The Cause And Effects Of The Salem Witch Trials

In 1692 hysteria hit the town of Salem. This iconic event in American history has had historians puzzled for centuries, because there is no clear evidence for why this witch hunt became more intense than any other American witch trial before it. Through my research, and previous knowledge, I have discovered that there are two main sources of fuel for the witch trials. The first, the leaders of Salem decided they could take advantage of the situation and pushed people into “the loop,” where people were then able to spread the hysteria for social gain, and vengeful purposes. These two reasons are also connected to why the trials ended so abruptly. It is important to understand that there may never be an exact answer to why the Salem witch trials …show more content…
Were the deaths of dozens of people to blame on young girls, who started something that they soon lost control of, or did the devil really visit Salem? Anthony Brant, describes this problem in his article, An Unholy Mess, by saying, “We know that happened, who said and did what to whom. The difficulty has always been to explain why.” ‘Why’ can usually be answered by reading personal records, however those can be sparse and the start is hard to pinpoint. Once the hysteria started, most of the town fully believed that they were in the company of witches. The sources have provided multiple reasons for the start of the Salem Witch Trials, however I have narrowed them down and plan to explain the most reasonable …show more content…
She usually said to be from Barbados, where she learned the art of the occult. However, this is only where she was captured. She was actually born in the northeast region of South America, most likely Venezuela, and from here she was captured and brought to Barbados. The young girls of Salem, including Parris’ daughter and niece, would practice fortune telling with Tituba as a way to entertain themselves during the winter. Elizabeth was unable to stand the uncertainty of predestination, and wanted to know more about her future. The stress, led Elizabeth into what is now believed to be stress induced afflicted state, and soon the other girls followed. Parris originally thought that prayer would be the answer to the torment that the girls were going through, but when that failed he was afforded to call for a doctor. The physician diagnosed the girls by saying that they had been bewitched, and that was the cause for the strange fits that the girls would fall into. After realizing that the girls were victims of witchcraft, the town set out to find, and punish, the evil workers of the