Liam P.

The Salem Witch Trials

Imagine you are a regular girl in colonial America living in the village of
Salem Massachusetts, Bay Colony, the next day you wake up feeling a
little irregular. A while after breakfast you start acting odd, your body
shutters, twists, and shakes like crazy. Your mother rushes to your aid but
she can’t help you. You start asking for help and complain that someone
is pinching you, but no one is there. Soon after your mother or father gets
news that more girls are going crazy. Now stop imagining it. What if I told
you that actually happened? Well it did. The colony not just had to go
through this they had to do trials and sentenced punishments to anyone
that was guilty using witchcraft at that time. In the long process they
manage to kill 20 people and 2 dog accused of using witchcraft. I will be
teaching about The trials, 2 girls who caught the fits,  punishments the
witches would get sentenced to, and The possible sickness the girls might
have caught.

Who were Abigail and Betty?

On a freezing day in the month of January 1962 Betty Paris began acting out.
She started by flapping her arms and spinning around. She would either
screamed or didn't talk at all. Days after her cousin Abigail caught  the same
sickness. The parents checked for unusual temperatures but neither seemed
to have had any of the sicknesses they knew of such as, smallpox, measles, or
malaria. Surprisingly, Betty’s had a brother and a sister but neither caught this
sickness. Betty’s parents tried everything, but nothing worked no one could help
them, all they could do is wait and pray.

     In late February it got worse. Both Abigail, and Betty acted even worse.
They rolled around in bed gasping for air like they were being choked. Soon a
doctor named William Griggs come to observe the children's odd behaviors.
The doctor finally announced that both girls were “under an evil hand”. Sooner
than later the whole colony knew  about the witches in Salem. Now the question
was, What will Salem do about this?

Punishments

 

Imagine standing near a warm fire. Now Imagine standing in the fire.                       
Hot right well that's what they did in Salem! If you were ever caught a “witch”
you would be put to punished by being hanged, being burned to death, being
drowned in a river, or be put on the witches cradle. The witches cradle worked by
putting a sack over the witch's head then you tie them upside down on a tree. You
and someone else would swing the witch back and forth. This was used to cause
hallucinations. Punishments in the Trials were cruel and unfair. Some
punishments were just tests to see if you  are a witch. Even though they were
tests it still would kill the suspect. If I was punished like that I would be pretty
frustrated.

TRIALS

As more and more people were accused of using witchcraft, the jail cells began
to overflow. So on May 27, governor William Phips decided to build a special
court for the town of Salem. The court was meant to lessen the amount of
witches in the cells. These were done with three quick trials if you were pleaded
guilty every time trial, you would receive a death sentence. Trials were not
funny they were serious and speedy. The judges usually had no patience
for you and would be very rapid with their decisions.

Rye Fungus

Rye fungus also known as the Ergot fungus was almost clearly what the girls of
Salem got. This fungus is grows on Rye related plants such as wheat, triticale,
and barley. These plants produce alkaloids that can cause ergotism in
mammals and humans who eat and consume the fungus. This fungus grows
still on wheat and grains and is most likely what the girls of Salem caught. I
think this because, there was lots of bread being baked and eaten at that time
and is most likely why the girls acted out so odd. The symptoms of this fungus  
actually has two different symptoms one is called the convulsive symptom
(which the girls most likely had) and the second which is called gangrenous
ergotism symptoms.

     The Convulsive symptoms are twisting, shaking, and trembling. You will
also have body pains such as muscle spasms.

     The Gangrenous ergotism symptoms are loss of toes, fingers, ear lobes
and in a more serious case of Gangrenous, loss of  legs and arms.

In conclusion, After all these facts and knowledge shared among millions of
people we still can’t figure out why this started and why it spread. While the
trials and Punishments helped much to stop witchcraft it soon lead to closing
the court. After seeing and researching on the girls they seem to have
something with a fungus called “Rye fungus”  But the thing is why was this
happening with only with women. So what really happened?