| There are very few people who have not heard | | | | search of signs to let them know where they |
| of Salem and the infamous witch trials that were | | | | were going to end up. The world of God and |
| held there in 1692. These trials cost twenty | | | | Angels and the Devil was as real to them as the |
| people their lives, they were executed, while | | | | woods that surrounded their farms. Combined |
| another two hundred were imprisoned, and five | | | | with the belief that women were to be |
| of those people died as well. What started it all | | | | subservient to men and that women were more |
| anyway, was it just the Puritans dealing with a | | | | likely to work for the Devil than a man would, |
| witch kick hysteria? Did they use less desirable, or | | | | women were seen naturally as lustful beings. |
| perhaps too desirable of people as scapegoats for | | | | Restrictions heaped upon the females, the |
| their own failings? To be fair and not be guilty of | | | | adventures of the males and the inability for |
| the same crimes as the Puritans were in 1692, | | | | secrecy in such a small town was a feeding |
| we will look at their beliefs in an effort to | | | | ground. |
| understand. | | | | But it was two little girls that would bring to life |
| Salem Village was torn by disputes between | | | | the witch trials. Betty Paris who was nine, and |
| neighbors over whether or not Samuel Parris | | | | Abigail Williams who was eleven were victim to |
| should be the first ordained minister. At the same | | | | fits that were beyond natural disease. It is |
| time, at the east end of Maine, there was a | | | | reported that these girls screamed and threw |
| terrible massacre by the Abenaki Indians. They | | | | things, made strange sounds, crawled under |
| killed many of the citizens of York and who they | | | | furniture and put themselves in odd positions. |
| didn't kill they took captive. | | | | During sermons, the girls would cover their ears in |
| Neighbors also feuded over land because families | | | | fear. Dr. William Griggs, who did their examination, |
| were growing and their economy was based on | | | | could find no signs of ailment. Then others in the |
| farming. Bad weather could come and wipe out an | | | | village began to exhibit the same symptoms. |
| entire year's crop. It became harder and harder | | | | They believed that this hysteria was caused by a |
| to support a family, which forced farmers to push | | | | slave called Tituba who entertained the little girls. |
| their lands into the wilderness where they would | | | | It was Tituba, Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good |
| come across the people that lived there. With the | | | | that were the first three to be brought to trial. All |
| Puritans dedication to spreading their religious | | | | of whom were undesirable people, one because |
| beliefs, this added even more tension to an | | | | of ethnicity and the other two because they |
| already boiling environment. | | | | were old and unpleasant. Once accused, the |
| The losses seemed to overwhelm them, crops, | | | | possessions of that person were taken. It is |
| livestock and children combined with earthquakes | | | | enough to make one wonder if the Salem Witch |
| and bad weather that were all attributed to being | | | | Trials were because the people were unhappy, |
| the wrath of their God. It is a Puritan belief that | | | | and unwilling to except fate, they needed |
| one's soul is predestined at birth as to whether it | | | | someone to blame and pay for what they felt |
| will go to heaven or hell. They were in constant | | | | they were owed. |