The aforementioned ignorance was largely attributed to members of the village, who were virtually unlearned in matters concerning the dark side of religion, and who were ingrained with superstition. In their lifetimes, many of these people, raised with that superstition, had been exposed to similar “witch hunts” in their native lands. History has shown us that England had its own share of witch scares only a few years earlier (1645), and it is highly likely that many of the citizens of Salem could recall several instances of witch hunts in their youth, or at the very least, had been told tales of such occurrences by relatives. In addition, since it is only human nature for people to fear what they do not understand, anyone who appears different from what is considered normal, are instantly viewed with suspicion and sometimes, terror.
Many of the alleged “witches” were practitioners of the healing arts. In fact, some of them had, ironically, delivered the babies of those who accused them. Others were different in that they were unnaturally outspoken, or had committed menial crimes or offenses. However, many of the accused were normal, everyday citizens, who had committed no crime, except possibly being linking with an opposing faction in the already-divided community, or alienating a neighbor for some misunderstood action.
The Puritan religion was such that it induced this fear of the unknown, especially in religious matters. From their pulpits, ministers who were fearful of losing their spiritual control, denounced everything from the use of spirits to the practice of using the cycles of the moon to dictate planting times. The fear of the devil and his methods of ensnaring unsuspecting souls was a constant topic of sermons. Layered atop this was the Puritan belief that one was held accountable to God for the unchristian actions of their brothers and sisters, and this belief served to make church members fearsome of anything which had so much as the appearance of evil. Many believed that those who subscribed to other faiths, such as Quakers, Catholics and heathens, were “doing the Devil's work,” and this contributed greatly to the accusations brought against many of those charged with the crime of witchcraft who were members of opposing faiths.
The trials, themselves, would chill the soul of any modern-day attorney. Many of the accused were convicted merely on spectral evidence, and some were denied the “luxury” of defending themselves, except at the hanging tree. The accused were charged with everything from causing illness or death to man and animals, form changes, and effecting the failure to crops, to using “poppets” (essentially, voodoo dolls) to torment their neighbors. Some of those condemned were convicted on the fact that their bodies sported a mole (one of the so-called “signs” if witchery - this being the spot where their familiars might take nourishment). Some of the accusations were even brought against parents by their children, although one of these incidents backfired on the child and she, too, was imprisoned along with her mother. Many of the charges were brought against women by other women. Why this is so, continues to remain a mystery, unless it was from jealousy.
It is this author's summation that in the beginning, the Parris children, exposed to the religious practices of their African housekeeper, Tituba, combined with their own strict, religious upbringing, somehow managed to convince themselves that there were in their midst many who were not playing the game of life fairly - some who were using the “dark arts” to manipulate the world around them.
Tituba, a practicer of voodoo, evidently did not help the situation any by encouraging them in their misguided pursuits. Once the children learned that their actions brought them a great deal of attention (which children did not usually get in those days), the entire thing became a game, which quickly escalated into a horrible affair. From a vast array of research, it appears that neither Rev.
Parris nor the children ever intended that anyone should die, but that the accused (hopefully, some of his opponents) should merely be banished from the settlement. This would have aided him in the removal of those who opposed him, thereby enabling him to regain his original control. Tituba had her own sinister reasons for encouraging the children in their pursuits: she found a method of retaliation directed towards her white owners for enslaving her. Thus, the situation quickly got out of hand once others began accusing their neighbors because of certain civil or social wrongs that had been committed against them, or because of the accused persons' converse religious beliefs, their methods for earning a living, or a myriad of other far-fetched rationalizations.
At any rate, it appears from what has heretofore been presented, that there were, not one, but many conditions which contributed to the Salem Witchcraft Scare, and this combination served to cause the deaths of fourteen innocent people, as well as the ruination of many lives. Salem Village was blessed, indeed, when Cotton and Increase Mather appeared to put a halt to this ridiculous situation in time to save God-knows-how-many-more innocent people from the hangman's noose.
