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Another Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692, which resulted in 19 executions, and 150 accusations of witchcraft, are one of the historical events almost everyone has heard of. They began when three young girls, Betty Parris, Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam began to have hysterical fits, after being discovered engaging in forbidden fortune-telling (not dancing naked in the woods) to learn what sorts of men they would marry. Betty's father, the Reverend Samuel Parris, called in more senior authorities to determine if the girls' affliction was caused by witchcraft. Although Betty was sent away fairly soon, and did not participate in the trials, the other girls were joined by other young and mature women in staging public demonstrations of their affliction when in the presence of accused "witches." The events in Salem have been used as a theme in many literary works, including the play by Arthur Miller which we are going to read during this unit. They are interesting to anthropologists because they display some of the characteristics of "village" witchcraft and some of the features of the European witch craze. Many commentators have seen the Salem witch craze as the last outbreak of the European witch craze, transported to North America. As in African and New Guinea villages, the original accusations in Salem were made against people who, in one way or another, the accusers had reason to fear or resent. Moreover, the first few of the accused fit the definition of "marginal" persons, likely to arouse suspicion. However, as in Europe, the accusations spread, and came to encompass people not involved in any of Salem's local grudges. As in Europe there was a belief that the accused were in league with the Devil and "experts" employed "scientific" ways of diagnosing witchcraft. Interestingly, during the colonial period in Africa, shortly after World War II, there were a number of witch finding movements in Afr... Please login to view comments from other users.
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