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The Puritans: The Salem Witch Trials

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The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The hysteria caused 19 documented hangings at or around Gallows Hill. People were being accused of witchcraft and put to death for it, even without spectral evidence. When the “afflicted girls” accused their first suspects, one made a surprisingly terrifying confession that shook fear into the Puritans to an extreme extent. The Puritans feared the devil more than (modernly) seen as necessary. To have people in their own towns, possibly their neighbor, family member, or friend working for the devil was frightening. Witches, they were the gateway for satan to get into this new world they Puritans had just built. They lived their lives as thinking the devil was always plotting …show more content…

No one would have considered the girls being cursed by a witch or that the devil was going to “establish an agency, or kingdom in New England…” John Proctor was accused because he opposed the witch trials, he didn’t believe. If you weren’t so fearful of the devil it could and would get you killed.The colonists were always told to fear the devil, it was in their religion. They had never actually had to deal with cases of the devil, especially on their own. Naturally, the thought that the devil was infiltrating their homes was terrifying. The Puritans were so afraid especially because now they were on their own in a new land and were experiencing someone completely new that they didn’t know how to …show more content…

They were so afraid the devil was going to invade their new land they dealt with in a sort of sacrificial way. They persecuted those believed to be witches in order to “keep the peace” and not let the devil get in the way of their getting to heaven. Everyone was on the hunt, trying to protect themselves from evil. They tried to get revenge on those who worked for the one that was cursing them, yet they were so fearful of what the devil would do to their new colonies. The fear that devil would ruin their chances to get into

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