How Did The Decline Of The Salem Witch Paranoia

In the town of Salem, Massachusetts, during the summer months of 1692, over 200 people were accused of being bewitched and associating with the Devil. Within the matter of months, 20 people were put to death and seven died in jail. The event, which has come to be known as the Salem Witch Trials, stopped after September 22, when eight people were hanged, on what was named Gallows Hill, an event that marked the decline of the Salem Witch paranoia. Although the paranoia was such a drastically important event, there still isn’t a clear cut answer as to why the trials began, occurred, and ended so suddenly. However, there are speculations, and knowledgeable reasoning as to why the trials might of occurred, one of the most widely accepted hypothesis is that the town’s population had accidentally ingested a type of hallucinogens, and that the summer heat may have made some of the population more prone to the effects of these drugs, creating mass hallucinations.
During these “fits” they “screamed, threw things, uttered peculiar sounds and contorted themselves into strange positions,” (Smithsonian Magazine, 2007) when they were taken to the town doctor, the diagnosis was that something supernatural had affected the girls. Although the doctor blamed the Devil, and the Parris’ slave, among other alleged “witches”, historians believe the episodes, that were affecting more people over time, could have been caused by the fungus ergot, a drug that can be found in wheat, rye, and other grains. Ergot causes multiple things that were reported to happen, such as muscle spasms and hallucinations.(G.L. Schumann,