The Witchcraft Trials: The Salem Witch Trial

The witchcraft trials of Salem was a hysteria that swept through the state of Massachusetts; that would change the whole demeanor of the town. It all began when a group of girl; once friends, turned delinquents accused a number of women of performing the devils magic causing them to be possessed. Over the time of a year there was an overwhelming amount of accusation of witchcraft. The governor sought out to create a new court, calling it the "court of oyer and terminer". In this court is where 19 men and women would be convicted and executed by hanging for their alleged participation in witchcraft.
Bridget Bishop was the first of all the accused to be brought to trial. She was nearly sixty years old and a tavern owner. She was found guilty by jurors and sentenced to immediate hanging. George Burroughs the village’s ex-minister was also convicted and lost in court but not before reciting the Lord's Prayer perfectly, which "moved" the crowd. Giles Corey was too accused of witch craft. He was later
This is an insight into one of the many situation that have contributed to what has formed our judicial system to what it has become today. I’ve always been taught that witchcraft is in fact the work of the devil and that those that practice it will not be punished by law but will have to answer to God. There are many countries like Africa that still practices witchcraft; it is their norm. However those accused in Salem, were practicing right here in the United States and was prosecuted. The comparison in the article between Ergot and todays LCD is also good history. The ingestion of Ergot would cause convulsions and hallucination and that was just from ingesting a spoiled food. Today people are purposely ingesting LCD to achieve that same feeling. We don’t refer to those people as possessed but only as a drug abuser. Times have changed. It’s intriguing to see history repeat itself in such similar but also very different