What really started the Salem witch trials?
The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft.
What was to blame for the Salem witch trials?
The exact cause of the Salem Witch Trials is unknown but they were probably a number of causes. Some of the suggested theories are: conversion disorder, epilepsy, ergot poisoning, Encephalitis, Lyme disease, unusually cold weather, factionalism, socio-economic hardships, family rivalries and fraud.
What was the main cause of the Salem Witch Trials and why did they end?
As 1692 passed into 1693, the hysteria began to lose steam. The governor of the colony, upon hearing that his own wife was accused of witchcraft ordered an end to the trials. Once witchcraft is ruled out, other important factors come to light. Salem had suffered greatly in recent years from Indian attacks.
Who holds the most blame for the events in Salem Why?
Putnam who is most to blame because she sent her daughter, Ruth, to Tituba to conjure the spirits of Mrs. Putnam’s dead children in order to find out how and why they died. Her action then led to the events above.
What actually happened during the Salem witch trials?
The Salem Witch Trials occurred in the settlement of Salem in colonial Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693, and resulted in the executions of twenty people accused of witchcraft, most of them women. Some of these women were actually witches, though they were entirely innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted.
What ended the hysteria in the Salem witch trials?
A Deadly End to the Salem Witch Trials Many people in the colonies opposed the witch trials, and the trials came to an end when Governor Phipps (whose wife was accused of being a witch), in May of 1693, pardoned all who were in imprisoned on charges of witchcraft.
What is the truth about the Salem witch trials?
In Salem Village Massachusetts in 1692 the last large-scale witch trial of the western world began because a little girl of about nine years old and her relative, a girl of eleven who was bound out to service, fell into fits that quickly spread to other adolescent girls in their community.
What was the reason behind the Salem witch trials?
The three main causes of the Salem witch trials are believed to be a result of town’s folk being manipulated by their strong religious beliefs, the economic and political climate at the time or a mass case of ergot poisoning. Reverend Samuel Parris was offered a job at Salem’s church which he hesitantly accepted.