Colonial Life - Social
The Salem witchcraft trials of the late 1600s is an event that is very well known. It all started with religion and the Puritan belief that witches were the beings put on this earth to do the work of and for Satan. The first accused of being a witch was an African girl who was a slave in Salem and was accused by a group of teenage girls. She was found guilty of witchcraft and hung, and soon the entire community became a part of these so called "trials". People were being accused left and right of being witches and the only way to even have a chance of living was to admit to it, and point out other witches in the community. If you denied it, you were instantly guilty and would be hanged. By the end of the "hunt" about 20 people had been executed, mostly hanged, and many many more were accused. It was not till after it was over that people admitted they had made up some of the accusations. Most of these accusations seem to have been made out of perhaps jealousy, considering that most of the accusers were poor people who clung to Salem's agricultural roots while those accused were rich and associated with the towns seaport. Of coarse at the time, this didn't click with the people because of all the hype about the original accusation.