How Do You Know if Someone Is a Witch
The Salem Witch Trials are one of the most well-known examples of mass hysteria to occur in the U.Southward. throughout history. When thinking almost the infamous trials, many people imagine strange women dressed in black gothic clothing being burned at the stake. Some may even envision the pointed hats, crooked noses and green skin associated with Halloween witches.
Most would be surprised to learn that many so-called facts related to the trials are not true at all. They say truth is stranger than fiction, and these mysterious truths backside the Salem Witch Trials are all the proof you demand to brand that point.
How It Began
Witch trials weren't unique to Salem or even New England all those centuries ago. Europe dealt with multiple waves of witch hysteria throughout history, although much of it had died down by the 17th century. On the other side of the Atlantic, in the colonies, a new wave started around that same time, built-in out of isolation and misunderstanding.
Many of the issues in the early on New England colonies stemmed from society'southward devout religious foundation, and the witch trials were no exception. Fearfulness and intolerance led to finger-pointing and accusations of witchcraft. It was a society deeply-entrenched in religion, and anything that deviated from the sacred texts was seen as a threat.
Although some authors of the time argued in favor of acknowledging all elements of the supernatural world, many members of the Puritan community chose which elements suited their system of beliefs and ostracized anything else. This frequently meant that angels and demons were accepted equally catechism, while ghosts, spirits and magic were considered heretical fantasies.
Anyone suspected of dealing with any of these forbidden elements of the supernatural was considered highly questionable. Every bit the paranoia grew, any association with magic or the unholy was grounds for condemnation at the very to the lowest degree and execution at the worst. Naturally, outsiders were always among the first questioned. In Salem, that outsider was a woman named Tituba.
Far from Abode
Tituba was a woman from South America who had been brought from the Caribbean area to the colonies equally a slave. Her foreign heritage made her the subject of some criticism, so when the fearfulness began to spread most people straying from the Good Book, she was a primary target.
Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams were the beginning accusers at the Salem Witch Trials. They claimed that Tituba had told them tales of voodoo and occult techniques she had learned back dwelling in Barbados. Elements of Tituba'southward "confession" were later adamant to be untrue, but in one case the words were uttered, the hysteria began to spread.
Monsters and Demons
During Tituba's confession, she spoke of various supposed indicators of witchcraft, including black dogs, hogs, xanthous birds, cats, crimson and black rats, foxes and wolves. All these elements related to different beliefs nearly witchcraft and did more to confuse those in omnipresence than annihilation else.
Tituba's appeal likewise included mention of a "witch cake," which she supposedly fabricated and fed to Elizabeth Parris to help find the source of a curse that was causing her to accept delirious fits. It was after determined that this office of her confession was concocted by Parris' begetter, who had browbeaten Tituba until she agreed to confess. Throughout her testimony, Tituba maintained she was non a witch.
Pointing Fingers
If Tituba was to be damned, she apparently decided she wasn't going alone. Her testimony also condemned Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. She claimed that Osborne harbored a beast with the head of a woman, two legs and wings. Combined with her previous claims of demonic omens, witnesses assumed this meant the devil was walking among them.
These new revelations fed the hysteria. Osborne, Practiced and Tituba were all sent to jail to expect trial for witchcraft and clan with the occult. The contents of the first testimony in the Salem Witch Trials fix the stage for many of the witch stereotypes that exist today, including riding brooms, communing with black cats and working with demons.
The "Victims"
Although many people were responsible for accusing others of being witches, a group of young girls — ranging from 12 to 20 years former — led the charge. Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams made the initial allegations. The others included girls from reputable families, such as Mary Walcott, Elizabeth Hubbard, Ann Putnam Jr., Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis.
Parris, Williams and Hubbard were among the starting time reported cases of "possession" during the early on days of the hysteria. Parris and Williams visited a local medico and complained nigh strange fits involving screaming, throwing objects and trunk contortions. Hubbard before long claimed to experience like symptoms and was the first to personally testify.
Sketchy Accounts
Due to poor recordkeeping, pervasive myths and the passage of fourth dimension, much of the definitive evidence for the early days of the Salem Witch Trials has been lost. The previous accounts are the most reliable ones presently known. What followed, however, is slightly better documented.
