There were many strange actions among the Puritans who resided in Salem, a village in Massachusetts. In Rosalyn Schanzerś WITCHES The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem, many people of Salem thought the act of witchery was involved. However, they did not consider the possibility of an illness or disease they could have contracted. In 1692, Reverend Parris’s two daughters, Betty and Abigail, started to act abnormally. This included very unusual symptoms such as contortions and hallucinating apparitions. Due to the lack of knowledge, the Puritans commonly mistook symptoms of illnesses for witchcraft, which may have included the diseases of dystonia, rabies, and ergot poisoning. In Rosalyn Schanzerś WITCHES The Absolutely True Tale Of
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There is no found cause of dystonia; you can only get it when you are born. Also, dystonia does not happen right away, you may get it in childhood rather than a baby. Other symptoms of dystonia may include anxiety, a smothered feeling, trembling, and a pounding heart. A possible scene of dystonia from the book is ¨“For as winter’s sleet and snow heaped higher and higher outside their door, Betty and Abigail began to twitch and choke and contort their bodies into strange abnormal shapes, crouch beneath the furniture, and speak in words that made no sense”(Schanzer 19). During one of the symptoms of dystonia, a smothered feeling, it is like getting stabbed or pinched, which many of these symptoms appear in the book. …show more content…
Many Puritans in the Salem Witch Trials thought that malicious witches bewitched the girls, but could their symptoms been caused by ergot poisoning? Ergot poisoning is caused by an infection of a fungus named ergotamines .a family could be deluged with the fungus if it ate the same infected grain. Two major symptoms were a painful burning sensation in your limbs, and hallucination. “Like Ann, Lewis claimed that she saw Martha Cory's spirit roasting a spectral man on a spit inside her fireplace”(76 Electronic Version Schanzer). Ergot poisoning may be the cause of the hallucinations which occurs in many scenes in the book. Plus, Ann saw this spectral being roasted too. So, there are two people seeing this horrid hallucination. They could of got their idea from a book made earlier in the 1600s. But, it isn’t as significant as only one person saying it, but two people said not even related to each other.This symbolizes that there is something wrong, such as a disease or illness, with those people. “In 1976 Linnda Caporael offered the first evidence that the Salem witch trials followed an outbreak of rye ergot. Ergot is a fungus blight that forms hallucinogenic drugs in bread. Its victims can appear bewitched when they're actually stoned”(Rye Ergot and Witches Lienhard). As in this sentence Lienhard states that ergot causes hallucination and makes people appear to be bewitched. Other evidence from a
There is no found cause of dystonia; you can only get it when you are born. Also, dystonia does not happen right away, you may get it in childhood rather than a baby. Other symptoms of dystonia may include anxiety, a smothered feeling, trembling, and a pounding heart. A possible scene of dystonia from the book is ¨“For as winter’s sleet and snow heaped higher and higher outside their door, Betty and Abigail began to twitch and choke and contort their bodies into strange abnormal shapes, crouch beneath the furniture, and speak in words that made no sense”(Schanzer 19). During one of the symptoms of dystonia, a smothered feeling, it is like getting stabbed or pinched, which many of these symptoms appear in the book. …show more content…
Many Puritans in the Salem Witch Trials thought that malicious witches bewitched the girls, but could their symptoms been caused by ergot poisoning? Ergot poisoning is caused by an infection of a fungus named ergotamines .a family could be deluged with the fungus if it ate the same infected grain. Two major symptoms were a painful burning sensation in your limbs, and hallucination. “Like Ann, Lewis claimed that she saw Martha Cory's spirit roasting a spectral man on a spit inside her fireplace”(76 Electronic Version Schanzer). Ergot poisoning may be the cause of the hallucinations which occurs in many scenes in the book. Plus, Ann saw this spectral being roasted too. So, there are two people seeing this horrid hallucination. They could of got their idea from a book made earlier in the 1600s. But, it isn’t as significant as only one person saying it, but two people said not even related to each other.This symbolizes that there is something wrong, such as a disease or illness, with those people. “In 1976 Linnda Caporael offered the first evidence that the Salem witch trials followed an outbreak of rye ergot. Ergot is a fungus blight that forms hallucinogenic drugs in bread. Its victims can appear bewitched when they're actually stoned”(Rye Ergot and Witches Lienhard). As in this sentence Lienhard states that ergot causes hallucination and makes people appear to be bewitched. Other evidence from a