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Witch trials in the new colonies of America were not a unique phenomenon in world history but the events of 1692 in Salem Massachusetts differed in scope and circumstances from in Europe, the origin of the practice. As compared to the thousands of executions that occurred in 16th through 18th century Europe, the trials in Salem resulted in 146 arrests and 19 people being put to death. The death toll included 18 women, one man and two dogs that were “hanged for giving young girls the ‘evil eye.’” (Schensul, 1992: t01). This brief and distasteful period of American history was initiated when a group of girls started to act peculiarly. Whether they were somehow ill or the group of friends had decided to play a prank is not confirmable but their convulsive, seemingly synchronized actions sent a wave of panic through the overtly religious citizens of Salem who thought their town was being influenced by evil supernatural forces. The trials in America involved particular political, economic and social implications and arose from an environment of uncertainty and fear.
There were numerous factors in the greater context of world events that had an effect on the outcome of the witch trials. In 1691, drought gripped the New England area of the ‘New World’ and 1692 brought torrential rains and flooding. The superstitious religious societies of the Puritans sought scapegoats to punish for the miseries being suffered. They were acting as ‘God’s agents’ to rid the world of its evilness which they perceived as the root cause of the problems. The citizens of New England had previously abided by the rule of law according to the Massachusetts Magna Charta, but, in 1684, the charter was voided by the English Court at Chancery thereby dissolving the government in Massachusetts (Hilkey, 1910: 160). Additionally, an epidemic of small pox had infiltrated the region and its citizens were in constant conflict with Native American tribes. These conditions along with social transformations regarding Puritan principles exacerbated the existing sentiments of suspicion and fear. The eruption of hysteria concerning witches was brought about by these varying factors in combination with each other although none of which taken separately would have caused this action.
The Puritan ideology included an intense belief that the devil endeavored to tempt Christians from following God’s laws. According to Puritanical beliefs, they are responsible to observe and then eliminate the presence of evil in society. “The problems that the first generations of English settlers had to face could always be seen as divine castigations for sinful behavior, or as the threat of Satan trying to establish his rule on earth” (Luoma, 2005). Puritans were very fervent in their objective of creating and maintaining a spiritually uncontaminated commonwealth and they responded unsympathetically against whatever would, in their perspective, threaten this objective. In this quest for spiritual righteousness and spiritual purity, they exhibited no tolerance for those believed to be witches (Godbeer, 1994: 30). The depth of which the hysteria that infected Salem citizens enough to kill innocent people shows the depth of supernatural belief that permeated the collective conscience of the Puritan colonists. “The religion of the colonists was infused with ancient attitudes and practices, some indeed so old as to antedate the rise of Christianity” (Hall, 1989: 99).
Many women in Salem stood accused because of personal financial successes and thus their lack of dependence on men. In the Puritan culture, men were thought to be ordained by God to rule over women. “The accusations were not pronounced in order to punish the women for their strength in comparison to men but because they were seen to be a danger to the Puritan society and its value system” (Gragg, 1992: 25f). The majority of those accused as witches were usually middle-aged and well-known in the town for at least somewhat dubious behaviors and their malevolent attitude. These traits were viewed as a result of enviousness, a sin, or from discontentedness which was a state of mind frowned upon by that society. Many of the accused also had been known to use foul language and had committed a crime, usually theft. A number had practiced medicine of some sort which was viewed as strictly a men-only occupation (Demos, 1982: 93f). Religious ideology certainly factored into the reasons that people were accused and executed for the crime of witchcraft but Puritans that lived in other sectors of the colonies did not take part in such activities. Witch hysteria was largely confined to New England specifically Salem.
Salem, a harbor town founded in 1626, was an attractive location for merchants. It was economically divided by the wealthier townspeople and those poorer farmers in the rural areas surrounding the town who could not “cross the subsistence threshold” (Boyer & Nissenbaum, 1974: 94). The outcomes of the conflicts that arose between wealthy merchants and the rural population “were achieved at the expense of the farmers” (Karlsen, 1987: 4). Salem was surrounded by many villages and as they expanded, this prevented farms from expanding. The original owners of the farmland had small pieces of property because the primitive tools of the day did not allow them to farm great expanses of land. However, these farms became smaller still with every succeeding generation because the original owner had to divide his existing land between his sons. As the merchants became steadily wealthier, the farmers were growing poorer over time which further divided the two factions.
Salem was also divided economically within the township itself. Its eastern sector was level meadowlands that had ample access to waterways and roads. Citizens living in this area wielded more political power because they had more access to wealth. The western sector, inhabited mainly by farmers, consisted mainly of hilly marshlands and was located further from water and road access. This ever-growing economic and political conflict that arose between these factions was a significant factor regarding accusations of witchcraft. Nearly all of these accusations originated from western inhabitants against those more fortunate eastern populous. In most instances, the accuser was not well acquainted with the accused. “The accusations were not exclusively based on the ‘evil’ reputation of a witch; instead the pattern suggests that social status was far more important during the witchcraft hysteria” (Boyer & Nissenbaum, 1974: 35).
Beyond religious, economic, psychological and political influences, another factor of medical origin could have played a role in the hysteria of witch hunts. Puritans baked bread with rye. Ergot, a fungus that commonly collects on rye grain, causes similar effects on people that LSD, a hallucinogenic drug, does. This could have caused the group of girls which began the witch hysteria in Salem to behave as they did. It also could have contributed to the fanatical actions of the accusers (Gormley, 1997: 22).
Puritan ideology was fundamental to the witchcraft hysteria because this aspect was essential in giving the accusations credibility and inspiring, quite literally, the fear of God in Puritans who believed themselves ordained by God to uphold the moral law by whatever means necessary. Social and economic issues during this time ignited community emotions and demonstrated to the overtly religious of the time that God had indeed turned his back on New England because of the evil presence allowed to remain there. The colonies, specifically in New England, were experiencing tremendous social changes. What had been a close-knit communal atmosphere of first generation colonists began developing distinct social classes. The concept of working for the benefit of all in the community was transitioning to the concept of working for the benefit of one’s self. Puritans felt threatened by this societal change because they felt that the lust for personal material gain meant a distancing of man from God and towards the devil. As novels such as The Crucible suggest, these trials were carried out with little or no hope for salvation for those women who steadfastly refused to acknowledge guilt of witchcraft, although, paradoxically, those women who admitted to it often were given the opportunity to repent and redeem themselves.
The witch trials were less avoidable than they were inevitable. Several varying factors may have played a significant role in the deplorable actions of the Puritans without which the trials and subsequent executions may not have occurred but the underlying determinant was superstitious religious zealotry. This factor was not a distant phenomenon that was a product of only that and earlier eras in human history. This mentality is very much alive and well in recent times. One of but maybe the most glaring examples was the McCarthy hearings of the 1950’s which was properly labeled a ‘witch-hunt’ because it exploited the public’s fear of communism during the Cold War. Several patriotic, freedom loving American citizens had their personal, public and professional lives ruined by these congressional hearings. Another modern day equivalent can be found in the current ideology that states anyone against the Iraq War is necessary against America and for terrorism. The Salem witch trials occurred more than 300 years ago but the lessons that should have been learned long ago by the events in this appalling period of American history clearly were not.
References
- Boyer, Paul & Nissenbaum, Steve. Salem Possessed. The Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, (1974).
- Demos, John. Entertaining Satan. Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (1982).
- Godbeer, Richard. The Devil’s Dominion: Magic and Religion in Early New England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (1994).
- Gormley, Myra Vanderpool. “The Salem Witch Trials.” Colonial Homes. Vol. 23, (1997).
- Gragg, Larry. The Salem Witch Crisis. New York; Westport, Connecticut; London: Praeger, (1992).
- Hall, David H. Worlds of Wonders, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England. New York: Knopf, (1989).
- Hilkey, Charles, J. “Legal Development in Colonial Massachusetts 1630-1686.” Columbia Universities Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law. Vol. 37, No. 160, (1910).
- Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. New York: Vintage, (1987).
- Luoma, Priscilla L. Who Put the You in Utopia? The Puritan Period. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, (2005).
- Schensul, Jill. “New England’s Old Witches, Old Riches.” The Record. Bergen County, NJ: (1992).
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