Many firsthand and secondhand accounts of the trials themselves equally well as the heat of the mass hysteria that swept New England's Puritan population take survived to the present day. Some accounts ended up twisted with local folklore and sensationalism, leading to much of the popular culture knowledge of the Witch Trials that exists today.
Platonic Breeding Grounds
In addition to forming incredibly isolated communities of religious zealots, the Puritan colonists of Salem and the surrounding areas had a lengthy history of internal quarrels. Reports from the time outline multiple cases of neighbors grouse over property rights, grazing areas and church privileges. Information technology's no wonder the townspeople were more than happy to jump at the idea of something witchy going on with their neighbors.
Furthermore, their disputes over what represented the purest form of Christianity led to plenty of arguments without the added spice of witchcraft thrown into the pot. Religious leaders were dethroned for the slightest criminal offense, but it was all fair in the name of preserving the sanctity of their religion.
And so, Who Died?
From books to movies and other sources in between, you lot can find examples of witches who were convicted of practicing magic and burned at the stake. Surely, this horrifying detail must be true, right? Nope. Although the practise was used in European witch trials, no convicted "witches" were burned in Salem.
Those bedevilled of witchcraft in New England were frequently sentenced to death by hanging. Some met a dark and lone end in jail while waiting on their execution. One unlucky victim was tortured to death. Although Monty Python movies and The Hunchback of Notre Dame featured burning witches at the pale, the practice did not take hold beyond the Atlantic.
En Masse
Another common misconception well-nigh the Salem Witch Trials is that they were a massacre. Understandably, any number of deaths for something so ridiculous is a tragedy, but the witch trials did not really pb to a mass slaughter. The number of accusations, notwithstanding, was substantial, given the boondocks'south population at the time.
From 1692 to 1693, 24 people died, 19 by hanging at Proctor'southward Ledge, four in jail and ane — Giles Corey — by beingness pressed to decease after refusing to plead. More than 200 people were accused of witchcraft, and 140 to 150 were arrested and charged. To put this in perspective, the population of Salem in 1692 was only effectually i,400 individuals.
Men and Women Alike
For some reason, many people think all the defendant witches were women, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Some historians believe the idea of female-merely witches comes from shamans and healers, who were traditionally women in many cultures. Whatever the reason for the misconception, only 78% of bedevilled individuals throughout history were women.
In Salem, both men and women were accused. The group of teenagers that did nigh of the accusing during the witch trials didn't discriminate against men or women. They merely pointed and defendant anyone who seemed suspicious or had ever mentioned witchcraft.
Heavier Than a Duck?
Just as the grounds for allegation were typically very shaky, the logic behind convictions wasn't based on reason. People were sentenced to jail or expiry based on "prove" that would become officials hauled off to mental institutions themselves in a modernistic courtroom of law. Nonetheless, the methods were considered rational back then.
1 supposed method of determining a witch's guilt was dunking. Made famous past Monty Python, the sink or float test wasn't used in the colonies every bit far equally historians know. The idea behind it was that the innocent would sink and witches would float, having cast aside the rites of baptism.
Seeing Ghosts
1 of the nearly common methods of convicting a witch was through spectral evidence. If that sounds sketchy, that'south because it totally was. In the early days of the trials, spectral evidence was heavily used to discover the witches responsible for causing fits.
To provide spectral evidence, all the afflicted had to practise was claim to take seen an bogeyman of the person who had cursed them. These testimonies led to the conviction of most of the witches jailed during the early on days of the witch trials. After the initial onslaught, the employ of spectral evidence came under burn for its questionable reliability.
More-Than-Plausible Deniability
Critics of spectral evidence claimed that merely taking the word of a fitful victim wasn't grounds for confidence of an accused witch. Of course, their reasoning wasn't because information technology sounded similar a bunch of nonsense. The caption they offered was far more in line with their Puritanical beliefs.
According to those against the validity of spectral testify, the accounts of the afflicted could not be counted equally sole bear witness and testimony because the devil could theoretically have any form he wished when appearing to a victim. Somewhen, spectral evidence was no longer considered damning, slowing the flow of convicted witches into jail cells.
Tea and Cake or Death
One of the more icky methods of determining who was a witch was through the use of witch cakes. These "cakes" are actually much worse than they audio, and the "proof" they provided was somehow even shakier than spectral testify.
