Many centuries ago, Christians and people of other religions, had a strong belief that in return for their loyalty, the Devil would grant certain people "powers." From the fourteenth century to the end of the seventeenth century, there was a "witch craze" that traveled through Europe.(Blumberg, 2007) Tens of thousands of people, who were mainly women, were executed for being witches. In 1689, William and Mary, the king and queen of England, started a war with the French in the American colonies. The war destroyed several regions of the colonies, but it especially impacted Salem Villiage. Many other tragedies took place and the Puritan Villagers correlated the violence with the Devil.

 

The Salem witch trials took place from 1692 to 1693 in colonial Massachusetts.(Blumberg, 2007) Although only twenty supposed witches were executed during this time, more than two hundred were accused. Since the trials have ended they have become compatible with paranoia and injustice.

 

In 1692, Reverend Parris' daughter, Elizabeth, and niece, Abigail, started having fits and the doctor blamed it on the supernatural. Another girl named Ann Putnam showed similar symptoms. The three girls accused Tituba, a slave woman, Sarah Good, a homeless woman, and Sarah Osborne, an elderly woman, of putting this torment on them. The three women were then brought in for questioning. While Osborne and Good pleaded innocent, Tituba confessed to signing the "black man's" book.(Blumberg, 2007)

 

After these accusations and one confession a wave of accusations flooded through the village. A loyal church member, a women by the name of Martha Corey, was accused. This made people of the village nervous because if a member of the church was thought to be a witch then they believed that anyone could be dealing with the devil. The daughter of Sarah Good was also accused and she was only four years old.                                                                                                        (info from: smithonianmag.com)