The Salem Witchcraft Trials Of 1692

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The Salem witch trials of 1692 took place in Salem, Massachusetts. Overall, 141 people were apprehended as 19 were sent to the gallows and one person crushed to death. Historical investigators explained the Salem witch trials as a course of court cases that were targeted at tried persons who had been charged with witchcraft. The trials occurred between 1692 and 1693. Strict Religion, social roles, and food poisoning resulted in the false accusations of witches in Salem.
The church was the foundation of 17th-century life in early America. Most people in Massachusetts were colonists who had left England seeking religious tolerance. But the strict Puritan system was remote from lenient. It was against the law to skip church. The Puritan way of life was self-controlled and firm. People …show more content…
The crop failure forced the New Englanders to turn to the freshly harvested, infected rye. Ergotism medical signs are described, “Convulsive ergotism is associated with vertigo, headaches, painful muscular contractions, mania, delirium, and visual and auditory hallucinations. Chronic egotism has been associated with progression of seizures and dementia” (Woolf). All symptoms of ergot poisoning are similar to the one of the first cases of witchcraft in the Parris household when Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris began their fits. The traits of their convulsion described as comparable to ergotism, “Temporary loss of sight and hearing; loss of memory […] terrifying hallucinations wherein demons tormented them with pinching and biting” (Kallen). As in Salem, details of allegedly bewitched individuals during many Salem witchcraft hysteria go with the medical signs of ergotism. With no comprehension of egotism and challenged by fits, perceptual misinterpretations, and mental perturbation, the Puritans captured upon witchcraft as the best clarification for the

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