The Salem Witch Trials were a historical event, influenced by suspicion and distrust of women at the time. In a lot of ways, we see how women and minority groups are treated with the same shame and distrust as the supposed witches at the time. Diving into how these women were treated and ultimately killed can be insightful in understanding how an accusation can run amok.
In 1689, King William’s War ended, resulting in refugees from Canada and surrounding colonies dispersing within other colonies, and Salem was included. The colony had faced financial hardships before the population boom, but they were now facing food scarcity issues as well. The wealthy families of Salem, who maintained wealth through the port of Salem, were hit with resource strains as well. The strain caused rising tensions between the families, and the Puritan villagers saw the conflict as the devil’s work.
Reverend Samuel Parris had just been ordained as Salem’s first minister, but his character also made the villagers distrustful. He showed greed and rigidity, which increased conflict within the parish. Jumping to 1692, Parris’ daughter, niece, and a village girl started acting erratically, throwing tantrums and having convulsions. The girls blamed a homeless woman, a beggar, and a Caribbean slave for afflicting them. The three women were interrogated, and the Caribbean slave confessed to “doing the devil’s bidding”, and she was imprisoned.
It’s speculated that those accused showed signs of depression and other mental disorders, but at the time, mental disorders were seen as afflictions from the devil. The spread of hysteria within the community led to baseless accusations and the demonization of women in the community.
Following the initial round of accusations, heightened tensions led to church members, leaders, and children being accused. Though very few “confessions” were witnessed, silence and fear were misconstrued as guilt. The local justice system was overwhelmed by the number of “trials” taking place, so a special court for accusations of witchcraft was established. Though the trials were unfair from the start, the court of public opinion dished out most of the punishment.
As villagers continued to be accused, including those respected and liked within the community, some church officials protested against the unfair trials and accusations. Minister Cotton Mather and his father both pushed for fairer trials and limiting the use of “spectral evidence”, including visions and dreams. Waning support for the trials led to the dissolution of the special court and the accusations. The community was still distrustful of those accused, and it took decades to recover unity within the community.
The spread of shame and hysteria among the villagers led to unnecessary death and stigmatization, which can be applied to how groups of people we deem “other” are treated.