Causes of The Salem Witch Trials .
When two small girls, Abagail Williams and Betty Parris, became sick in 1692, their .
strange behavior consisting of convulsions, body positions, and outbursts of gibberish left .
everyone around them in confusion and awe. Soon, other girls also began to exhibit the same .
symptoms. Local doctors saw only one cause- the activity of Satan through witchcraft. That .
thinking stirred life in a mission that took 25 lives upon the infamous Gallows Hill, occupied .
prisons with countless innocent people, and created unamendable chaos in the heart of a .
community in Massachusetts called Salem. But was that the only contestant behind the causes .
the Salem witch trials of 1692? Three hundred years later, we are still asking this question. The.
answer however is complex and blurred, being difficult to answer due to numerous events and.
stages that aided to influence the trials. Some major points that commenced and pursued the trials.
were those concerning the town's politics, religion, familys, economy, and the views, beliefs and.
fears of the Puritan people in their dealings with the investigations and trials. How valid was .
their influence on accusationsof fellow townfolk in the art of witchcraft?.
Salem was not the typical town of its time. Its history was plenty full before the witch .
trials were even heard of. The main reason of its unique nature dealt with its population of over .
600 residents. They were divided into two seperate groups. First were those who sought .
seperation from Salem, and secondly were those who did not. The first group, desiring a .
breakage, were families that lived and worked on farms in the western part of Salem Those .
contained in the second and desired to remain a whole, were for the most part situated on the .
eastern side of Salem, and were dependent to its strong economy due to highly used harbors and .
their profits. The farming families saw this as an element that made Salem too independent and .
