The earliest explanation that was offered about the causation of the Witch Trials was that there was a real presence of witchcraft at large in Salem. Many historians who were writing at this time must have had the belief in both witchcraft and the Devil, which would explain why they believed that this was a logical and acceptable explanation as to why the Witch Trials occurred. This theory is ultimately the result of the personal context of historians, which has affected how this event was constructed and recorded. One historian in particular, Cotton Mather, a Puritan Minister, was also under the impression that the cause of the Witch Trials came down to the existence of the Devil and witchcraft. He, like many others, could not find a reasonable
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Eating it can be a mind - and behaviour-altering experience” Ergot is developed through a cold winter followed by a cool and moist growing season. The rye plant is weakened by the cold winter and the growth of fungus is encouraged by the spring moisture. It also turns out that these conditions were present in the New England area in 1692. There are a number of symptoms that characterise this condition, including: “crawling sensations in the skin, tingling in the fingers, vertigo, tinnitus aurium, headaches, hallucination, painful muscle contractions - which lead to epileptiform convulsions, vomiting and diarrhoea (16, 18, 21).” “There are mental disturbances such as mania, melancholia, psychosis, and delirium. All of these symptoms are alluded to in the Salem witchcraft …show more content…
Matossian was able to help substantiate Caporael’s theory. Matossian wrote in a journal, American Scientist, and stated that the thought that these afflicted girls were feigning their symptoms - or roleplaying in the presence of social cues, as Spanos and Gottlieb have suggested - cannot explain the symptoms of the animal victims and the other human victims who weren’t prompted by social cues. She has also reasoned that, “People in the afflicted communities may have been hysterical in the sense that they were excited and anxious but have not been shown to be capable of producing an epidemic of convulsions, hallucinations, and sensory disturbances in any case in which a diagnosis of ergotism or other food poisoning was seriously considered and then ruled out.” Meaning that it was quite unlikely for these afflicted women to simply act as though they had these symptoms. These symptoms also turned up in areas surrounding Salem Village, it wouldn’t be possible for the people in the other villages and towns to be feigning the same symptoms.
Personally, I tend to agree with the correlation that Caporael has made between the symptoms of convulsive ergotism and the documents that detail the behaviours that the girls exhibited. However, there is a major problem when attempting to prove a medical theory in relation to the cause of the Witch Trials is that there is very little documentation from the time. And so therefore, historians must make their own medical
Eating it can be a mind - and behaviour-altering experience” Ergot is developed through a cold winter followed by a cool and moist growing season. The rye plant is weakened by the cold winter and the growth of fungus is encouraged by the spring moisture. It also turns out that these conditions were present in the New England area in 1692. There are a number of symptoms that characterise this condition, including: “crawling sensations in the skin, tingling in the fingers, vertigo, tinnitus aurium, headaches, hallucination, painful muscle contractions - which lead to epileptiform convulsions, vomiting and diarrhoea (16, 18, 21).” “There are mental disturbances such as mania, melancholia, psychosis, and delirium. All of these symptoms are alluded to in the Salem witchcraft …show more content…
Matossian was able to help substantiate Caporael’s theory. Matossian wrote in a journal, American Scientist, and stated that the thought that these afflicted girls were feigning their symptoms - or roleplaying in the presence of social cues, as Spanos and Gottlieb have suggested - cannot explain the symptoms of the animal victims and the other human victims who weren’t prompted by social cues. She has also reasoned that, “People in the afflicted communities may have been hysterical in the sense that they were excited and anxious but have not been shown to be capable of producing an epidemic of convulsions, hallucinations, and sensory disturbances in any case in which a diagnosis of ergotism or other food poisoning was seriously considered and then ruled out.” Meaning that it was quite unlikely for these afflicted women to simply act as though they had these symptoms. These symptoms also turned up in areas surrounding Salem Village, it wouldn’t be possible for the people in the other villages and towns to be feigning the same symptoms.
Personally, I tend to agree with the correlation that Caporael has made between the symptoms of convulsive ergotism and the documents that detail the behaviours that the girls exhibited. However, there is a major problem when attempting to prove a medical theory in relation to the cause of the Witch Trials is that there is very little documentation from the time. And so therefore, historians must make their own medical