How did the Salem witch trials begin?

Answer 1

Girls in Salem, Massachusetts began having fits that can be compare to epilepsy. The Puritans of the day immediately thought witchcraft had to be the cause. The girls who were thought to be bewitched were asked to name the witches tormenting them. Those were the first accusations of the trials.

Answer 2

Girls in Salem, Massachusetts began having fits that can be compare to epilepsy. The Puritans of the day immediately thought witchcraft had to be the cause. The girls who were thought to be bewitched were asked to name the witches tormenting them. Those were the first accusations of the trials.

Answer 3

The Salem Witch Trials began when a girl fell "sick" in 1692. Soon three girls were "sick." they were named Ann Putnam Jr., Abigail Williams, and Betty Parris. They were having constant fits and convulsions, and the doctor was at loss. He turned to witchcraft as the only cause. Soon many more girls got sick. Almost all of them were known as the "circle girls." these children would frequently go the the Parris household, where Reverend Parris's house slave, Tituba, would perform strange rituals and chants from her Caribbean home. The girls, now "afflicted" began to get frightened by the rituals. When she cracked a raw egg into a bowl of water to see her fortune with Tituba, she screamed, claiming to have seen the egg take shape of the cauldron. the other girls, following her lead, began to claim that Tituba was a witch, and everyone in town believed them.Tituba, under all the pressure, confessed, knowing that it would keep her in jail, but save her from getting killed. The girls then basically accused anyone who was the slightest bit out of the ordinary in Salem of being a witch, and the court, having only the spectral "evidence" from the girls, ended up jailing hundreds of people, hanging ninteen, and crushing one man under pies of heavy stones.

Answer 4

The Salem Witch Trials started because these very young girls started accusing people of witchcraft because the daughters of Reverend Samuel Parris were listening to their slave tell stories of demons and the Devil. Some say that this was what inspired them to start accusing (others say that it might have been from ergot poisoning which only appeared in girls going through puberty) for no particular reason they started to throw these massive tantrums (which was not common women could not even speak in public back then) and saying that they could see a speck of light above the accused head.

Answer 5

A group of girls in Salem began to have so-called "fits", that are compareable to epilepsy. Back then, the only expanation they had was witchcraft. The girls were asked for names and they gave names. Now, our possible explanations include epilepsy, Ergotism, Encephalitis and MPD.

Answer 6

Sarah good was accused of witchcraft ad then the hysteria started