and niece of the Reverend Samuel Parris began to behave strangely.  They had fits and moments of hysterics.  Another girl their age also started to behave strangely.  They sometimes acted like animals and supposedly had hallucinations.  This behavior was highly unusual, especially for young women of good breeding.  The girls were interrogated, and they began to accuse several locals of being witches.  They blamed these women for their strange behavior.

-  The accused women were also interrogated.  Two of the women denied any dabbling in witchcraft.  One woman, who was a slave, confessed under the pressure.  She told tales of the witchcraft she was supposedly involved in.

-  More and more women and even men were accused.  Some were not even from Salem Village.  These accusations led to the famous trial, where twenty people were sentenced to death for alleged witchcraft.

While many facts are established, there is still much speculation.  For example, there have been many theories about what caused the three original girls to behave so strangely.  It has been suggested that the girls were merely seeking attention.  One theory suggests that the girls had eaten a grain with a fungus called ergot.  The drug LSD is derived from ergot.  This would explain the supposed hallucinations and unusual behavior that the girls experienced.

Many people in Salem Village became convinced that the accused were indeed witches.  Some researchers think that this may have had to do with the recent hardships and tensions in the town.  They may have wanted someone or something to blame for their hardships.

There are lots of explanations given for this.  But, of course, no one can ever know the real reason.  The people of the time would have said it was caused by the fact that witches are real.  Historians don't believe that so they come up with other explanations.  Here are a couple I like:

First, I have read speculation that the witch trials were caused by people having hallucinations due to fungus that they ate accidentally (it's supposed to have acted like LSD).  I don't buy this one, but I mention it because it shows that historians have suggested a WIDE variety of reasons.  I'm including a link to an article about that so you can see I'm not pulling your leg.

Second, some people say it happened because the society in Salem was under stress.  They say that people lived in fear of the unknown (things like diseases) and of Indian attack.  They say that their society was changing from one where all the people really knew each other to one that was more impersonal.

There were both underlying causes and immediate ones.  For one, the people of Salem in the late 1600s were both very religious, and very superstitious.  So when the first accusations of witchcraft came up, they were more likely to believe it.

Secondly, the Puritan religion and preachers had conditioned the population to fear all things satanic, and to believe that they might not be able to control his influences.

Lastly, fear of witchcraft goes back centuries before this time, as did the methods of dealing with them.

The immediate cause was when accusations were made against a slave, Tituba, for practicing voodoo. People who had been with her were also accused, and all they could do to save themselves was to accuse someone else.  It was a spiral of fear.

In the late 1600s, Massachusetts was heavily Puritan.  Puritan beliefs demanded moral behavior and a devotion to Christianity and the church.  Those who were different were viewed with suspicion.  This was especially true of people who held different religious beliefs, such as Quakers and Native Americans.

In 1692, two girls living in Salem Village started to experience strange fits.  They were cousins Betty Parris and Abigail Williams.  Betty was the minister's daughter and Abigail was his niece.  It was recorded that they made animal sounds, threw themselves onto the floor, and tossed objects around the house.  This behavior was highly unusual for Puritan young ladies, who were expected to be meek and respectable.  It was especially unusual for members of the minister's own family to behave in such a way.  Soon other girls in Salem Village started to experience similar fits.  It was concluded that all the girls had been bewitched.  This was given as the explanation for their strange behavior.  These girls soon started making accusations about local villagers in Salem.  They accused them of being involved with witchcraft.

The girls began acting strangely in the wintertime.  It had been a long, cold winter in Salem Village.  An earlier outbreak of smallpox had left villagers fearful.  In addition, battles were raging less than 100 miles away due to the Indian Wars.  It was a time of fear and hardship, which most likely left villagers more suspicious than normal.  They may have wanted something to blame for their hardships.

More and more people in the area were accused of bewitching the girls.  Some of the accused even made confessions.  Some of the people who were accused were fairly prominent in the local church.  Neighbors became suspicious of each other.  Tensions rose in and around Salem Village.  Eventually, the hysteria died down.  This did not, however, stop several people from being falsely hung for witchcraft.

One modern theory suggests that the girls who experienced the strange fits had eaten grain with a fungus known as ergot.  The drug LSD is derived from ergot.  One who eats grain that has been compromised by the fungus can become physically ill, and even experience hallucinations.  This would explain the strange behaviors of the girls involved.