Introduction
My topic of research is the Salem Witch Trials, a controversial period of time in the late 1600s that is still talked about today in modern society. I choose this topic for multiple reasons. First, I chose this topic due to personal interest, including, a look into a small part of what may have been the mindset of the New Englanders coming from England to North America. Were witches real? Or a label we give to individuals that we are threatened by? Second, I would like to go over when sometimes the prayers to God were not enough for some people. They turned to other medicines than prayer and were often chastised for seeking help outside of the church. For the third part of my research paper I will be discussing about the social …show more content…
Although, it may not have been said in English, or even spoken in words, it has always been around. The dictionary describes the word “witch” as a noun, “a person, especially a woman, who professes or is supposed to practice magic or sorcery; a sorceress.” Witchcraft itself has been noted as early as 560 B.C. in the old testament of the bible. So, it should not surprise anyone when it eventually came to New England and triggered the events of the Salem Witch Trials. 41 years before the settlers of New England arrived in North America, New England, 1566, a woman by the name of Agnes Waterhouse was accused of witchcraft and after many days of being in jail, she admitted to being in cahoots with the Devil, using her cat, aptly named, “Satan” to wreak havoc on neighbors and killing her own husband. She was considered the first witch accused and executed in England. Nearly thirty years later King James and his wife were sailing from their honeymoon in Denmark and experienced a fierce storm. After being convinced by the ship’s captain that it was witches who caused the storm and later six Danish women admitting to be witches and the cause of the storm, King James took witchcraft seriously. After arriving in Scotland he burned many witches and it was considered the largest witch-hunt in British history. All of these events happened 12 years before settlers came to North America. So, with witchcraft and executions going on rapidly, …show more content…
Though, most individuals probably had no intentions of turning against religion or hurting others, fear and misunderstanding probably brought many, especially during the Witch Hunts throughout the ages, a shortened life. Many Seventeenth-century New Englanders used magic to heal the sick, but some used magic to predict the future, hurt their enemies and to protect themselves from occult attacks from others. It was not restricted to only Salem, Massachusetts that events happened to people using alternative medicine to make another feel better. In Boston, Massachusetts, a healer gave a patient a charm to heal their toothache. This entry came from Increase Mather, Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences “A man in Boston gave to one a Sealed Paper, as an effectual remedy against the tooth-ach[e], wherein were drawn several confused characters, and these words written, In Nomine Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Preserve thy Servant, such an one.” Others, wanted to know what happened to a missing loved one. This entry came from the Salem Witchcraft Papers “She acknowledged the turneing of the sieve, in her house by hir daughter, whom she Desyred to no [know] if her brother Moses Haggat was
My topic of research is the Salem Witch Trials, a controversial period of time in the late 1600s that is still talked about today in modern society. I choose this topic for multiple reasons. First, I chose this topic due to personal interest, including, a look into a small part of what may have been the mindset of the New Englanders coming from England to North America. Were witches real? Or a label we give to individuals that we are threatened by? Second, I would like to go over when sometimes the prayers to God were not enough for some people. They turned to other medicines than prayer and were often chastised for seeking help outside of the church. For the third part of my research paper I will be discussing about the social …show more content…
Although, it may not have been said in English, or even spoken in words, it has always been around. The dictionary describes the word “witch” as a noun, “a person, especially a woman, who professes or is supposed to practice magic or sorcery; a sorceress.” Witchcraft itself has been noted as early as 560 B.C. in the old testament of the bible. So, it should not surprise anyone when it eventually came to New England and triggered the events of the Salem Witch Trials. 41 years before the settlers of New England arrived in North America, New England, 1566, a woman by the name of Agnes Waterhouse was accused of witchcraft and after many days of being in jail, she admitted to being in cahoots with the Devil, using her cat, aptly named, “Satan” to wreak havoc on neighbors and killing her own husband. She was considered the first witch accused and executed in England. Nearly thirty years later King James and his wife were sailing from their honeymoon in Denmark and experienced a fierce storm. After being convinced by the ship’s captain that it was witches who caused the storm and later six Danish women admitting to be witches and the cause of the storm, King James took witchcraft seriously. After arriving in Scotland he burned many witches and it was considered the largest witch-hunt in British history. All of these events happened 12 years before settlers came to North America. So, with witchcraft and executions going on rapidly, …show more content…
Though, most individuals probably had no intentions of turning against religion or hurting others, fear and misunderstanding probably brought many, especially during the Witch Hunts throughout the ages, a shortened life. Many Seventeenth-century New Englanders used magic to heal the sick, but some used magic to predict the future, hurt their enemies and to protect themselves from occult attacks from others. It was not restricted to only Salem, Massachusetts that events happened to people using alternative medicine to make another feel better. In Boston, Massachusetts, a healer gave a patient a charm to heal their toothache. This entry came from Increase Mather, Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences “A man in Boston gave to one a Sealed Paper, as an effectual remedy against the tooth-ach[e], wherein were drawn several confused characters, and these words written, In Nomine Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Preserve thy Servant, such an one.” Others, wanted to know what happened to a missing loved one. This entry came from the Salem Witchcraft Papers “She acknowledged the turneing of the sieve, in her house by hir daughter, whom she Desyred to no [know] if her brother Moses Haggat was