Salem Witchcraft Trials
Salem Witchcraft Trialsoccurred at Salem, Mass., the result of a belief in witchcraft assignable not to Puritanism, but to the temper of the times as evidenced also in England and on the Continent. Before 1688 four persons had been hanged for witchcraft near Boston, but the principal outbreak of persecution took place in 1692, when an epidemic disease resembling epilepsy spread through Danvers (part of Salem). Discouraged by the inability of physicians to control this disease, and encouraged by sermons from such clergymen as Cotton Mather, the belief was soon widespread that evil spirits in the form of witches were able to afflict the people at large. Increase Mather is frequently held responsible for fomenting the trials, although his Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits (1693) showed a rational attitude in disapproving “spectral evidence.” During the prevalence of the delusion, in the spring and summer of 1692, 19 persons were hanged; one,...
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