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   sostrowski Teacher
   Elementary / Primary

   eNotes Editor

   Many citizens of Salem, Massachussetts believed that there were people among them who were witches, since they were performing acts that were either unexplainable or just misunderstood in the late 1680s.

   The first account of these supposed witches were with Betty Parris and Abigail Williams in 1692 when they began having fits that were unexplainable to the people around them.  Things that would now be explainable by medicine or psychology were then blamed on witchcraft. 

   In a series of similar events, women who were with or closely tied to people experiencing strange happenings were blamed for them, being called witches.

   Throughout the 1690s, these women were tried to be hung for their efforts as supposed 'witches.'

   Sources:

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials

   http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/

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   Posted by sostrowski on Monday December 8, 2008 at 6:45 PM