The Witch Trials + Explaining Mass Hysteria

The preponderance of people in this region, and country have heard of the Witch Trials. In this post, I will be discussing some of the common myths about colonial + modern witchcraft, as well as the role hysteria played in the trials, as well as the hand it had in spreading fear and misinformation. 

When the Puritans settled in their colonies here in New England, they brought along their strict religious beliefs, which often featured fear mongering, hate, and a need for control over every detail about their new society. The Church and religious leaders often took advantage of peoples fear of the unknown, they also took the knowledge they had of real Wise Craft, and further twisted it to fit their agendas. They preached that any participation in religious practices that did not conform with the churches teachings was evil and a result of one giving into the temptations that the devil has lured them with. Anyone who strayed from the churches control was shamed and labeled evil or a witch. More often than not, those thought to be witches or possessed, were executed before any investigation took place. The churches reasoning? Kill them before they can spread the devils work and harm the community. 

The hateful preaching and mistreatment of innocent people by the early Puritans set the path for the Salem Witch Trials (1692-1693) and even before that, the Connecticut Witch Trials, which took place between the years of 1647 - 1697.

This photo shows a depiction of a trial taking place during the Salem Witch Trials. 

During various trials, those who accused community members of being witches, would twitch, convulse or thrown themselves to the ground and scream nonsense, to further make the accused look guilty of witch craft. They would then claim that the accused was casting spells and harming them during the duration of the trial. Judges took these outbursts as solid evidence that the accused, was in fact a witch. In some cases, it was decided right then and there that the accused must be executed and charged with witch craft. These outbursts, naturally, only added fuel to the fire and reinforced the panic amongst the colonies and villages. 

The reason that judges at the time were allowed to do this, was because spectral evidence was still considered fact and solid evidence.

("Spectral evidence refers to a witness testimony that the accused person's spirit or spectral shape appeared to him/her witness in a dream at the time the accused person's physical body was at another location. It was accepted in the courts during the Salem Witch Trials." - https://salemwitchmuseum.com/blog/2013/02 )

Mass hysteria is the term that is used to describe a situation in which various people (large amount of people) believe they are suffering from similar symptoms, from either a phantom illness or an unknown source/inexplicable event. 

So, because of the actions of the accusers in the court room, combined with the hate speech and fear tactics by the church, a mass hysteria and mass panic was created. Large groups of people began to believe they were being attacked by witches and the devil, simply because someone told them they were, or someone told them over and over that there were witches and evil among them. 

An example of this, is shown in a book entitled "The Crucible". Neighbors, family and friends start to turn on each other and accuse anyone who acts out of character. Mass hysteria also interrupts the ability to think logically and blocks individual thoughts. 

Some not so fun facts:

• The amount of people executed during witch trials around the world is in the tens of thousands.
• In some colonies, people were "tested", to see if they were a witch in various, gruesome ways. One way in which they "tested" people, was to tie the accused up, and drop them into a body of water. Because they thought witches couldnt be successfully baptized, they also believed that the water would reject a witch, thus making them float. If one wasnt a witch, they would submerge and sink to the bottom. Either way, the persons life was in danger. 
• A common misconception about the witch trials in America, are that witches were burned. This is not the case however. In New England, witches were hanged. The thought that they all were burned, comes from England, where they DID burn accused witches. 
• Many people blame Massachusetts for starting the witch hysteria. This is not true, a "Witch Craft Act" was put into effect in England in the 1500s and kicked off the witch hunts.

For more information, please feel free to do personal research or ask questions here! I hope youve found this post informational and interesting. More like this to come!