Salem Witch Trials
Three hundred years ago, the people in and around Salem, Massachusetts were engaged in the most massive witch hunt in American history. Authorities arrested over 150 suspects from more than two dozen towns, juries convicted twenty-eight, and nineteen were hanged (Aronson, 2003, p. 5). Contemporaries of the tragedy grappled with Satan’s role in the affair. Embracing the reality of witchcraft, many wondered if the Devil had not manipulated the people of New England into an orgy of destructive accusations. With the passing of the participants, researchers began to discount a satanic role and sought instead to assign blame to human agents for the tragedy.
In this paper we’ll discuss the events related to Salem Witch Trials and analyze historical, social and economic factors which contributed to those events. This research is aimed to prove that there were several reasons for persecution of Salem witches such as the desire of New England clergy to create true Christian church, the assertion of male power, superstitious beliefs of people and their inability to explain natural phenomena, and slow development in the field of medicine and incapability to determine causes of certain illnesses.
1. Historical Conditions
1.1. Early American Witchcraft Beliefs
In the seventeenth century people automatically assumed that their difficulties had a supernatural explanation. Floods, thunder, lightning, hailstorms, hurricanes, earthquakes, and comets were considered the harbingers of illness or destruction. Curses, spells, and the evil eye, most believed, could cause harm. Reports of strange dreams, visions, unseen voices, and prophecies circulated frequently (Aronson, 2003, p. 14). In England,