Salem Witch Hunt

Salem Witch Hunt

Introduction

The practice of black magic has been called as the witch hunt. In the late 17th century in New England, at least 344 individuals have been tried, and 35 were executed as witches in Salem in the year 1692. The development and progression in the societal conditions including social and legal development raised the issue of Salem Witchcraft and the prosecution of the people involved in the concept of Salem Witchcraft. Salem city is situated in Massachusetts, United States. The city is well recognized for its history of witchcraft allegations, criminal behaviors and fortune telling by girls (Jones & Johnstone, 2011). This paper discusses the accusations of the witchcrafts that took place in Salem during the year 1692. It discusses the background of the issue of witchcraft and the revolution in the justice and criminal system of Salem that accused such alleged witches of Salem.

Discussion

The witchcraft crisis and its base lay in Puritan New Englander's worldview. This worldview told them that are the chose people who have now a responsibility to spread God's message to the heathen land which was initially ruled by devils. In this homeland, God used to speak with them through various small and large events happening in their daily routine. Even in the third generation, Puritan's thought that they were still engulfed with the natural objects that are palpable and also with an invisible world which consists of spirits of witches. However, both worlds' still manage to communicate God's messages as they both were operated by God. There came a time when losses sustained in the war of William's King and second Indian War. It was the time when the enemies of Wabanki were found to be Catholic who turned the matters worse. Not only has this but it was also suggested that Protestantism for own settler's might not be destined to a victory which they already thought of. The First Indian War, though extremely costly, ended with a victory in southern New England in the late summer 1676 and with a standoff in the northeast in 1678. New Englanders instead suffered repeated serious losses of men and women, houses, livestock, and shipping. In the aftermath of such devastating defeat, they attributed their failures, not to mistakes by the military and the political leaders but rather to God's providence. “He had, they concluded, visited these afflictions upon them as chastisements for their many sins of omission and commission (Katz, et al. 1983).” They had developed similar interpretations of the causes and earlier setbacks, but the consequences of those beliefs never extended far beyond the walls of their meeting houses, primarily affecting their religious attitudes. This time however, something was different.

Furthermore, during the year 1692, several teenage girls and children began to have fits of a sort previously recorded in another place in old and New England. These fits might have been influenced by the wartime context, but more significant than such plausible, if not wholly provable, origins were the long term impact of ...