Why did the salem witch trials happen when they did

Baker goes on to explain that many of the afflicted girls, such as Abigail Hobbs, Mercy Lewis, Susannah Sheldon and Sarah Churchwell, were all war refugees who had previously lived in Maine and had been personally affected by the war to the point were some of them may have been experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome. In , in an article in the scientific journal Science, Linda R. Ergot is a fungus Claviceps purpurea that infects rye and other cereal grains and contains a byproduct known as ergotamine, which is related to LSD.

Ergot tends to grow in warm, damp weather and those conditions were present in the growing season. Not everyone agrees with this theory though. Many experts question the very existence of Artic hysteria, which results in such behavior as people stripping off their clothes and running naked across the wild tundra.

The accounts mention no such streaking in Salem, and while the supposed symptoms of witchcraft began in January, more people showed symptoms in the spring and summer…Encephalitis, the result of an infection transmitted by mosquito bite, does not really seem plausible, given that the first symptoms of bewitchment appeared during winter.

None of these suggested diseases fit because a close reading of the testimony suggests that the symptoms were intermittent.

The afflicted had stretches when they acted perfectly normal, intersperse with acute fits. Historical records indicate that witch hunts occur more frequently during cold periods. In her paper, Oster explains that as the climate varied from year to year during this cold period, the higher numbers of witchcraft accusations occurred during the coldest temperatures. Strikingly cold winters and dry summers were common in these decades.

The result was not just personal discomfort but increasing crop failures. Starting in the s, many towns that had once produced an agricultural surplus no longer did so. Mixed farming began to give way to pastures and orchards. Once Massachusetts had exported foodstuffs; by the s it was an importer of corn, wheat, and other cereal crops. Several scholars have noted the high correlation between eras of extreme weather in the Little Ice Age and outbreaks of witchcraft in Europe; Salem continues this pattern.

Salem was very divided due to disagreements between the villagers about local politics, religion and economics. One of the many issues that divided the villagers was who should be the Salem Village minister. Salem Village had gone through three ministers in sixteen years, due to disputes over who was deemed qualified enough to have the position, and at the time of the trials they were arguing about the current minister Samuel Parris.

Rivalries between different families in Salem had also begun to sprout up in the town as did land disputes and other disagreements which was all coupled with the fact that many colonists were also uneasy because the Massachusetts Bay Colony had its charter revoked and then replaced in with a new charter that gave the crown much more control over the colony.

In their book Salem Possessed, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum attribute the witch trials to this political, economic, and religious discord in Salem Village:.

Boyer and Nissenbaum go on to provide examples, such as the fact that Daniel Andrew and Philip English were accused shortly after they defeated one of the Putnams in an election for Salem Town selectmen. They also point out that Rebecca Nurse was accused shortly after her husband, Francis, became a member of a village committee that took office in October of that was vehemently against Salem Village minister Samuel Parris, whom the Putnams were supporters of.

Charles Upham suggested this as a major cause and Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum have provided a brilliant analysis of the Salem community to support that argument. Indian warfare and the uncertainties related to the arrival of a new charter and new Governor in the two years before the witchhunt also added to the level of social stress.

But other towns in frontier Massachusetts that experienced the same socio-economic-political difficulties did not spark a similar witchscare. Several communities suffering from less stress did suffer from contact with Salem as the witchscare virus spread.

Sarah Good. Elizabeth Howe. George Jacobs Sr. This changed who was seen as a witch and how they were prosecuted over time. Lucretia Brown and the last witchcraft trial in America, May 14, In , the last charge of witchcraft in this country was brought to trial in Salem.

Mary Baker Eddy. The Crucible is ultimately a fictionalized account of true events. Arthur Miller did significant research to prepare for writing his play; the Salem witch trials really did happen, and the characters in the play—like Abigail and John Proctor—were, for the most part, real people. The Trials were unfair, the Government and the townspeople were corrupt, and they had stress from outer threats surrounding the village. The Salem Witch Trials were unfair.

It was one of the largest witch hunts. Once they were settled in Colonial America, the Puritans began to prosecute anyone else who did not follow the Puritan religion. The reason that the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony could condone the acts of genocide that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials is because, while they had set themselves up to be a utopian society, it had not yet happened.

Various reasons could have led to their settlement towards not becoming a utopia. These emotions were all present in the town of Salem, but they were hidden from notice by the towns folks devoutness to their church. This buildup of emotion could not be acted upon because of the towns folks religion; therefore, they had to act upon them through the system of the church.

Although they were influenced by an extremely strict religious structure, with their entire purpose to purify the church of England, and having thus far failed to do …show more content… One of the the main reasons that people argue for why the Salem Witch Trials happened is because of the religion that they worshipped. During this time, it was illegal to avoid going to church. This was built upon by the fact that there was not the separation of church and state that we have today.

Ministers of the church were also judges in the courtroom. This enabled ministers to have much more power in the community than they do nowadays. In addition, the people at this time possessed an extremely strict moral code; and anything that went against this code was considered a sin. Show More. How Does Abigail Williams Affect The Crucible Words 5 Pages Abigail Williams accused lots of people in Salem, even people with a good reputation and good souls; she wanted to save herself so she did wrong things.

Read More. Compare And Contrast Plymouth Plantation And Jamestown Words 3 Pages First of all, both colonies came to America, but they came for different reasons, one came for Religion and the other came to get rich. The Importance Of Reputation In The Crucible Words 3 Pages In Act It shows that everyone accused was either a witch or innocent, and that evidence did not have to be brought up to prove any source of credibility. Witchcraft In The Crucible Words 3 Pages There are many reasons that the people of Salem were convinced that there were witches among them.

The people who least conformed to the norms of Salem's Puritan society suffered most. One theory holds that contaminated rye harvests spread ergotism, a fungus-born disease that causes convulsions, hallucinations, and vomiting.

What was driving that injustice? As Live Science describes , economist Emily Oster observed that "the most active era of witchcraft trials in Europe coincided with a year period of lower-than-average temperature known to climatologists as the 'little ice age.