Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

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The Salem Witch Trials started in January 1692 and ended in October of the same year. 19 people were executed, including a man who was pressed to death under stones as a form of torture, and 144 people were persecuted in total. The actual cause of these trials was a disease called ergotism. Ergotism is when someone eats a food that has been infected with the fungus called ergot, which is where its name comes from. The symptoms of this disease included convulsions, spasms, hallucinations, crawling sensations of skin and erratic behaviour which closely aligned with the symptoms of the accusers, who perceived this as witchcraft being performed on them. With all these people involved and the trials being the biggest in America, this must mean that
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