Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

Words: 1019
Pages: 5

LSD, witchcraft, and divine intervention. All of these seemingly bizarre things have been thought of as potential causes of the Salem witch trials. It all seems blown out of proportion with theories that cannot be supported due to their supernatural nature or extensive circumstantial evidence. The real reason for the Salem witch trials is often overlooked or ignored due to its bland ending to a mystified event in American history. There were no drugs, no magic, and no acts of God, but rather, intense emotions that broke people's mental states and led to the mass hysteria that spread throughout Salem. Important background regarding the argument for mass hysteria is that the Salem witch trials preyed on the town's religious beliefs. The village of Salem was Puritan in the faith, which meant they took the Bible …show more content…
Practicing witchcraft is a legal and potentially fatal offense in the Puritan community (Caporael). This meant that the people in Salem took the topic of witchcraft seriously, lies about a breakout of witches would have spread rapidly due to the town's acceptance and fear of satanism and punishment. All of these factors contributed to the intense emotions that led to the perfect circumstances for mass hysteria to take control. There were many instances in which the girls triggered mass hysteria as they would blame an accused witch. Their behavior was deliberately fraudulent and the girls would easily fake their symptoms since the people in Salem were closed-minded. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials mentions how girls before being involved in the trials had little to no influence during everyday life, and the people of Salem had no plans of changing this (Weller). The witch trials could have been them realizing their dreams of