What Caused the Salem Witch Trials

What caused the Salem witch Trials essay. The Salem Witch trials happened in Salem Village in 1692. The village’s religion practiced Puritan religion and they would punish anyone who would defy Puritan ways. Those who would mostly be blamed for being a witch are the majority of youngold women, relatives, and neighbors. Their neighbors who would be mad or jealous of them will use hearsay to put them on trial for witchcraft and get them hanged. The accused will stay guilty because with reference to the fact that there would be no way to prove their innocence because no one would listen to them.

In early 1690, as the people in this location slowly started to become crazy, accusing each other of defying the ways of Puritan religion started to become common. To get rid of each other easily, they used spectral evidence or hearsay. So the people would accuse other individuals in the village for the reason that they wanted to get rid of them or get their land with the purpose of gaining more wealth.

How did witchery come about to come in the neighborhood of Salem, Massachusetts? Accusing citizens of witchcraft and doing deeds that go against the Puritan ways began in the early 1690s. In this town of Salem, many innocents have been accused unfairly. They were accused with no evidence and were accused from hearsay. Hearsay, or spectral evidence, is a piece of made-up false evidence used to unjustly make harmful accusations on an innocent person. There were not a major amount of strict laws and mostly everyone in Salem was Puritan. You would be looked down upon if you had done something that is not of the Puritan faith. Soon young women, using hearsay and invalid or false proof, accused other residents in Salem of doing devil’s work or witchcraft. For example, Katie Boland, the daughter of Ann Putnam and Thoams Putnam, was a part of this group who would incriminate their neighbors. To gain land, money, the citizens of Salems needed to use hearsay to accuse their neighbors of witchcraft.

Salem is a village that is located in Massachusetts Bay, United States. The pilgrims who had arrived from England settled themselves in the New World in an effort to separate from the monarchy in England. These settlers practiced Puritan religion and they were exceedingly strict on what they can or cannot do. The start of the accusations of witchcraft started in 1692 and 1693. (Kocher) It all began when a slave, who was from Barbada, arrived in Salem. Her name was Astrid Beza but she was called Tituba and she became the first victim. Tituba was the first woman to be accused of practicing witchcraft because she was the cause for making the young women in Salem act crazy. The young women used hearsay to blame for their craziness on Tituba because they had no one else to blame. Their names are Elizabeth Parris, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and Mary Warren. Tituba worked under a Reverend whose name was Samuel Parris. (Kocher) The citizens of Salem started to have hysteria. It was because they are afraid if they would do something wrong and defy the way of the Puritan religion. If anyone goes against Puritanism, they will be given punishments. So everyone was on high alert and became very anxious.

For the purpose of not getting hanged the young women ganged up together on the slave, Tituba, and used hearsay. They used spectral evidence with the intention to have Tituba accused of witchcraft because she “supposedly” made them act crazy. After Tituba’s death, these women continued to work as a group and accused their neighbors and family members of witchcraft. The Puritan religion led to the Witch Trials because it has strict laws and its followers were very wary. They were wary because if they make a mistake and it goes against the rules of the Puritan religion, they would be chastised and could maybe get hanged. If the Puritan religion wasn’t so strict and was more relaxed then there would have been a probability of the Witch Trials not happening.

The individuals who were accused wrong and were being harmed as punishment, sometimes admitted that they really were practicing satanic doings and had been doing witchcraft. The Puritans believed that it is very important to have a strong relationship with God so we can be forgiven for the sins that they have done. In addition, the people believed that the government should not interfere with the connection that was made between humans and God. Soon the whole village of Salem was filled with hysteria. These individuals were filled with hysteria by the reason of when they became even more cautious than before. They had become cautious on the grounds of whether they are practicing their religion right.

Furthermore, some of them really do not definitely agree with the executions that were happening. Since everyone definitely was hysteric, people also basically fought with their families, which essentially was quite significant and surprising. This is surprising because usually families would less likely to betray each other and instead protect one another. This mostly is where the use of hearsay mostly comes in and specifically had increased in the Salem village during this time. After Tituba, for the most part, had been executed, the young women again literally continued to essentially blame others and constantly accuse them of doing a lot of satanic works and praising the devil. They did this because all of them were bored and this basically was a way of entertainment for them, which is also quite significant. Soon not just the generally young women, who will, for the most part, continue to do this; The neighbors and a lot of loved ones would definitely, also for entertainment, begin to turn on each other. Most of them actually had reasons and some did not. 'We let our fears lead us, and sometimes that can cause trouble for a community of people. I think that happens all over the place.'(Kocher)