For starters, they were fabricated using rye meal and urine from the accused witch's victim. Once the concoction was mixed, it was formed into a block and fed to some unfortunate domestic dog. In theory, a guilty witch would scream as the dog ate and digested the delectable pee patty. Information technology's non clear how frequently this allegedly identified a witch, merely information technology was a pretty mutual tactic.
A Strange Caption
Considering information technology was a witch cake (or at least a theoretical one) that got the ball rolling and the ropes swinging in Salem, it might be worth noting how the cakes allegedly worked. The superstition was that witches could curse someone using "evil particles" expelled from the eyes.
These "venomous and cancerous particles" fabricated their way into the trunk of the cursed, circulating in their system through the length of their affliction. Urine from the cursed contained some of these particles, which remained jump to the witch. When the dog consumed the urine biscuit, the witch in hiding cried out in pain as the particles were destroyed.
A Simulated Admission
Unlike spectral prove, the use of witch cakes was never questioned or phased out during the trials. In the primary case of the Salem Witch Trials, Tituba "confessed" to making a witch cake to help Elizabeth Parris, who had begun to evidence signs of what was causeless to exist possession.
It was later revealed that Tituba had probably non made a witch cake but had been coerced into making such a confession by Elizabeth'southward father. Accounts of the trial and its aftermath bespeak that he probable beat out her until she agreed to give the scripted confession that bedevilled her.
Merciful Words
Accused witches could also prove their innocence through the recitation of scripture. If a person had committed their soul to Satan, they couldn't smoothly utter passages from the Bible. The accused was typically asked to recite the Lord's Prayer, and if they faltered at any point, that was more than than enough to prove their guilt.
Fifty-fifty if they managed to recite whatever passages they were given, it might not exist enough to salve them. At least 1 account holds that a homo who flawlessly recounted a prayer was sentenced to death anyway because information technology was "a trick of the devil." That sounds similar a no-win scenario.
A Easily-on Approach
Stemming from the same school of understanding equally witch cakes, bear on tests were a favored method for finding a witch in a crowd. The idea was that the touch of the i who had bandage a curse on the afflicted could disengage it. The experience was commonly skilful amid the defendant.
The witches were blindfolded and presented to their victims, who often started retching and seizing upon seeing them. Once the witch'south hands were placed on the trunk of the cursed, the fits often stopped, and the afflicted could claim the one touching them had caused them harm. The touch test lonely was enough to convict someone.
Personal Probing
You've probably heard the myth that witches have extra nipples (or something to that effect). At that place's actually a historical — although non factual — basis for that rumor. During witch trials, information technology was common for the accused to exist publicly stripped downwardly to their undergarments and searched for unusual marks.
The blemishes in question were called witches' teats, and having ane was undeniable prove that a person was a witch. These "teats" were actually moles or other raised bumps on the skin that were unresponsive to touch on. These marks were supposedly evidence of the devil marking his charges following their initiation rites.
Nothing Says "Guilty" Like Home Invasion
Of course, if yous were accused of existence a witch, yous gave up any and all rights to privacy. In addition to shamelessly probing your torso for bumps or throwing you in a pond to see if yous would float, authorities usually searched the homes of those accused of witchcraft.
Damning items such as spell books, pots of ointment and suspicious-looking figurines were guaranteed to earn the accused a trip to jail and peradventure the gallows if they were institute in their home. It was unlikely anyone bothered to ask how they got in that location.
Not the Devil's Work
Would yous be shocked to learn the hysteria that led to the Salem Witch Trials wasn't actually the piece of work of the devil? Of grade non, but the actual crusade isn't exactly common knowledge, so go your trivia deck ready because this is a tidbit you'll definitely want to add.
While the religious zealotry of the Salem communities and their relative isolation from the rest of the (sane) world undoubtedly played a huge role in the inception and perpetuation of the witch trials, they weren't the sole causes. The true cause of colonial New England's mass hysteria wasn't discovered for another 300 years.
Rye, Oh Rye
As indicated by the contents of witch cakes, rye was a fairly mutual cereal grain at the time. It fabricated hearty staff of life and more often than not stored well. Tainted rye, however, is seriously bad news. A blight called ergot is considered to be largely responsible for the hysteria that led to the Salem Witch Trials, and it came in the form of poisoned bread.
