The Salem Witch Trials

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Author	Message
Missing Wings. Cliché Catastrophe Age: 14 Gender: Female Posts: 488	June 17th, 2008 at 09:03pm Quote From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging. Another man of over eighty years was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft. Dozens languished in jail for months without trials. Then, almost as soon as it had begun, the hysteria that swept through Puritan Massachusetts ended. Why did this travesty of justice occur? Why did it occur in Salem? Nothing about this tragedy was inevitable. Only an unfortunate combination of an ongoing frontier war, economic conditions, congregational strife, teenage boredom, and personal jealousies can account for the spiraling accusations, trials, and executions that occurred in the spring and summer of 1692. I've been fascinated with the Salem Witch Trials for a while now, I started reading about it when I found out that I'm related to one of the judges that put 5 of the "witches" to death. I think it was a horrible thing, but my outlook on pretty much everything else in history applies to this too. It had to happen then or it would have happened eventually. I've also recently heard about the witch trials in Kenya. History always repeats itself. Thoughts? A link to the article
fool's paradise AWOL Age: 14 Gender: Female Posts: 835	June 17th, 2008 at 09:52pm I see a lot of similarities between the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare.
Missing Wings. Cliché Catastrophe Age: 14 Gender: Female Posts: 488	June 17th, 2008 at 10:33pm I've never heard of the Red Scare.
fool's paradise AWOL Age: 14 Gender: Female Posts: 835	June 17th, 2008 at 11:04pm It's when the US got all up in arms about communism. This one senator person (I forgot his name) went around accusing all of these people of being communists. Look it up, I found it quite similar to the witch trials. But on the subject of those, I think it was all just paranoia. There weren't any "witches". People just want a scapegoat and they blame whoever looks just a little bit different. I went to Salem a few years back, they've got a ton of tourist attractions. Reenactments and museums. It's cool. Even a cemetary from back then. There were little tiny baby graves. It was sad...
Missing Wings. Cliché Catastrophe Age: 14 Gender: Female Posts: 488	June 17th, 2008 at 11:24pm Yea, I agree. The girls who blamed the women of witchcraft were just trying to save their own asses. They had been with one of the ladies they accused earlier using some egg thing to tell the future then they got scared. So I've read anyway. It's terrible though, the girls used to love Tituba, they loved her stories and would sit and listen for hours. I just don't get how you can turn on someone like that. Anyway, I'd love to go visit there sometime, I'm such a history nut.
make a wish. Amateur Author Age: 17 Gender: Female Posts: 180	June 18th, 2008 at 12:43am boho rhap: It's when the US got all up in arms about communism. This one senator person (I forgot his name) went around accusing all of these people of being communists. Look it up, I found it quite similar to the witch trials. But on the subject of those, I think it was all just paranoia. There weren't any "witches". People just want a scapegoat and they blame whoever looks just a little bit different. I went to Salem a few years back, they've got a ton of tourist attractions. Reenactments and museums. It's cool. Even a cemetary from back then. There were little tiny baby graves. It was sad... Are you thinking of Joseph McCarthy? I think that's it, but I'm not sure. But anyways. This is just another (earlier, I guess) example of the fallibility of man. We jump to conclusions, we get scared, we do drastic things. The cycle continues.
kafka. Fanfic Fanatic Age: 16 Gender: Female Posts: 3001	June 18th, 2008 at 09:24am The last witch to be judged -and killed- was judged in 1780 something -I think- in my town. We also have killed more witches than the whole country together. It's just a good position for black magic so witches come here a lot. Okay that was me joking. I mean it's true but I was joking. >_> Humanity will always look for scapegoats and blame the unknown on individuals and behaviors we can't understand.
Blue Demon Fanfic Fanatic Age: 24 Gender: Female Posts: 1368	June 18th, 2008 at 10:08pm There are always witch hunts, and usually they will just blame a person who is conveiently there at the time and fits the bill. A lot of the girls who accused the people were thought to have been high on something at the time... I remember watching it on TV ages ago, that Salem when the fields were busy growing they were some kind of pollun that cause hillusanations to happen.
Nora Grey. Ink Slinger Age: 14 Gender: Female Posts: 934	June 19th, 2008 at 12:22am boho rhap: This one senator person (I forgot his name) went around accusing all of these people of being communists. His name was Joseph McCarthy. The overall idea of what he was doing was called McCarthyism. Just thought I'd add that in as well.
The Doctor Fanfic Fanatic Age: 18 Gender: Female Posts: 2951	June 19th, 2008 at 01:51pm Brilliant play about it called The Crucible. It was really a case of Catch 22 when you were accused by Abigail Williams et al. Although the government tried to compensate them years later, it was mainly the accusers that recieved the payments, not the victim's families.
Bells. Fanfic Fanatic Age: 15 Gender: Female Posts: 1071	June 20th, 2008 at 11:47am Didn't they accuse beautiful older women a lot, because they thought that they were stealing everybody else's beauty and youth? I'm really no expert on the subject, but it's just so damned interesting!
Blue Demon Fanfic Fanatic Age: 24 Gender: Female Posts: 1368	June 20th, 2008 at 12:04pm ^ Probably that too. If they were jealous of someone they would accuse them of being a witch.
The Doctor Fanfic Fanatic Age: 18 Gender: Female Posts: 2951	June 20th, 2008 at 12:27pm A lot of the accusations seemed to co-incide "myseteriously" with gaining land.
Briton Grammar Guru Age: 17 Gender: Female Posts: 3732	June 22nd, 2008 at 05:01am People will point fingers when they are scared. They'll find any excuse to figure out a 'solution', especially when afraid. The Salem Witch Trials and many other things of the like are examples of this. They're tragic, but we learn from tehm don't we?
Missing Wings. Cliché Catastrophe Age: 14 Gender: Female Posts: 488	June 22nd, 2008 at 09:42pm Most of us learn from them, but if the entire world learned from our mistake they wouldn't be having their own Witch Trials right now.
Blue Demon Fanfic Fanatic Age: 24 Gender: Female Posts: 1368	June 22nd, 2008 at 11:40pm We don't really learn from past mistakes, we take them on board, repeat the mistake, but react differently.
The Doctor Fanfic Fanatic Age: 18 Gender: Female Posts: 2951	June 23rd, 2008 at 12:05pm Well, the way I look at it is, the Past is a really, really old guy, hence why he keeps repeating himself.
michael.aleksander Amateur Author Age: 16 Gender: Male Posts: 138	June 23rd, 2008 at 04:23pm ^ Clever! The Salem with trials began on my birthday Not in 1992, obviously, but on February the 8th nonetheless.
Missing Wings. Cliché Catastrophe Age: 14 Gender: Female Posts: 488	June 23rd, 2008 at 08:03pm Blue Demon: We don't really learn from past mistakes, we take them on board, repeat the mistake, but react differently. Exactly. History always repeats itself.
Missing Wings. Cliché Catastrophe Age: 14 Gender: Female Posts: 488	June 23rd, 2008 at 08:03pm TheKinkyShrink: ^ Clever! The Salem with trials began on my birthday Not in 1992, obviously, but on February the 8th nonetheless. Hmmm..I don't know if I'd see that as a good thing. :

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