The first time I heard about the Salem witch trial was during a fiction writing contest, it was not my job to write the fiction based on the assigned topic but to gather enough material for the author. Prior to that assignment, I never knew the depth or brutality people committed in the name of witch hunt and after learning about the history of Salem witch trials, it became clear to me, how ruthless people can get if the fear of facing the consequences of their actions get down to null.
The story of Salem witch trials began in 1692, in a small colonial Massachusetts village named Salem. The first known victims of the ‘bewitched’ were a 9 year old Elizabeth Parris and 11 year old Abigail William. At the beginning of 1692, this two young girls suddenly started to show a chain of violent physical symptoms including vomiting, uncontrollable fits and screaming. Later the studies on that events suggested that the symptoms shown in those two young girls are similar to fungus ergot, a toxic element that can be found in rye, wheat, which was a primary food ingredient at that time. But unknown to the local doctor, it was best to name it bewitched, a popular practice during that time period. Till this day it was unclear if those two girls were actually sick or it was their own way of playing and getting attention from their parents, but soon after their diagnosis of being bewitched, a handful of local young girls started to show the same symptoms and putting the blame on local women for 'bewitched' them. That’s how the trial began.
Even though at first, the trial had been set out to judge the first three women who were being accused of witchcraft, I don’t think it would’ve taken the hysteric form if one of the accused women didn’t confess. According to the history, it was Tituba, the slave of the Parris household, who was accused of witchcraft and bewitching one of the first victims, Elizabeth Parris. Till this day, it’s unclear the reason behind her confession, did she confess under the pressure of Parris' household or to save her from the trials by becoming an informer. However, her confession ended up striking the fire of witch hunt.
People started to accuse one another, if one had any dispute or bad blood with another, they started to accuse them of being a witch. And once you were being accused of having any kind of involved in witchcraft, it was impossible to prove your innocence. The trial lasted from 1692 to 1693, killing 20 accused people by hanging, seven more in the harsh condition of captivity and one by stoning for refusing to confess. By the end of 1693, it became clear how unlawful and unjust the trial was and in 1697, the leading judge of the witch trial publicly apologized for his involvement. But by then, the damage had been done. And till this day Salem bears the shame of the cruelty it had painted on it’s land.
I was invested in the history of this trail for a while, mostly to understand the reasons, events and behavior of humans in a chaotic environment. And it is safe to say, we as human beings, crave to put blame on something or someone for the misfortune life bestowed upon us. When the chaos breaks loose, in the comfort of blaming others we fight for survival. Prior to the event taking place in Salem, the war between England and France put an economic crisis all over the colonial society, creating a great depression and hardship among the unsettled humans. The witch hunting trails can only be the result of it.
The history of the Salem witch trials left an everlasting impression on me for some reason, and I ended up choosing it my first semester's final term presentation topic. Either it was the act of rebellion or my lack of interest to work on other topics, but the act did leave an unique impression of me among other students, as it’s not always you see a fresher of computer science, giving the final term presentation on witch hunt while projecting images of hanging dead bodies on the projectile.
[Image Source : Source ]