Examples Of Mass Hysteria

Improved Essays
Show More
1692 was a wicked prejudicial year for those in the United States. Anybody who feels like they are in harm's way will try their best to feel a sense of safety. The more people who feel threatened about the same thing the more chaos occurs due to mass hysteria. This not only refers to modern day crime but events throughout history as well. A good example of mass hysteria and the need to feel secure happened during the time of the Salem witch hunts that led to the trials of Salem. Many monstrosities took place during the Salem witch trials.
The Salem witch trials all began in 1692 when two young girls, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams, started having sudden fits. The doctor at the time suggested that these were due to witchcraft. …show more content…
"Magical ideas contributed by the servant Tituba and neighbors soon led to the suspicion of witchcraft. Arrests expanded from the socially marginalized to upstanding members of the community. Investigations allowed the admission of “spectral evidence”: that victims could see the spirit of an attacking witch." Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne both denied any work with the devil and witch craft, but Tituba didn’t. She ended up confessing to witch craft and she also told that there were other witches in the colony; This caused an uproar. Colonists started trying to find the other witches and so started what we now know as the Salem witch hunt of 1692.
Once the colonists became suspicious of all those around them, they started accusing others that many today would find crazy. "Recover the voices. A four-year-old girl condemned for witch-craft because her mother is called a witch."ii Soon they accused Martha Corey, who was fully involved with the church, of being a witch and this caused people to assume if she could be a witch anybody could be. This led to Dorothy Good, Sarah Good's 4-year-old daughter to be questioned under trial. Many more women are soon accused for what others believe they practice but none are yet

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Causes Of Fear In The Crucible
    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Causes Of Fear In The Crucible

    The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil 's magic—and 20 were executed. A lot of reasons arose to why the Salem Witch trials occurred. For example, was it religion or perhaps something else? Arthur Miller wrote the tragedy, the Crucible because he wanted to portray what was going on in his time, which was the Red Scare. Everyone in the US was paranoid about communism and people were going around accusing each other of being communist because of stupid things, kind of like the people in the Crucible. While people may believe Religion and Puritanism was the cause for the Salem witch trials, the causes were fear, ulterior motives, and evil…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Salem Witch Trials: From Paranoia To Pardon
    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Salem Witch Trials: From Paranoia To Pardon

    Years ago many christians believed that the devil would give certain people the power to harm others in return for complete loyalty.(A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials, 2007.) These people were known as “witches.” Tens of thousands of people were killed for supposedly being witches throughout Europe, and more than 200 people were accused , 20 of them being killed in Massachusetts alone. In this essay I will explain what the Salem Witch Trials were, how they affected the state of Massachusetts, and how they still affect us today.…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Effect Of The Salem Witch Trials
    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Effect Of The Salem Witch Trials

    The Salem Witch Trials began in early 1692, when two young girls, one the daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris and the other his niece, became strangely ill. Betty Parris, the Reverend’s daughter, and Abigail Williams, the Reverend’s niece, “began having fits,…

    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Well-Known Hysterias: The Salem Witch Trials
    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Well-Known Hysterias: The Salem Witch Trials

    In 1692 a small town in Massachusetts, Salem, set of one of the biggest most well known hysterias, the Witch Trials. First person to accuse someone of witchcraft was the young daughter of Reverend Parris and she accused two other Salem women and a Caribbean slave, Tituba (Keene). G.K. Chesterton once stated, “It is one thing to believe in witches, and quite another to believe in witch-smellers.” During the trials, most people were trying to express their guilt and sins, under the cover of accusations against the victims (Miller, 7). The causes of the Salem Witch Trials were that people could confess their sins but the blame would be on someone else, the way the Indians “used” witchcraft against them, and the hatred between…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    'The Witches: Salem, 1692': Summary
    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages

