Marlene Ortega

English 11

Smith Period 2

16 November 2016

What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria?

The Witch trials of Salem Massachusetts is one of the most corrupt event that has ever

took place in America. In the late 1692 twenty women and men were executed because they were

accused of having dealt with the devil. Witchcraft hangings never occurred in America and to

this day this day it has never happened since. Many of the accused were innocent but were

hanged because the evidence presented by the one who were afflicted. Four reasons that come to

mind as to why these hangings took place are jealousy, property disputes, teenagers being bored,

and lastly because it was a time of trouble.

Jealousy is one of the main reasons as to why so many people were hanged during the

summer of 1692. In the document Underlining Themes in the Witchcraft of the Century New

England one can see married men and women were accused by single men and women. This

proves that single people might have become envious that the married folks had a loved one.

Although this may seem very odd today in 1692 it was seen as peculiar if one was not married,

because of many were accused of having a sort of pact with the devil. In the book The Crucible

Abigail one of the main characters drank blood as a sort of ritual to kill Elizabeth Proctor. You

did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctors wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody

Proctor (Miller 175). This quote shows that Abigail drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor out of

jealousy. She wanted to kill her to stay with John Proctor.

it was pretty obvious why some might have been accused of witchcraft. Where is my wood? My

contracts provides I be supplied with all my firewood (Miller 181). The quote shows that some

could have lied about being bewitched to get a hold of someone elses land. It may seem like a

terrible to do but this actually happened. Vindicated land owners who accused their neighbor of

witchcraft so they can later on purchase their land after they were hanged (Grand 2). This quote

proves that some neighbors were accused unfairly because of the land they owned. Therefore,

many might have been killed because of an envious neighbor.

One of the most outrageous reasons was teens being bored and accusing people. The

characters from The Crucible, Mary Warren is a good example that teenagers played with the

court. Mary eventually gives into peer pressure (Shmoop 1). This quote shows that teenagers

get influenced more by peer pressure. Teenagers are easily manipulated to do thing they know

they should not do. In the Examination of Bridget Bishop girls were involved so it might have

been easy to condemn her since the court had visual testimonies. According to Parris, As soon

as she came into near all (the afflicted girls) fell into fits. This is important because as soon as

Bridget entered the room all the girls had the same effect. This is sketchy because they all

somehow had the same effect without any logical explanation.

The last reason the witch trials might have caused a mass hysteria was because in 1692

there were really difficult times for everyone. Salem was a struggling colony because just a few

years before the witch trials (1689) some English rulers started a war in the colonies. As soon as

people started accusing others of witchcraft the whole town was put into a frenzy. This

aggravated the existing rivalry between family ties (History Team 1). The History team is

stating that because of this so many families suffered economically. As a result more and more
people began to panic all throughout Salem. Smallpox could also have caused many of the

afflicted symptoms. Technology was not yet very advanced so there was no way to determine

what caused them to have these very odd symptoms. People at the time did not understand the

science behind the disease so they naturally looked to supernatural causes (Hamilton 22).

According to Hamilton people throughout this period of time did not understand that this disease

was affected a lot of the people in Salem. The towns people blamed supernatural occurrences for

being the cause of the girls and children being afflicted. This could have been explained if

technology was advanced but since it was not many believed that it was the devils doing.

In conclusion people still died during the summer of 1692 whether it was because of

jealousy or just simply teenagers being bored. Salem still had a mass hysteria that has made

history all throughout America. This could have been prevented if they did not believe

everything they saw. A very important lesson that can be taught about this event if always look

more into things before they get out of hand. A good example could be the witch trials of Salem

that killed many people and also ruined the life of others.
 Works Cited

Boer, Paul, and Nissenbaum, Stephen Salem Possessed (Harvard Univ. Press, 1976

Cotton Mather. Memorable Providence Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions, Boston 1689.

History.com, Staff, Salem Witch Trials History.com A+E Networks

Langbein, John, the Criminal Trial before Lawyers, Univ. of Chicago Law Review (1978)

Miller, Arthur the Crucible New York City and Evington, Illinois Dramatists play Service

1953 M.C. Doogle little, Print.

Parris, Samuel the Examination of Bridget Bishop at Salem Village, 19 April 16891