"Fear and paranoia over lost control sometimes led to gruesome excesses Salem Village during the 1690s was a case in point." (Nash and Graves, 50) Many events that occurred in the late 17th Century were results of animosity and aggression between Salem Town and Salem Village. The tension between the two villages created an idea of one being possessed by the devil. With that, unjustified events such as Salem witch trails took place in order to remedy the problem.
In the early 17th Century where belief in witchcraft was widespread through out Europe and New England. Came along the now infamous Salem witch trails where almost three hundred New Englanders, mostly women were charged with practicing witchcraft and at least twenty people were executed for being witches.
During the winter of 1691-1692, three women were accused of being Satan's servants, Tituba, Sarah Goods, and Sarah Osborne. During the witch trail, Tituba confessed to the accusations and became a turncoat towards her fellow village people. Tituba proclaimed how the other people in the community were also partaking in witch craft. So from there on rumors were being spread like wild fire. Finally it took the false accusation of the governor wife to put an end to the absurd witch trails.
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The main cause of the witch trails was partly due to the religion that the Puritans practice. The Puritans believed that there should be a covenant between God and his people. They also believed in seeking the will of God and not the will of the people. Their ultimate source of authority was the Bible, however the clash between church and state reflected over the life of the village. If one was to go against the religion of the village one can be excommunicated from the society. For example many women who were accused of witchcraft were those who did not fit into their traditional role. Such as some women engaged in business transaction outside of home, others did not church and most of them were middle-aged without sons or brothers.