    'The Witches: Salem, 1692': Summary

    In the 1600’s many people began having random convulsions. This was new and terrifying, and of course the only explanation the Puritans could offer was witchcraft. There were some men accused of witchcraft, the majority of were women because they were considered “more susceptible to satanic overtures, inherently more wicked” (64). Here it is clear that women were considered inferior and so could more easily be accused. A witch, Schiff says, could apply to any woman who speaks her mind, because women were not supposed to do so; they were supposed to be submissive. This discrimination against women is related to what we studied in class about Anne Hutchinson. She was clearly intelligent, and preached her own ideas, and thus “With her family and 60 followers, Hutchinson was banished.” Hutchinson’s situation was similar to those of women accused of witchcraft because no matter the evidence, the women always lost. The society’s blatant discrimination against women coupled with the strange injuries and convulsions that became prominent led to the scape goat of women for events that the community could not otherwise…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Salem Witch Hunt Book Report
    • 1970 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Salem Witch Hunt Book Report

    It all happened at Goodwin’s house. The suspected people were sent to prison then there was a Horseshoe Controversy in Newberry, Massachusetts (43). Most of the cases presented were somehow related to God or either the devil. Again considering the case of John Hale’s account (51), when the witnesses were molested by Satan, the girls cried upon Tituba and Sarah (53). Upon this, they were sent to prison. She was then examined in prison and had body marks of the devil wounding her. She was considered a witch (53). In 1692, on July 12th death warrant for Sarah was issued (81). Godbeer says that when pleading not guilty they put themselves on God and if passed guilty by the jury you would be set free from the execution (83). John Proctor was one the men’s charged with the witchcraft. It is said that he worshiped in Salem town and not in the church (92). Godbeer says he criticized many people and also was his vocal opposition to the trials. Critics such as for Proctor were very quickly accused of witchcraft themselves and under the assumption that if anyone denied the existence of witches or tried to defend the accused they must be one of them and were brought to trial themselves. Proctor’s entire family was accused including all his children, his pregnant wife Elizabeth, and his sister-in-law (Web). He was arrested on April 11 and hanged on 19th August. According to a petition by Proctor said that there were innocent people around and they would not confess united beaten to blood (96). New England considered a God’s kingdom was becoming a Satan conspiracy. There were eleven people convicted and more to be executed soon (143). Over 50 accused were said to have some relation with the devil (Document 76). Later when the summer had arrived there were men and women who confessed and explained that they had lied (Document 77-80) but there was also a confession of William Barker Sr. that a devil…

    • 1970 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    How Did Tituba Salem Witch Trials
    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Did Tituba Salem Witch Trials

    The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692. It all started when an Arawak slave called Tituba began telling otherworldly tales to 9 year old Elizabeth Parris and 11 year old Abigail WIlliams. Eventually, other girls joined in to listen to Tituba's stories. The new group included Ann Putnam (11), Mercy Lewis (17), Mary Walcot (17), Elizabeth Hubbard (17), Elizabeth Booth (18), and Mary Warren (20). After listening to Tituba's stories with great interest, the girls began having fits. When a doctor was called to diagnose the girls, he said that the cause was spirtual. The girls started to shout out the names of the witches who were torturing them. The three names they named were that of Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba. Sarah Good was a beggar and Sarah Osborne was a lonely widow, so it was no suprise to the community that these women practiced witchcraft. In Tituba's case, no one stood up for her, but she managed to escape being hanged by confessing to being a witch. Sarah Good ended up being one of the first few to be hanged. She was hanged on June 10th, 1962 at Gallows Hill. Sarah Osborne died in prison.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Unjust Invoutions And The Consequences Of The Salem Witch Trials
    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Unjust Invoutions And The Consequences Of The Salem Witch Trials

    Then her answer changed and Tituba said she listened but still felt sorry for what she did . Some say she realized no one would believe her and others believe she owned up to her mistake. Though she admitted to hurting the girls, she shouldn’t have been put in jail for ‘witchcraft’, witchcraft wasn’t and still isn’t real. The fact that Tituba ended up in jail for almost a year because she ‘took orders from a devil pig,evil dog, winged creature, etc’ is simply unbelievable. Tituba claiming to see and hear people telling her to hurt someone else could have been just a lie so people would go easy on her or she could have had a mental illness but she wasn’t a witch. Witch trials continued happening in Salem after Tituba’s case, and it was beginning to feel like a normal trend after so many people were accused and…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Salem Witch Trials Research Paper
    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

