In the winter of 1692, a wave of witch hysteria surrounded the settlement of in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The accusations began with two little girls who were acting strangely. There are many underlying factors to why these thoughts of witchcraft started coming about. These issues were going on before that winter of 1692. The winter of 1692 was the onset of the hysterics behind the witchcraft trials. To understand the reasons behind the hysteria, you have to know a little about the people who settled the area of Salem Village.
Mainly Puritans inhabited Salem Village. There were very few other religions at that time. The Puritans left England to escape religious persecution. Puritans wanted to purify the national church by eliminated what they saw as Catholic influence. They believed in the total sovereignty of God and the absolute sinfulness of man. They wanted to establish a union of church and state.
Puritans believed they were entering into a sacred compact with God in the founding of the Massachusetts colony. They agreed to live according to his will in return for a divine endorsement in the New World. The people of Salem Village believed in witches. The word witchcraft meant the “art of bewitching, casting spells, or manipulating the forces of nature.” It was the idea of the people that this was impossible without the cooperation of the Devil. Many perceived that the Devil resented their way of life.
The Devil had to act through a witch to do physical harm to human beings. He couldnt do it on his own. People who wholly believed in witches were always on the lookout for them. As a result, many people were wrongly accused. Puritans viewed the world in basic black and white. Discipline and devotion were slogans in the service of the Lord.
The simplest acts of innocence were looked upon as questionable conduct or even abnormal. Sinners were severely punished in Salem Village. The punishments were meant to humiliate the person as well as hurt. There was never respect for the privacy of any individual in the seventeenth century. The community as a whole was expected to uphold the Puritan religion. They were encouraged to watch their neighbors closely and report any behavior that drifted even slightly from the “straight and narrow.” According to some sources there was a problem with women’s increasing independence.
They lived in a society where men exercised substantial authority over a woman. It was more difficult for women without brothers, widows who remarried or remained single and had no sons during the witch hunts. These women stood to inherit property and were resented for it. 61% of the women accused during the witch trials were women without brothers or sons. 64% of those were tried. 76% of the women tried were convicted.
89% of those convicted were executed. Once a woman under these circumstances was accused, they were even more likely to be tried, convicted, and executed. The behavior in Salem was also a result of fear. The Massachusetts colony at this time was threatened. King Charles I recalled their charter in 1684. In 1686, James II appointed a royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros.
William and Mary came into power in 1689. Puritans may have feared that they were going to lose their religious foothold on the colony. Early autumn was the beginning of the end for the witch-hunts. Many people began to develop doubts as to how so many people could be guilty. During the trials a lot of spectral evidence had been used to convict people. Spectral evidence allowed hallucinations, dreams, and simple notions to be admitted to the court as factual proof of the behavior of the accused.
This began efforts to end the witch-hunting. Samuel Willard, a highly regarded Boston minister, is believed to have The day of the last execution was on September 22, 1692. This is the day the witchcraft hysteria ended. On October 12, 1692, Governor P hips forbids further imprisonment of witchcraft. By this time 150 people were still imprisoned on witch cr.