Witch-Hunt Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials by Marc Aronson, is a text about the intricacies of the Salem Witch Trials. The author explains how the trials were started for various reasons. One factor leading to the trials was the lack of scientific knowledge to explain natural phenomenon paired with the people’s extreme faith creating a culture of fear. Another factor that influenced the trials were family feuds.These two factors family feuds and lack of scientific understanding together made up the root cause of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were partly caused by lack of scientific understanding. Today, people believe less in religion and more in science, and that the common belief is science …show more content…
When the people migrated from England, “the Old World” to New England, the Putnams, primarily farmers could not farm well due to New England’s very rocky soil and swampy lands, which could not be used as pastures for cattle. Therefore, the Putnams could not earn money. Meanwhile, a family named the Porters, who were farmers like the Putnams found a way to make money through trade with distant lands, taking advantage of Salem’s location as the second largest port in New England. And with the Porter’s trade came new luxury foreign goods, which caused the rules to lighten and people to live by newer, much more lavish living standards. This caused tensions between the Porters and the Putnams. As a result, the Putnams and their allies wanted to split a large portion of land from Salem Town called “Salem Village”, where the original Puritanism was preserved and free from contamination of merchant life. However, the leaders of Salem Town did not want such a large chunk of land and a large source of tax revenues secede from the Town. Later on though, the grandson of John Putnam, Thomas Putnam Jr, was of the generation that did not do so well economically. After the death of Thomas Jr’s mother (Thomas Sr’s wife), Thomas Sr remarried a woman named Mary Veren, the widow of a ship captain. Together, Thomas Sr bore a son with Mary named Joseph, and when Thomas Sr died, Mary and Joseph got his vast inheritance, not Thomas Jr. And when Joseph Putnam grew up, he married Elizabeth Porter. Therefore, what originally belonged to the Putnams was now Porter property, which meant their dreams of “Salem Village” were crushed. Thomas Jr’s daughter, Ann, tried to get revenge at the Porters based on this quarrel and many others. For example, the text states, “The danger of deception and falsehood was everywhere, even in one’s own family, because devils, witches, and evil
Many others in Salem use the chaos of the witch trials to their advantage. The Putnams wish to have the most land in Salem. When someone is tried for witchcraft and hanged, they must forfeit their land. “There is none but [the] Putnam[s] with the coin to buy such [land]”. Since the Putnams were the only ones with the money to buy the forfeited land, they started falsely accusing and thereby killing their neighbors for the land.
Truth Untold: Unraveling the Salem Witch Hunts through Marc Aronson Marc Aronson uses this his book, Witch-HUNT: Mysteries of the Salem witch trials, to unravel and debunk myths surrounding the events of the Salem witch hunts and replace them with plausible theories based on evidence. Aronson relays that the modern ideas on the events of the witch trials and what may have happened are often wrong and the perpetrators of those pies used them to over stimulate the imaginations of those who were to believe these tales. The Salem Witch Hunts that are referred to by Aronson’s book are the hunts and trials that took place between February 1692 through May of 1693 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. In a time of lawlessness or anarchy in
“What caused the Salem Witch Craft Trials of 1692?” This question has been asked for nearly 323 years. Although it is a rather simple question, it does not have a simple answer. The answer is difficult in light of the fact that there are a variety of factors and events that helped create the trials. One aspect of understanding that may have been a factor in the Salem incident, is that the afflicted girls had mental illnesses at the time, causing them to hallucinate and falsely accuse other women of being witches.
His greed got the best of him. He had the chance to tell the truth about Abigail, and her evil ways, but he did not. He was just one of the many dark forces in Salem. Without Thomas Putnam, history and people’s lives would’ve changed for the better, not for the
A very famous episode in American history, the Salem witch trials of 1692 resulted in the execution by the hanging of at least 20 or more people that were accused of being witches. In addition, there was a man that was pressed to death by heavy weights for refusing to enter a plea; at least ten people died in prison, including one infant and a child; and more than two hundred and fifty individuals were in jail while awaiting trial. Due to the survival of many records, including notes, depositions, and official rulings, trials, arrests, the main facts of the accusations and executions are known. What has always been interesting to scholars is the search for the causes of the "witch hysteria. " The offered explanations for the witchcraft occurrence
The Causes of the Salem Witch Trials Much of modern America’s fear and infamous interest in witches has been derived most likely from the profound 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,” stated History.com authors. However, many historians still deliberate how such events occurred in the first place. Based on several presented documents, some conclusions suggest that there was a prominent cause to the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials. All in all, the cause of the Salem Witch Trials was the attempt of Salem citizens to either defend or create family
REVIEW OF LITRATURE A.) SUMMARY SOURCE A Although the whole book had information on the Salem witch trials. The introduction, chapter 1 and 2 and the conclusion had information regarding the research needed • Introduction: states what the Salem witch trials where and who they accused.