The individuals who were getting executed at this time were particularly young women, people in the government, and family members who turned on each other. The rest literally were actually other civilians who were generally announced as guilty people by their neighbors or family. It became worse for the reason as the crowd wanted to essentially accuse the governor’s wife. This is when they went too far and the governor will make plans in order to stop this as soon as possible. And so the governor, realizing that he had to explicitly end this soon, and thought that the Salem Witch trials were really going too far and changed the rules. The new rule stated announced that all individuals cannot use spectral evidence or hearsay without having actual proof to support their claim. So this way no one will get accused more often and they are safe now. Now no one can recklessly blame someone else for actually doing satanic rituals, practicing witchcraft, and disobeying the ways of the Puritan religion. The supposedly guilty individuals, for the most part, were accused of pretty many different reasons. For example, some of them most did not want to really go to church or generally disagreed with the executions and killing happening. When they didn’t do what they are supposed to do and essentially do not specifically follow the rest of the crowd, then there was basically was a probability that they would be accused and hanged for these reasons. Many of them specifically disagreed with how these events were happening the way they were in Salem, but they could not do much to change anything to make a huge impact in a really big way.

To sum everything up, after the ending of the Witch trials, twenty people overall had died, nineteen people were hanged, one person was tortured and the rest of the innocent citizens, for the most part, were placed in jail. Before the group of pretty young women, who essentially had for entertainment purposes, started the Salem Witch Trials. In the beginning, the citizens of Salem for the most part were uneasy and uncertain. They essentially believed that the devil and his workers were walking amongst them. So when the young ladies generally started to act crazy, their actions instantly solidified the Puritan’s beliefs and suspicions that the devil was walking amongst them.

The pilgrims settled in Salem, Massachusetts after coming from England. They wanted to really be separated from the monarchy in England, in order to have a better life. In their Religion, they strongly believed that each particular individual specifically has the capability to improve their lives if they really wanted to. Since they practice the Puritan religion, then they are called the Puritans. The Puritans for the most part were vigorous in their faith and in reading and following the ways of their Bible. Since they, for the most part, believed that satan was walking amongst them, they also strongly believed that satan controlled some of the people into doing his works and kind of swayed them from the Puritan religion This essentially is why most innocents in Salem were blamed for deeds that they did not, for the most part, do. The Salem witch trials definitely started in 1962. The citizens were already very wary because they actually were afraid of doing something very wrong and were going against the way of the Puritans. Innocent people, who lived in Salem, essentially were accused very unjustly without any real evidence to specifically be guilty. The accusers, who were essentially mostly the young women in the town, specifically used spectral evidence or hearsay to make false-based accusations on the innocents. The Salem Witch trials had come to an end when the Governor changed the laws because his wife generally was being targeted and was being accused of also being a witch and practicing the works of satan. Even though most of the young women were the ones doing the accusing, the main target or the ones who really were being targeted the most during the witch trials, were also the women. It was more likely for women to get accused instead of men. There were specifically not many men who essentially were being accused in the witch trials. In conclusion, generally many innocents in Salem basically were killed for wrongdoings they did not ever do. Good thing that this does not happen now during modern times in America. There would be lots of protests and many people will speak their minds on what is wrong and what is right. Now, in modern times, the law is saying that we are not allowed to be using spectral evidence or hearsay to make false-based accusations. Unless you have real evidence no one can become guilty based on what comes out of your mouth.

Works Cited

• Lynann Butkiewicz, Salem Witch Trials Historical Fiction About Salem Hysteria: [THIRD EDITION]. Boston Globe, March 2, 2003. Newspaper.
• Atheneum, Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. October 15, 2003. Library And Information Sciences. Review
• Richard Lorant, HISTORY: Although the Salem Witch Trials that ended in 1692 are more widely known, regular courts handled many similar cases. July 10, 1996. Newspaper
• Boone, Mike. The Gazett, Salem witch trials lesson in ignorance:[FINAL EDITION]. May 27, 1985. Newspaper
• Chris Kocher. 'Crucible' chronicles Salem's witch hysteria: Classic Miller play opens Friday at BU. United States, Binghamton, N.Y., March 8, 2012. Newspaper
• Crocker, Lizzie. What Happened to Salem's Witches: The hysteria that was the foundation for the infamous persecution of witches in 1692 has contemporary echoes in how 'witch hunts' form today. The Daily Beast, New York: The NewsweekDaily Beast Company LLC. October 28, 2015. Website
• Isabelle Laskaris. Agency and Emotion of Young Female Accusers in the Salem Witchcraft Trials. University of New England, New South Wales. March 4, 2019. Article.