LITR 4231 Early American Literature Research Posts 2014 (research post assignment) Research Post 1

Victoria Webb

The Afflicted Girls: Beginning of the Salem Witch Trials

          What began with a possible act of rebellion among a group of young girls in Salem, ended in the execution of 20 innocent people and the arrest of hundreds. I have researched the Salem Witch Trials prior to entering this class and I was well aware of the fact that the incidents that took place in Salem were acts of hysteria and seemingly a way for some with the upper hand to pick off those they wanted out of their village. I originally wanted to research and learn more about individual cases of the trial, and while researching the cases I began to learn more about the cause of the entire witch-hunt as well as the theories behind the panic. The theories captured my attention and I learned about the girls who started the hunt; the original group of girls is known as “The Afflicted Girls”. What happened to them, and why did it start such frenzy?

          It began with Betty Parris, the daughter of the minister of Salem Village, Samuel Parris. The family moved to Salem in 1689 when Samuel was appointed the new minister of the village; Betty was around the age of 6 or 7 at the time. In the beginning of 1692, Betty had befriended a few girls from the village and they dabbled in fortune-telling techniques. It is speculated they learned these tricks from the family’s Native American Slave, Tituba (“Betty Parris”). Some sources say that the girls toyed with the technique called “Venus glass” by dropping an egg white into a glass of water. The girls became frightened when, supposedly, the egg white took the shape of a coffin (Wilson). Soon after this incident, Betty began to act out in strange ways; she would hide under furniture, bark like a dog, cry out in pain, and other strange behaviors. Samuel Parris invited a local doctor to examine the girl, but he could not find any physical signs of illness and therefore concluded that the cause of her bizarre behavior must have been supernatural.

          In the Puritan village of Salem, the fear of God and Satan were real. The villagers believed that God allowed Satan to torture those who had strayed from his path, sometimes coming in the form of witches (Wilson). One by one the girls began to act out and suffered from “fits”; onlookers believed their fits were directly caused by witches. The group now known as “The Afflicted” was adamant that they had been bewitched, and pointed the finger at the first three women: Tituba, who was the family slave of the Parris’; Sarah Goode, who was a social outcast of the village; and Sarah Osborn, an older irritable woman who did not attend church regularly (Linder).  These three women were the easiest for the town to use as their scapegoat, and all three suffered from the villagers' hysteria.

          These afflicted girls had caused mass panic as well as an upper-hand for some. It’s speculated that some of the parents knew the girls were acting out and egged them on to continue to accuse people of the village they wanted to be rid of or had long time quarrels with. It seemed that the witch-hunt had turned into more of a hit list towards the end of the trials. By the time the trials had reached its peak, even respected members of the town had been tried and accused of witchcraft, including Rebecca Nurse, a well-loved member of the village (“Salem Witch Trials”). What was suspicious about Nurse’s accusation was that she was one of the three Towne sisters who had been accused. One of the afflicted, who was a primary accuser, was Anne Putnam Jr. The Townes had a long time quarrel with the Putnams, and it seemed like now was their time to be rid of them for good (Linder).

          While also picking off the unwanted villagers one by one, it’s been theorized that there was a social and economic motivation behind the witch-hunt and trials that kept the accusations going. This seems plausible due to the fact that the most of those afflicted had something to gain from the extermination of the accused. Whatever the reason for the continuation of the witch-hunt and trials, it does not answer the one question that has caused theories for the last 300 years; what caused the afflicted girls “fits” to begin with? Today we can imagine that the afflicted were a group of delinquent girls who decided to cause a ruckus in the town simply out of boredom, rebellion, possible mental illness, or abuse. But there are theories that the some of the girls may have actually had an illness caused by ergot.

Ergot is a type of fungus that grows on a variety of cereal grains and has hallucinogenic properties. Contaminated rye bread that is eaten for a prolonged period of time may cause poisoning to the consumer. Since rye bread was largely consumed, the theory of ergotism, or long-term ergot poisoning is one theory that there is great debate on. Some believe that the girl’s symptoms share similarities with ergot poisoning, such as hallucinations, tingling sensations on the skin, painful muscle contortions, as well as mental disturbances including mania (Linnda). While it is plausible that there may have been ergot poisoning that caused the affliction, there are those who challenge this theory by questioning how it only affected The Afflicted Girls and no others. The reality is that that there is no definite answer since there is so much debate around the topic. There are some speculations that this was all a socioeconomic driven scheme due to the fact the girls were never accused of witchcraft themselves regardless of the fact they had in fact been using forms of “magic” prior to their afflictions (Boyer). I speculate that the afflicted girls may have been the puppets after a while. Many of the accused were financially better off than some, and therefore when accused and executed, families were able to gain the land they had (Linder).

It seems that there will never be a definite answer to the question of what caused the witch-hunt, but that may be because there is no single answer. However, it still drives people to want to explore the truth behind the Salem Witch Trials, this event that happened so long ago, yet still fascinates many. While I speculate that the fear of the unknown, and the blood-lust and greed of others may have played a large part in the entire scandal, it does appear that what started as acts of rebellion from bored girls began to be used by their parents and others in charge as a means of “cleaning up” and economic gain. Regardless of the causes of the first affliction, the fact remains that it was the beginning of the incarceration and slaughter of innocents.

Works Cited

Brooks, R. "Betty Parris: First Afflicted Girl of the Salem Witch Trials" The History of Massachusetts . N.p., 10 June 2013.

Brooks, R. "The Salem Witch Trials." The History of Massachusetts . N.p., 18 Aug 2011. Web. 25 Mar 2014. <http://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials/>.

Caporael, Linnda R. "Ergotism: the Satan loosed in Salem." Science 192.4234 (1976): 21-26.

Linder, D. "The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary." . N.p.. Web. 26 Mar 2014. <http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/sal_acct.htm>.

Wilson, Lori Lee. The Salem witch trials. Twenty-First Century Books, 1997.

Boyer, P, and S Nissenbaum. "Were Socioeconomic Tensions Responsible for the Witchcraft Hysteria in Salem?." . N.p.. Web. 26 Mar 2014. <http://nphs.org/academics/pdf/JohnsonIssue3.pdf>.