Even though the trials were over, of the town of Salem would never remane quite the same. After a long while the colony of Salem and Massachusets addmited that the trials, were in fact, not legitimate and a huge blemish on the American reputation and a massive mistake. Many people went around Salem and near by communitys and, for what its worth, appoligized to the familys affect. Studys have shown that the trials were a result of a certain level of paranoia amung the townspeople of Salem. The people of Salem may have used the trials as a scapegoat to explaine certain events going on in the town, and or a way to settle some of the fear caused by the war or local native american tribes around the area.
The Salem Witch Trials; Madness or Logic In Stacey Schiff’s, List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials and Shah Faiza’s, THE WITCHES OF SALEM; Diabolical doings in a Puritan village, discuss in their articles what has been debated by so many historians for years, the causes of the Salem Witch trials. Schiff and the Faiza, purpose is to argue the possible religious, scientific, communal, and sociological reasons on why the trials occurred. All while making word by word in the writer’s testimony as if they were there through emotion and just stating simply the facts and theories. They adopt the hectic tone in order to convey to the readers the significance, tragedy, logic, loss, and possible madness behind these life changing events,
Putnam claims that “There is a murdering witch among us, bound to keep herself in the dark. Let your enemies make of it what they will, you cannot blink it more” (16). Putnam is yet another powerful male figure in Salem Betty has taken a grip over in the town. He, in this quote, truly believes that the devil is among the town of Salem based on Betty’s current condition. Reverend Hale, encouraging Tituba to give more names of witches, tells her to look at Betty’s “god- given innocence; her soul is so tender; we must protect her; Tituba; the Devil is out and preying on her like a beast upon the flesh of a pure lamb.
A few years later the Putnam’s petitioned the town in an effort to obtain political independence for the village, and the Porters opposed them. The arrival of Reverend Parris intensified the Putnam-Porter conflict. I think the two families accurately symbolize and correlate with the division between Salem Village and Salem Town. Joseph Putman who arrived in Salem in the Early 1640’s was a large land owner. As his family continued to expand, the Putman land was broken up into smaller and smaller tracts.
“ In all, 10 of 18 depositions against Rebecca Nurse were signed by Putnams, but 2 of the other accusers had grudges against the nurse family as well’’. Revenge, Hysteria, and Popularity everyone has an idea on what caused the salem witch trials. It would take forever to just list out all the possible factors. Beleiving in the listed ones are the best bet. All the world can do is think and believe.
The Salem Witch Trials accusing others of a feared crime showed definite evidence that mass hysteria was to blame. Salem was a religious settlement, following Puritan beliefs (Miller, 6). A large fear for everyone in Salem was the touch of the Devil (Miller, Arthur). According to Puritan beliefs, if a man or woman was touched by the Devil he would convince them to do witchcraft. Once word was mentioned the Devil had possibly touched Salem, the fear spread.
The Salem witch trial was a time about accusing your fellow neighbor or being accused yourself, this all began in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. During this time many people were being accused of being a witch, a majority of the time it was because either someone truly believed that you were a witch and were reeking havoc or they were trying to find someone to take the blame if they were to being accused. So this leads us to question, what began the Salem Witch Trials? There were at least three causes of the Salem witch trials hysteria. These were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams story, Ergotism, and the acknowledgment of hysteria.
The Salem witch trials was one of the most absurd and tragic events in history of pre-colonial America. A fine example of how believing in accusations and hearsay could affect a lot of people in a short span of time. the justice system is flawed and prejudice was allowed to reign over the people. I found this topic very interesting even though it is one of the most regretted in history. I’ve always been the type of person who likes reading all those weird and peculiar things on the internet.