish a union of church and state (Kallen 17). Church membership was required for voting rights or to serve on juries (Roach 77). Puritans believed they were entering into a sacred compact with God in the founding of the Massachusetts colony. The agreed to live according to his will in return for a divine endorsement in the New World

In 1688, Samuel Parris was invited to Salem Village to preach to the Village church. After negotiations he accepted the job. He came with his wife, daughter (Elizabeth), niece (Abigail), and his two slaves, Tituba and John Indian (Linder). In 1692, the two girls began experiencing odd behavior. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with them, so it was determined that "the hand of Satan was in them" (Carlson 10). And so began the accusations.

The Salem Witch Trials can't be attributed onto one certain aspect. It was a combination of things that led to these events. As the witchcraft fever died down, people began to see it for what it was. It was something that began as personal fear, grew with neighborhood suspicion, and then expanded through the region promoted by the time's tensions (Roach 83). As the Reverend John Hale wrote in 1697, "We walked in the clouds and could not see our way. And we have most cause to be humbled for error... which cannot be retrieved." (Rice 102).

(Rice 10). To commune with Satan invited God's wrath and exposed the entire community to threat of divine retribution. Individual sin was considered an act of treason (Rice 11).

Early autumn was the beginning of the end for the witch-hunts. Many people began to develop doubts as to how so many people could be guilty. During the trials a lot of spectral evidence had been used to convict people. Spectral evidence allowed hallucinations, dreams, and simple notions to be admitted to the court as factual proof of the behavior of the accused (Starkey 54). This began efforts to end the witch-hunting.

A grave injustice had been done to innocent people. No one was without blame. January 14, 1697 was set aside by the Massachusetts General Court as a day of fasting when the people would ask God's forgiveness for what they had done in 1692. On this day one of the judges, Samuel Sewall, had a letter read aloud to his congregation in which he admitted his error against the persons convicted and asked for forgiveness (Dickinson 57).

Reverend Increase Mather wrote a work entitled "Cases of Conscience." In it he encouraged the court to exclude spectral evidence from the trials. He stated that it "were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned." (Linder). Samuel Willard, a highly regarded Boston minister, is believed to have anonymously published "A Dialogue Between S and B." This sugg

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