The Mass Hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials

Written by: Anna Pafenberg

Before Boston was the booming harbor city of Massachusetts, Salem, a town just north of Boston was the primary city for boating and colonists. However, Salem is known for a spooky tale. Many women and some men were accused of being witches and killed! But why? The answer is, nobody knows for sure. We do, however, have some background on some of the ‘witches’ and accusers in Salem in 1692.

The people in Salem were called Puritans. Puritans came to North America to escape the Church of England and establish their own form of Christianity that involves the purest form of worship. Puritans strictly followed the Bible and did nothing else. Their whole lives are dedicated to God. Because of this, people are very tense. They never have fun and have no way to relax and let go. This gives very good reasons for accusations of witchcraft. Puritans were also very afraid of the Devil. If something strange was happening in Salem, people usually thought that it was the Devil because that was the only thing that could disrupt their holy society. Based on all of this, the idea of witches started to spread when a few little girls started to act strange.

Elizabeth Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams, both just around 11 years old, were the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris. One day, the girls started to act strange. They were moving their bodies in odd positions and throwing strange fits. Soon other young girls in the village started to throw similar fits and soon the village was extremely fearful! People became afraid that there was a witch in their midst. The men in the village started looking for the source of the Devil in their community. They arrested Tituba, a slave woman, as well as a homeless beggar named Sarah Good. They also chose Sarah Osborne who was an old woman with little money. All three were taken to jail, but Tituba began to confess to others who the Devil had told her were witches. Soon, tens of people were being accused. Some girls as young as four and sometimes even men. There was a complete paranoia in Salem.

Soon a court was established by the governor called the Court of Oyer. Soon people were officially tried and said to be guilty. When guilty they were hanged. The first woman to be hanged was named Bridget Bishop. In the end, 19 people were executed for witchcraft and over 200 accused. Once the Governor's wife was accused, he put a stop to the accusations. If the trials had gone on, eventually more people would have been put to trial because of the wait.

All in all, there were no witches in Salem. The accusations of the man and women were simply hysteria of the Devil. There is no concrete evidence besides the tantrums of the young girls in Salem. Since then, the state of Massachusetts has declared that the trials were wrong and in 1711, 600 pounds were given to the families of those accused. Exactly 250 years later in 1957, Massachusetts apologized for the trials.