Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 was a terrifying scene. The witchcraft accusations were everywhere. As a result, the whole colony was paranoid about where a case of the devil’s possession may show up. Up to this point, the witch hunts in the thirteen colonies had been small and in only a small amount of places. The Salem Witch Trials were the first full-on hunt for witches. This resulted in mass hysteria in the community. The Puritans led strict religious lives that as a result led them to suppress the people who broke their codes. Many influential people, Rev. Samuel Parris, for example, made the Trials even scarier for the people of Salem. Strong evidence suggests that the incidents of the Salem Witch Trials stemmed from a fear in the practice
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For example, Sarah Osborne was one of the first people convicted of witchcraft in Salem. She went against the Puritan code through her acts of infidelity. This scared the Puritans a lot as religion was their entire lives and Osborne had thrown that out the window completely. Another example of this is John Willard. He refused to arrest people he thought were innocent. They accused him of witchcraft before hanging him on August 19, 1692. Many of the others who the Puritans tried for witchcraft were people with similar sins. A rule-abiding citizen was not typically accused of witchery. Because of this, there is a strong connection between previous transgressors and those accused of …show more content…
Samuel Parris was a preacher in Salem. He is one of the most notorious people related to the Salem Witch Trials. He sought respect for his position in the church above all else. Rev. Parris thought that anyone who challenged his authority also challenged the church’s authority. His teachings were the ones that drilled the thought into the colonists’ heads that the devil could cause people to perform acts of witchcraft. He was extremely influential in the colony and the people of Salem trusted him with their decisions (Ray). Had he tried to calm the colonists down, he may have been able to prevent some of this death and
For example, Sarah Osborne was one of the first people convicted of witchcraft in Salem. She went against the Puritan code through her acts of infidelity. This scared the Puritans a lot as religion was their entire lives and Osborne had thrown that out the window completely. Another example of this is John Willard. He refused to arrest people he thought were innocent. They accused him of witchcraft before hanging him on August 19, 1692. Many of the others who the Puritans tried for witchcraft were people with similar sins. A rule-abiding citizen was not typically accused of witchery. Because of this, there is a strong connection between previous transgressors and those accused of …show more content…
Samuel Parris was a preacher in Salem. He is one of the most notorious people related to the Salem Witch Trials. He sought respect for his position in the church above all else. Rev. Parris thought that anyone who challenged his authority also challenged the church’s authority. His teachings were the ones that drilled the thought into the colonists’ heads that the devil could cause people to perform acts of witchcraft. He was extremely influential in the colony and the people of Salem trusted him with their decisions (Ray). Had he tried to calm the colonists down, he may have been able to prevent some of this death and