Nature Of The Salem Witch Trials

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The nature of the Salem Witch Trials was one of hysteria and fear. The Puritans of the Massachusetts New England colony were extraordinarily religious with a strain of Protestantism far more rigid than most, which was reflected in their reaction to supposed witchcraft.

The pain of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials extended far beyond the nineteen executed and the five more who died in prison. Over a hundred more languished in jail for months on end, chained to the walls of dark, damp, and tiny jail cells, often with the knowledge that their children would be left without care. Farms were left unattended as family members travelled to visit the accused witches in the prisons and attend their trials. The women themselves were tortured, made to stand
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In the medically-backward and highly religious era, it was quickly accepted that demonic or occult possession was the most likely explanation. Mary Sibley, a member of Parris’ church, suggested that Tituba, the Native American or African-American servant of the Parris household, bake a witch cake. The concept behind the witch cake, which used the girls’ urine as an ingredient, is that it would be fed to the family’s pet dog and he would approach the witch who had cast the spell on the girls. In reality, the dog simply became ill. When Parris found out that Sibley had ‘gone to the Devil for help against the Devil’ by asking Tituba to bake the witch cake, he decided the time to take the case to trial. The girls seized witchcraft, which they had previously not mentioned, as the cause of their afflictions and promptly named three women, Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good. All three women were easy scapegoats for the girls, as they were social outcasts in some form or another. Tituba was Native American or African American, and had baked the witch cake which first and foremost implicated her in witchcraft. Sarah Osborne was an elderly and ill woman. Her …show more content…
Evidently, it was fuelled by religious fear and social instability, but the root cause of it is yet to be confirmed. Whether ergotism from rye or mass hysteria, the impact devastated the community. Aside from the torture and death of countless people, farms were left unattended, families left their homes, and progress was stagnant. This resulted in enormous consequences for Salem, lasting years from the time of the

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