Ergot is a blight acquired past the growth of fungus on rye grains. The affliction, ergotism, is often violent and sometimes deadly. Most usually, it manifests as convulsions, hallucinations and psychosis. Sound familiar? If it doesn't take the psychoactive route, ergotism could cause gangrenous lesions and death.
Scientific discipline Prevails (Somewhen)
The modern (and scientifically feasible) explanation for the hysteria leading to the Salem Witch Trials is all thanks to Dr. Linnda Caporael of Rensselaer Polytechnic Plant. She posited that many of the strange symptoms exhibited by the "victims" during the witch trials were actually the issue of a natural poison.
How did an unabridged region end upward getting poisoned by the same thing? That's like shooting fish in a barrel: They all shared a dietary staple. Rye was a common crop at the fourth dimension, and they all used it to make bread. Dr. Caporael examined the symptoms and the formative climate of rye ergot and found that the pieces fit together surprisingly well.
One Bad Trip
Dr. Caporael realized that cases of rye ergot spiked following harsh winters and wet springs, two seasonal weather condition that existed prior to the rye crop harvested for consumption in 1692. The mucus that grew every bit a result of the ergot contained lysergic acid and ergotamine, which are toxic to humans.
With the limited medical and scientific knowledge of the 17th century, the unusual looking rye grains were likely passed off every bit a event of as well much dominicus and consumed anyway. The tainted rye containing the forerunner to LSD made its way into bread across Salem, leading to a year-long and area-wide acid trip that ultimately went downwards in history.
Of the Same Ilk
Mentions of witches tin exist found in historical records dating dorsum to biblical times, and their persecution followed shortly after their appearance. "Witch" has become a catch-all term to point a person, unremarkably a adult female, whose seemingly mystical personal conduct doesn't mesh with the Bible.
Witch trials swept much of Europe offset in the mid-15th century and running through the 17th century. Every bit trials died down in Europe, they started in the colonies. Unlike Salem, the witch hunts in Europe are believed to have been the result of economic hardship and famine. When weather got tough, witches and black magic became convenient scapegoats.
Little Ice Age
Around the time witch hunts first began to crop up in Europe, the weather took a strange downturn. Temperatures plummeted, and seasons were cold and wet. As a outcome, the 1500s were marked by failed crops, famine and plagues of caterpillars and vermin that ballooned in numbers as their food supplies failed and discarded crops spiked.
The economic downturn and hunger that ensued left people frustrated, hungry and perhaps more than a piffling delirious at times. Pair those symptoms with the Christian zealotry that was ubiquitous at the time, and you take the perfect breeding grounds for finger-pointing and the impassioned persecution of anything strange.
Saw It in a Motion-picture show
Despite the horrors of the witch hunts that were enacted across Europe and its colonies, they take been a source of fascination and entertainment in popular civilization for years. Monty Python and the Holy Grail offers ane of the most recognizable examples, featuring a scene where an plainly fake witch is put on trial.
Even in children's media, movies similar The Hunchback of Notre Matriarch shows Esmeralda beingness burned at the pale for allegedly practicing witchcraft, although all she really did was oppose the church. It's a wonderful case of the actual reasons that were often backside the roundups and executions of so-called witches during much of history.
It's But a Bunch of Hocus Pocus
Ane movie that's gained a huge cult post-obit since its release in 1993 is Hocus Pocus. A Halloween classic, the movie takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, and follows the misadventures of three resurrected witches. Although the motion-picture show contains few factual elements related to the actual trials, it's 1 of the more than popular movies that mentions them.
Although the flick is a comedy — a slightly dark one — it does present viewers with the modern interpretation of the witch trials. Today, the trials are "a affair that happened a long fourth dimension ago" to near people. It'south a menstruation of history that'southward not heavily discussed, although perhaps it should exist.
The Truth Is There
Despite the modern lighthearted approach to the witch trials and the humorous tones in which they are often conveyed, information technology'south of import to understand the truth of what drove the real witch hunts of the early modern era, and that includes the social issues that fanned the flames of a wellness crisis and fabricated it worse.
Famine and widespread crop blights are likely a thing of the past, simply fanaticism still persists today in many forms. It seems unlikely that the widespread persecution of a grouping solely as a scapegoat could happen today, but viewing events through the lens of history could save humanity from the curse of repeating the past.
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Source: https://www.reference.com/history/truths-behind-salem-witch-trials?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740005%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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