The Witch Trials Witchcraft And The Devil Swept Through...

The year was 1692, when terror of witchcraft and the devil swept through the little Salem village. When the trials came about people turned on their enemies and even family turned on other family members with accusations of witchcraft. Throughout this process many people were hung or stoned to death because they were found guilty of having relations with the devil or for not admitting to witchcraft. Many books and articles have been published about the Salem witch trials but most of them were written in different ways by the approach the authors takes, how they interpret the information from that time period and the content they use. They also differ by the accounts they make towards certain individuals, along with the approach they take to tell what happened during the Salem witch trials. In the nonfiction book, The Devil In Massachusetts by Marion L. Starkey, she tells a dramatic story about what had happened before, during, and after the Salem witch trials, to make what she is say ing more interesting. While compared to a nonfiction book, The Salem Wichcraft Trials: A Legal History written by a historian named Peter Charles Hoffer, where he is very straight forward because he uses factual evidence from primary and secondary source puritain writers and he gives those writers credit in his bibliographic essay. When comparing these two works of nonfiction, The Devil In Massachusetts and The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History they show similarShow MoreRelatedThe Salem Witch Trials Essay1674 Words   |  7 PagesAlthough many people have their assumptions as to what specifically caused the Salem Witch Trials, no one has a definite account. One must use logic and prior knowledge to come to the conclusion and realize that multiple factors play a key role in causing the trials. The Salem Witch Trials were caused by religion, politics, teenage boredom, family feuds, economic conditions, and fears of the people. The overall effect of the trials was a major part in American history, not only was it a learning experienceRead MoreEssay on Salem Witch Trials Of 16921061 Words   |  5 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials of 1692 In colonial Massachusetts between February of 1692 and May of 1963 over one hundred and fifty people were arrested and imprisoned for the capital felony of witchcraft. Trials were held in Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover and Salem Town of Essex County of Massachusetts, but accusations of witchcraft occurred in surrounding counties as well. Nineteen of the accused, fourteen women and five men, were hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem Village. Hysteria had swept throughRead More Comparing the Salem Witch Trials and Modern Satanic Trials Essay2439 Words   |  10 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials and Modern Satanic Trials      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cotton Mather, in his The Wonders of the Invisible World, preserved for posterity a very dark period in Puritanical American society through his account of the Salem witch trials in 1692. His description is immediately recognizable as being of the same viewpoint as those who were swept up in the hysteria of the moment. Mather viewed Salem as a battleground between the devil and the Puritans. The New Englanders are a people of God settledRead MoreCauses of the Salem Witch Craft Trials2052 Words   |  9 Pagesin Salem Village, and there is no evidence from the time that Tituba practiced Caribbean black magic, yet these trials and executions actually still took place, how can you explain why they occurred? 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For over three hundred years these events have not only capturedRead MoreThe Trials Of The Salem Witch Trials2486 Words   |  10 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials were a series of accusations, trials, and executions based on the supposed outbreak of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. The trials began during the spring of 1692, and the last of them ended in 1693. It all started when two young girls, Abigail and Betty Parris, began experiencing violent convulsions and outbursts, which were thought to be brought about by witchcraft. Whether they were faking these symptoms, were afflicted with an actual sickness, or were experiencing themRead MoreMagic Of The Witch Trials2461 Words   |  10 Pagesbelief of magic came the terrifying thought of people using it against you. The thought of dark magic being used by witches swept across Europe that resulted into a mass panic that resulted into the deaths of over ten thousand people. And just when the panic was dying down around 1692, the small and devoted Christian town of Salem, Massachusetts became the victim of the witch trials. The use of magic was common in Greek and Roman times, it was believed that magic could be used to cure illnesses or forRead MoreWitch Hunts: Then and Now Essay2536 Words   |  11 Pagesworldwide mass hysteria came out of the medieval period and swept across Europe and Colonial North America with speed. The concept of magic versus religion, specifically witchcraft, became the prominent collective-obsessional-behavior problem around the beginning of the 15th century. By the end of the 16th century, it had spread to the Puritans in the British colonies of New England and soon resulted in the shattering of due process through religious extremism. Roughly 400 years later, the U.S. mainstreamRead More Human Nature in Sebastian Faulks Birdsong and Arthur Millers The Crucible4272 Words   |  18 PagesFaulks Birdsong and Arthur Millers The Crucible Both The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, and the novel, Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks, are pieces of literature based around historical events. Millers play is set during the Salem Witch trials of 1692 and Birdsong concentrates primarily on characters involved in the First World War which took place from 1914 to 1918. Both of these periods in history are examples of times when human beings have displayed the darker side to theirRead MoreEssay on How Miller Uses Reverend Hale in The Crucible4650 Words   |  19 Pagesabout witchcraft; but he knows almost nothing about the people of Salem or the contention that is wracking the town. How pompous and arrogant he must sound when he says, â€Å"Have no fear now--we shall find [the Devil] out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!† And yet he has every reason to be confident. To Hale, demonology is an exact science, for he has spent his whole life in the study of it. â€Å"We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise