Salem Witch Trials: A Brief Overview from Beginning to the End

By History Encounters

History Encounters unearths the greatest stories with the major events from Salem Witch Trials to expand reader horizons for readers to be best informed.

The Salem witch trials were a blot on American history. They occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. This period of mass hysteria by young girls and spiteful behavior among friends and neighbors caused a situation where more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft, and 20 were executed, mostly by hanging. 
The Salem community and the colony of Massachusetts did finally recognize the injustice of the trials, but this was of no comfort to the victims and their families, even though the families received compensation. The injustices perpetrated by the Salem witch trials had a direct effect on the protection of the accused by the modern American justice system and remind us of the risks that fear and ignorance bring to the stability of a community. 

Learning about history will keep you perceptive and make sure to not repeat mistakes that others made in the past. The different stories in this series will show the readers that history should not just be seen from one perspective, but from the different eyes of the groups of people involved. You never know, you might finally understand their choices, their actions and their reactions.

In this historical series, you will discover:

• The history of different countries and cultures
• The inner workings of major historical turning points in different countries.
• Different perspectives of major events in history
• The reasons behind different wars or battles throughout history

These historical series are for anyone who wants to learn fun, exciting and influential facts of what happened years before their time. Do you want to learn history through a multitude of different eyes? 

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Ched
• Release date: Feb 25, 2024
• ISBN: 9791223011171

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CONTENTS

Part One: Editor Foreword

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: Witch Hunts

Chapter Three: Salem The Background to the Trials

Chapter Four: The Nature of Hysteria in Salem

Chapter Five: Setting the Scene

Chapter Six: The Young Witch Hunters

Chapter Seven: Five Notable Women Accused

Chapter Eight: Salem Witch Trials

Chapter Nine: The wages of Sin!

Chapter Ten: The Aftermath and Legacy of the Salem witch trials 

Chapter Eleven: The influence of the Salem Witch Trials on the American Justice System

Chapter Twelve: Conclusion

Chapter Thirteen: Discussion Question

Chapter Fourteen: Quiz Question

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Chapter One

Introduction

The Salem Witch Trials, made famous in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, still puzzle people today. It seems quite impossible that a few mischievous or hysterical children could cause the deaths of so many adults.

These trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts from 1692 to 1693. A period of mass hysteria caused more than 200 people to be accused of witchcraft and 20 to be horribly executed. The colony eventually recognized that the trials were unjust, which didn't help the victims even though compensation was paid to their families. To this day, the tale of the trials is synonymous with injustice and hysterical paranoia, and it still fascinates and intrigues popular imagination 300 years later.

In earlier centuries and even now, in certain parts of the world, like rural Africa, many Christians and people of different religions had a powerful belief that Satan or the Devil could give specific people known as witches the authority to hurt other people in return for their devotion, allegiance, and their souls. A witchcraft obsession was dominant throughout Europe, especially in the UK for three hundred years, from 1300 to 1700. Thousands of presumed witches, usually women, were often gruesomely killed after being tortured. The Salem trials happened as the European obsession with witches became