    As panic spread through the community and beyond into the rest of Massachusetts, a number of others were accused, including Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse both regarded as upstanding members of church and community–and the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Why Do Witches Exist
    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dbq Why Do Witches Exist

    In 1692, the infamous Salem witchcraft trials were held in Salem, Massachusetts. In 1692, the village minister’s daughter became sick. She felt like someone was pinching her body. Weeks later, 3 girls felt the same symptoms. Reverend Parris thought witchcraft was involved. He was making them say the names of the witches that were torturing them. The three girls named accused three women one of whom was Parris’s Indian slave, Tituba. Tituba confessed and said that there four woman and a man that was causing the girl's illness.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Salem Witch Trials Dbq Analysis
    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Salem Witch Trials Dbq Analysis

    First off, The accusers were mainly crowds of young people mainly ranging under the age of 21 years old who were mostly unmarried. Many say that the accusations were because they were jealous poor people. According to Document E many of the accusers were on the poor side of the community while many of the accused were on the wealthier side. For reasons that no one is sure the Rever girls began to have strange and violent fits. Maybe the girls actually believed they were possessed but I think it was just a stunt they pulled for attention that got out of control when it was fueled by paranoid adults. The 17th century puritans believed in witchcraft…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Gender Roles In The Salem Witch Hunt
    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Gender Roles In The Salem Witch Hunt

    Women were considered weaker than men so they were most likely to surrender to the Devil’s desire which explains why majority of the accusers were women. They believed that women were inferior to men which they used the story of Adam and Eve to explain this since Eve was created from Adam’s ribs. Infertile and menopausal women were also most likely to be accused of witchcraft since according to the Puritan values, they didn’t serve a purpose in society since they couldn’t give birth. Sarah Good was named one of the supposedly accusers. There were some evidence even from her own husband, William…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Causes Of The Salem Witch Trial
    • 1511 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Causes Of The Salem Witch Trial

    The first three people that were accused was Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. These three were easy to blame they were different from everyone in the puritan society. Good was a beggar, Osborne was elderly and bed written, and Tituba was a slave. To make matters worse for them, these three ladies did not attend church. There reason for accusing Good, Tituba, And Osborne of being a witch would not stand in the courtroom today. “Many Accounts of the hysteria claims that Tituba often told witch stories and spells to the girls while she was working. However, this idea does not have much historical merit. Sarah Good was often seen begging for food. She was quick to anger and muttered under her breathe. Many people believed these mutterings to be curses that she was placing upon them. Sarah Osborne had already been marked as an outcast when she married her indentured servant.” These accusations should have not been strong enough to determine if it was an act of witchcraft. There was not enough witnesses to say Tituba was telling witch stories. The same goes for Good no one actually heard what came out of her mouth, they only assumed she cursed people. Osborne never gave the people a reason that she was a witch. She was just different from all the puritans and kept her distance which she had the right to do. These three females were never caught participating in any form of…

    • 1511 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Salem Witch Trials Research Papers
    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Salem Witch Trials Research Papers

    Tituba was the first witch to confess in Salem. A lot of findings propose that she likely did this to avoid further punishment from her slave owners. In Tituba’s confession she apologized for hurting Betty and Abigail, claiming she never wanted that to happen and also expressed her love for the children. She also wrote an in depth story about an active community of witches residing in Salem. In this story she claimed that two other women, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, were also witches. By confessing early and admitting about the others, Tituba avoided the process of going to trial. Her husband John would also fall into the court system and became afflicted with witchcraft. During the whole process and history of Tituba’s accusation, Witchcraft began to take over the town of Salem which included a large portion of the…

    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Importance Of Puritans In The Handmaids Tale
    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Importance Of Puritans In The Handmaids Tale

    The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692 when two young girls accused three women of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts (“Salem Witch…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2023 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings