Salem Witchcraft Trials
Salem, Massachusetts is located along a beautiful, vivacious harbor about 16 miles northeast of Boston. Salem has been known for a very long time for its many interesting historic sites. Some of these sites include places such as the birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the House of Seven Gables (this is where Hawthorne wrote his famous novel), the Essex Institute, and the Peabody Museum. The Essex Institute and the Peabody Museum both have a huge selection of many preserved relics from the voyages of Salem ships. Also, the very first settlement in Salem has been reconstructed into a Pioneer Village. Probably one of the most recognized historic sites, if not the most sought after tourist attraction, would have to be the one and only Witch House. In this Witch House was held many preliminary hearings for the witch trials. The so called "witchcraft scare" began in 1692 and lasted only about one year. There were thought to be witches in Salem in 1692 who in return were pun!ished horribly for the extremely short time span of this act which started under so little circumstances ("Salem" 53). A "witch" is defined in a variety of ways, all including being exclusively insidious, but the on
Gallows Hill is a barren slope used for hanging in Salem. e main point is extremely clear, this message is that: to practice witchcraft was to be in league with the devil to do evil. Witchcraft was looked down upon as a very non-social behavior which set many to have unity from society (The Accused 1-2). The hangings were done on a rocky pasture at the edge of town (Roach 17-19). So why exactly did all of this happen in Salem, Massachusetts and nowhere else? The answer to this question goes back to the times in which this took place. There was only one accusation against a widowed male, but twenty against the female population. ) Into some mountain far distant, in a wonderful short space of time, and sometimes !to fly upon a staff or fork, or some other instrument, and to spend all the night after with her sweetheart, in playing, sporting, banqueting, dancing, dalliance, and divers other devilish lists and lewd disports, and to show a thousand such monstrous mockeries. Others were just accused, but dozens were sent to jail for a months without even holding a trial. Also, a small pox epidemic and the threat of attack by warring tribes created a rather fertile ground for much fear and suspension. It was rather common for a man to excuse a lone affair by claiming he had been bewitched: this would seem a logical explanation for the high proportion of attractive young women being accused of witchcraft. A !witch has also been described as an 'anti-housewife'. There were not a numerous amount of people accused of witchcraft, but the statistics show that there was quite a few many more women accused of being witches than men are. Other things that are accountable for the Salem witchcraft scare were things such as, an unfortunate combination of economic conditions, congregational strife, teenage boredom, and personal jealousies could possibly account for the spiraling accusations, trials, and executions that occurred from June and December of 1692 (Linder 1). For most of the witches there were very extreme punishments, like death.
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Acceptance Essays
