Causes_Of_Salem_Witch_Trials

Causes Of Salem Witch Trials The Causes of the Salem Witchcraft Trials Page 1 Introduction The Salem Witchcraft trials took place in a Puritan devoted community of Massachusetts in 1692. The trials resulted in the execution of nineteen men and women, and one man who was pressed to death with stones. The theories of what caused the accusations are numerous but I will attempt to explore a few of them. The most widely known theory is that misogyny, the prejudice of women, was to blame for the witchcraft trials. The Puritans were raised with strict religious views on morality and generally oppressed females based on their religious beliefs. Puritans believed that women were more at risk at becoming cohorts with the devil. Another possible explanation for the strange behavior is that is has a physiological origin. Ergotism is a disorder caused by ingesting contaminated grains of rye or other grasses. Symptoms of ergotism include vomiting, hallucinations, and a burning sensation in the extremities, Volk, T. (1999). The accounts of the girls’ behavior suggest the possibility of ergot poisoning. Another physiological theory is that the girls were suffering from encephalitis lethargica. Some of the symptoms of this form of encephalitis include double vision, abnormal eye movements, and behavioral changes including psychosis, Wikipedia women, trials, mass, two, theory, men, members, hysteria, girls, witches, witchcraft, village, under, town, symptoms, suffering, sex, salem, religious, puritans, psychological, possible, physiological, origin, misogyny, man, maleficarum, land, include, hatred, females, fear, families, ergotism, encephalitis