Witchcraft, Insanity, and the Ten Signs of Decay

Since there never was a spurned lover stirring things up in Salem Village, and there is no evidence from the time that Tituba practiced Caribbean black magic, yet these trials and executions actually still took place, how can you explain why they occurred?

The Salem Witchcraft Trials began not as an act of revenge against an ex-lover, as they did in The Crucible, but as series of seemingly unlinked, complex events, which a paranoid and scared group of people incorrectly linked. And while there were countless other witchcraft trials, Salem's trials remain the best known. In Salem, fears of witchcraft perpetuated by popular writings were personified when two girls were said to be bewitched. Hysteria overcame the people of Salem, whose trials went awry. In less than six months, 19 men and women were hanged, 17 innocents died in filthy prisons, an 80-year old man was crushed to death, and two dogs were stoned to death for collaborating with the Devil (Richardson 6).

How could an entire village, including scholars, believe in witchcraft? Were these trials justified? Or were they evil, as many people think? How could respected, learne

When the girls had fits of hysteria V seizures, trance-like states, and sacrilegious screaming V Parris called upon his colleagues to exorcise the demons that possessed the girls. Ministers from nearby communities met in Salem Village "to lead a public day of fasting and prayer, and to question the afflicted girls about what had caused their disturbing behavior" (8). Occasionally, the girls went mute or blind, choked, had muscle spasms, and had visions of frightening spirits. They claimed that evil spirits "pursued them, threatening, biting, pinching, pricking, and performing other bodily injuries" (8). After that, public concern became mass hysteria. Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne, were arrested and tried. Only Tituba confessed to signing the Devil's book. Afraid of being accused of witchcraft, the power-hangedry girls accused innocent people to save their own lives. The rest is history.

7. Sex and alcohol abuse on the increase

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of the Salem Witchcraft Trials was not the hysteria that swept through the town, but the lack of concrete evidence in the court. Poppets (voodoo dolls) and potions were used to arrest and try suspected witches. The most popular evidence was "spectral evidence"; a claim that ghosts of people were tormenting others. The afflicted sometimes confessed that "spectral images" would waken or attack them. Cotton Mather, one of Salem's clergymen, wisely questioned whether "spectral evidence" should be used in trials (Encarta Online 1). Court officials disputed his arguments, and the trial procedures remained unchanged.

„h Ergot V Claviceps purpurea, Evans, Dr. Ieuan. September 21, 1997. http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/pests/diseases/63010120.htm

„h The Character of an Old-English Puritan or Non-conformist. John Geree, MA. St Albons: W. Wilson, 1646.

„h Encarta '97. CD-ROM. Richmond: Microsoft. 1997.

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