The witch trials in Salem represent an extreme low point in American history, where suspicion ran rampant and an entire community was thrown into complete chaos. Accusations of witchcraft from young girls caused the small Puritan town of Salem Massachusetts to turn upside down, and resulted in the execution of nineteen innocent people. Puritan society is based completely upon the worship of God, so it is not surprising that such heinous testimony would put the entire village in disarray. These extremely superstitious people believed entirely in predestination, and were constantly searching for signs of salvation in their. If a person was said to consort with the devil, the people of the congregation would not want to take the risk of loosing God's good graces by interacting with them. It was this selfish attitude that caused the townspeople to shun the accused, and sentence them to death, turning the entire community against itself. People started to realize that anyone charged with following Lucifer was found guilty, and accusations became extremely common. Neighbors indicated neighbors, and people would proclaim that someone was a witch strictly because of their dislike for that person. Practically everyone in the town was accused of witchcraft at one time or another and nothing was being done to stop this madness. At the first mention of witchcraft, Salem's Reverend Parris sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly, because he had experience dealing with witchcraft from his own town. Upon arriving, Hale energetically began investigating, fully confident of the presence of Satan, but as he observes the proceedings, it became increasingly clearer to him that the trials were a fraud, and he ultimately quit the court.
Reverend Hale was very excited about being called to Salem, because he was respected as an expert on the subject of witchcraft, and he was anxious to uphold his reputation.
