Dealings with the Devil: The Story of the Salem Witch Trials

In early winter 1692, a young girl named Elizabeth "Betty" Parris-the daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village, Massachusetts - succumbed to a strange "fit." She suffered convulsions, contortions, and spouted strange bits of gibberish. Soon after, her cousin Abigail Williams seemed to suffer the same type of fit. The girlfriend, Ann Putnam, quickly followed suit. To the people of Salem Village, it seemed that there was a growing epidemic on their hands, something frightening and unexplainable. Doctors could not come up with a reasonable medical diagnosis; therefore, the only thing left for the ultra-religious Puritans to blame it on was the supernatural - more specifically, witchcraft. When the girls were prompted to name their tormentors, they pointed the finger at the Parris family's maid, Barbados-bom slave Tituba, and at two local women who were known as eccentric outcasts, Sarah Good and Sarah Osbume. Good and Osbume both proclaimed their innocence, although Good blamed Osburne. Tituba confessed in court to being a servant of the devil. She warned that there were others in the village who served the devil as well. This confession played a pivotal role in sparking the frenzy that followed, the mass murder that history now knows as the Salem Witch Trials.

A climate already wrought with tension, Salem Village was fertile ground for the ensuing hysteria. The townspeople were awaiting the arrival of a new governor and had no charter to enforce laws. There was constant threat of attack from French Canadians and Native Americans. There had been a smallpox epidemic. On top of all that, there were the normal stresses of colonial life - stresses that came from being self-sufficient. There were crops to be grown, which could be completely destroyed at a moment's notice by a sudden flood or drought. There were clothes to be made, homes to be built and managed, animals to be raised for meat. The Puritans of Salem Village relied heavily on their religious beliefs as explanations for why things happened.

They believed that
if misfortune struck, it was either the work of the devil, or that the affected person had done something wrong and was being rightfully punished by God. Examining their strict belief system and the political, social, and economic climate of the time, it's no wonder that they were so quick to believe that the devil's hand was at work. Fear and suspicion ran rampant. Other townspeople began to come forward with allegations that they, too, had been somehow afflicted. Fingers were pointed at neighbors and friends; people from all walks of life were accused of consorting with the devil. Frequently, the accused were those with prior criminal records, or were somehow considered according to their lifestyle or circumstances not to fit in with the social norm of the time. However, there were plenty of people accused that were, by most accounts, faithful churchgoers and respected citizens.