1. “Putting the Pieces Together... The Puzzle of Salem” “ If ever there were witches, men and women in covenant with the Devil, here are multitudes in New England.” - Rev. Samuel Parris, 1692 Based upon an article by Eric Miller, angliacampus.com, and Mr. Younger’s brain

2. Salem Witch Trials of 1692 141 people were put on trial for witchcraft and 20 were executed. –How could these barbaric acts happen less than one hundred years before the revolution of our “civilized” country? 1)Medieval witchcraft beliefs, 2)Sexism, 3)Witchcraft laws 4)A mysterious illness of fits and unconsciousness These four puzzle pieces fit together to answer this enigmatic question.

3. 1) Medieval Witchcraft Beliefs A belief in witchcraft germinated during the medieval time period. People were largely uneducated and lived in a hostile, cold, dark, and primitive environment. Hardship, mysterious diseases, and unexpected deaths were commonplace. To cope with these miseries, a scapegoat was created: Witches!

4. Witches were blamed for "maleficium,” misfortunes like: 1)the spoiling of cheese 2)the family cow drying up 3)the deaths of people, especially the unexpected death of babies Witches supposedly made a contract with the Devil. The Devil would then work through them and their “familiars” (evil spirits in the form of an animal).

5. The belief in witches was very real, and horrifically, thousands of Europeans were accused of being witches and executed during the time span from the Middle Ages through the 1700’s. The Puritans carried their belief in witchcraft with them to the “New World,” and this belief is the first piece of the puzzle!

6. Quiz: Puzzle Piece One 1)What year did the Salem witch trials take place, and how many people were put to death? 2)What are two of the “puzzle pieces” that explain the cause of the Salem witch trials? 3)What is one act of “maleficium” witches were blamed for? 4)What is a familiar? 5)Bonus: Which Shakespeare play contains witches?

7. Puzzle Piece 2: Sexism In New England, the majority of those convicted of witchcraft were female. Most were elderly and of "humble" social status. Many were widowed or married.

8. Widows The Puritan social order was very biased toward males, who made all decisions and “ruled the household.” However, many widowed women in Salem owned property, and this upset the Puritan social order, making these women targets of witchcraft accusations. The deteriorated appearance and sometimes eccentric behavior of widowed women fit the stereotypical witch prototype, making them easy prey for witch accusations.

9. Married Women Married women were sometimes accused of witchcraft to harm the husband, to destroy his reputation and social status. –For example, during a neighborly feud over property boundaries, one neighbor may accuse the other’s wife of being a witch in order to harm his neighbor and ultimately seize his the disputed property. The women were easy prey, as they had no defense but their word. –And because their social status was low, their words of defense were seldom trusted over the words of an accusing man.

10. Puzzle Piece 2: Sexism Quiz 1.What aspect of Puritan social order made women easy targets for witch accusations? 2.Why were widows witchcraft targets? 3.Why were married women sometimes targeted? 4.Bonus: What unusual facial feature did the Macbeth witches possess?

11. Yikes!

12. Puzzle Piece 3: Witchcraft Laws While witchcraft was both a traditional concept and a theological concept, it was also a legal concept. –In other words, actual laws made it illegal to be a witch! During the 1500s-1700s, several statutes were created, repealed, and recreated that outlawed witchcraft.

13. The first statute against witchcraft was implemented in 1542. – It was called an "Act agaynst Conjuracions Inchantments and Witchcraftes." In 1604, a new and more brutal act against witchcraft was passed and remained in force until 1736. –If found guilty under the 1604 statute, the sentence was death! Being a witch was against the law, as illegal as speeding or robbing a bank is today. Therefore, if someone accused you of being a witch, you could be arrested and even executed. Imagine the paranoia this would have caused!

14. Puzzle Piece 3 Quiz 1)What are the first three pieces of the Salem Witch Trials puzzle? 2)During what year was the first legal statute against witchcraft created? 3)What was the severe punishment for being a witch according to the statute of 1604? 4)Explain how these witchcraft laws created paranoia among Puritan townspeople. 5)Bonus: What are the witches’ three familiars in Macbeth?

15. Puzzle Piece 4: Mysterious Illness In the kitchen of the Reverend Parris, a group of young girls and a slave from the Caribbean named Tituba were trying to determine their future husbands by utilizing a crystal ball. They “saw” a coffin-like image that scared them. Soon after, the girls began to experience "odd postures," "foolish, ridiculous speeches," "distempers," and "fits." As the Spring went on, more people became afflicted with this strange illness. What was happening to them? Were they possessed as the townspeople thought? NO!

16. Two Theories It is undisputable that the victims were afflicted with an illness, but the cause(s) of this illness are still unresolved. There are two major theories: 1)Mass Psychosis brought on by the trauma of “seeing” the image in the crystal ball and/or being caught participating in fortune-telling, and then intensified by the stress caused from the witch accusations. (Psychosis is a mental disorder characterized by symptoms such as delusions or hallucinations.)

17. Psychosis Examples Mass psychosis is a hard-to-believe but very real phenomenon. Two Examples: --In Belgium in 1999, a student fell ill after drinking a contaminated Coca-Cola that smelled like sulphur. Several other students who had drunk Coca-Cola also fell ill. Over the course of a few days, more than one-hundred children were sent to the hospital, all complaining of the same symptoms: nausea, dizziness, and headaches. --Chemical testing on the contaminated Coca Cola showed it contained a trace amount of sulphur that was completely harmless—it just smelled bad—and more amazingly, over half of the hospitalized children had not even drunk any Coke. --What happened? Mass Psychosis! -- Incidentally, studies have shown that children are more susceptible to mass psychosis than adults. In the past two hundred years, there have been more than 115 documented mass psychosis cases in schools.

18. One more example: In 1787, a group of millworkers in England suddenly fell ill when they were told (incorrectly!) that they had been poisoned by tainted cotton.

19. Ok, but it couldn’t happen to me, could it? First, you see someone nearby suddenly fall ill. You feel anxiety that maybe you will “get” whatever he’s got! Your anxiety makes you feel dizzy and nauseous. With increased anxiety, you begin to hyperventilate (breathe too quickly and deeply. Guess what? Hyperventilating causes numbness or tingling in the hands, feet, and lips, dizziness, headache, chest pain, slurred speech, and sometimes fainting. You pass out! Your friend looks at you and…you get the idea. Are you feeling any anxiety yet?

20. The world of Salem was a world in which the powers of demons were rarely questioned. It may be that the girls truly thought that they had seen or were being attacked by evil spirits, and this mental belief began to cause physical symptoms. -- Anthropologists have observed similar possession behavior in many primitive (superstitious) cultures. Clinical hysteria exhibits many of the same kinds of behavior reported by the people of Salem. These “hysterical” behaviors (feelings of choking, being bitten, strange postures, etc.) can emerge in times of severe stress, which the accused townspeople certainly were experiencing. Mysterious Illness Theory Number 1 (Continued)

21. Illness Theory #2 2) The “witches” were suffering from Ergotism –Ergotism is a disorder which comes from eating contaminated rye bread, a bread which was prevalent in Salem –Ergot poisoning causes muscle spasms and vomiting. –Ergot also contains some elements of lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, which can cause delusions and vivid hallucinations.

22. Last Quiz 1)What is psychosis? 2)What may have caused the girls’ psychosis? 3)What is Ergotism? 4)How might the victims have contracted Ergotism? 5)What is a primary symptom of Ergotism? 6)List the four puzzle pieces that complete the Salem Witch Trial Puzzle. 7)Bonus: Complete the following famous witch line from Macbeth: “By the pricking of my thumb, __________ _____________ _______ ________ ________.”