The Reality Of The Salem Witchcraft Trials

 As things closed out in 1691....in Salem, Mass....the population of the local area was around 1,400 people.  If you were going to describe the local town....laid out....it was probably 3 x 3 miles, and it was mostly an agricultural or gardening type environment.  

Chief work/hobby? Well....religion.  It was their religion that brought them there....it was religion that focused everyone on community responsibilities....it was religion that would divide them.

In Europe, for about 200 years....witchcraft had been a major subject and the Catholic Church had pressed hard on the topic for local 'drama'.  The Lutheran Church (after 1525) would wonder into this, and it was hard for any 3rd religion to avoid the subject.

If you go back to the original start-up of the Salem trials....it involves to two kids (girls, ages 9/11) who seem to have something along the lines of epileptic fits.  I won't go into great detail but at least in this period of time....epileptic fits weren't that unusual and they weren't 'demonized'.  In this case....both girls uttered non-English words, threw things around the home, and crawled around the floor like some animal (none of these things fit the typical epileptic situation).

Some minister is brought in, and deems the two under some spell.

Over the course of the next week...a couple more teenage girls launch into the copy-cat situation.  I should note here....ONLY young girls acted this way.

Accusations began to fly around.....witches putting spells on people, etc.

All of this....over the next month or two....led to the locals now talking about demons, men being influenced by women (a terrible tragedy), and hot lusty stuff causing a division of the public.  

The only cure here?  Well....you needed to charge up people, and have a court render a solution to halt all this demon stuff.

Fifteen months would pass in this drama....May 1694 would arrive.  Out of the 1,400 residents....roughly 200 would be accused.  Thirty of this group would be convicted by the local court.  Nineteen of the group would be hanged.  A couple would die in the local jail.  

Then....the whole witchcraft thing just ended....with an authority arriving and declaring this was all 'faked-up'.  

Trigger?  I'd say it goes to three things: mass hysteria with no throttle of control, isolation of people with no outside skepticism, and total acceptance of accusations (no matter how weird they are).  

My belief of what caused the original episode with the two girls?  Use of mushrooms....given to them knowingly or unknowingly....triggering them to have hallucinations and some sense of euphoria.  If you look over research of the past couple of decades....some PhD people will now argue that use of 'magic' mushrooms can lead to permanent changes in personality/character....affecting your long-term mental health.

After the two girls....this was all mass hysteria.