Saturday, December 28, 2019

The Salem Witch Trials Questionable And Scandalous Time

The Salem Witch Trials were a questionable and scandalous time in New England history that led to the deaths of 14 women and 6 men, all of whom had been charged with practicing witchcraft. The trials were the result of the strange and unexplainable behavior of two young girls, who exhibited violent convulsions and uncontrollable outburst of screaming and fits that left them unable to see,speak or hear. After a local doctor examined them and found no physical reason for their fits, diagnosed them as bewitched. This diagnosis sent salem into hysteria and in the summer of 1692, nearly 200 people were accused and arrested for practicing witchcraft. In January of 1692, Betty Parris, age nine, and Abigail Williams, age eleven, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris, began having what was recorded as fits. The girls threw things around the room, uttered strange sounds and contorted their bodies. They also started covering their ears during sermons. After their diagnosis, other you ng girls in the village began exhibiting the same symptoms. In February, scared by events, the villagers held fasts and prayed for the afflicted. Wanting the influence of witchcraft out of the village, the girls were pressured into providing names of whomever had bewitched them. Three women were named, Sarah Good, Sarah Osburne and an old slave named Tituba. It was easy to believe that the three women were guilty due to them being unpopular within the village. Sarah Good was a beggar and had

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.