The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials were events that took place in the Salem Village between June and September of 1692. Hundreds of people were being accused of practicing Witchcraft and were put on trial. At least 20 people were executed. Victims of witchcraft were said to have Fitts, the act of screaming, throwing things, and outburst of gibberish. It was a strong belief that the devil could give certain people or "Witches" the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. This was one reason of that witchcraft trials became an outbreak in the Salem community.

I found it very interesting that people made a big deal of witchcraft. When we talk about Witchcraft, we talk about how in the 16th century they thought witches had specials powers and were the workers of the devil. When really, they had no proof of this being true and just followed people accusation with no evidence. Another thing was that most accused were women, why was it that women were mainly accused? Though what I thought was most interesting was that they believed witches could be told apart by making suspects go through tests to tell if they were a witch. This didn't make any sense because a person who wasn't even guilty would confess due to the harsh test like the floating test that would cause some people to drown.

Through these events of the Salem Trials we must learn important lessons. The Salem Trials cost many people their lives because of the fear of the unknown. Many innocent people lost their lives and because of that many changes to the judicial system happened. They finally came to their senses about how ridiculous the trials were and regretted there doings but could not fix their mistakes. In these we learn that we must truly think and know what we're doing before taking action to a mistake that we will soon regret.