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==Reports of witchcraft==

==Reports of witchcraft==

The catalyst for the fears that led to the trials was a black woman from Barbados - Tituba. She was a slave in the household of Reverend Samuel Parris, the village preacher. She had entertained Reverend Parris' daughter Betty (9 years old) and her cousin Abigail Williams (11 years old) during the winter of 1692 with stories from her life in Barbados, which apparently involved some sort of magic. It is believed she began demonstrating this magic to the girls, and some of their friends who had joined the group. Knowing these activities were forbidden by their religion, the girls felt guilty - it is then that they began the witchcraft hysteria.

The catalyst for the fears that led to the trials was an Indian woman from Barbados - Tituba<ref> She was NOT a black; Hansen (1974).</ref>. She was a slave in the household of Reverend Samuel Parris, the village preacher. She had entertained Reverend Parris' daughter Betty (9 years old) and her cousin Abigail Williams (11 years old) during the winter of 1692 with stories from her life in Barbados, which involved some sort of magic. She began demonstrating this magic to the girls, and some of their friends who had joined the group. Knowing these activities were forbidden by their Puritan religion, the girls felt guilty - it is then that they began the witchcraft hysteria.

The girls began to exhibit strange behavior - they said strange things, screamed, threw things, crawled under furniture, complained of being pricked and cut by invisible pins and knives, and covered their ears during Reverend Parris' preaching as if it hurt them to hear it. The Reverend described their antics as "beyond the power of epileptic fits or natural disease to effect" - naturally, when the village doctor (William Griggs) could not find out what was wrong with them it was assumed that they had been bewitched.

The girls began to exhibit strange behavior - they said strange things, screamed, threw things, crawled under furniture, complained of being pricked and cut by invisible pins and knives, and covered their ears during Reverend Parris' preaching as if it hurt them to hear it. The Reverend described their antics as "beyond the power of epileptic fits or natural disease to effect" - naturally, when the village doctor (William Griggs) could not find out what was wrong with them it was assumed that they had been bewitched.

==Further reading==

==Further reading==

* Boyer, Paul, and Stephen Nissenbaum. ''Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft'' (1974), classic social history

* Boyer, Paul, and Stephen Nissenbaum. ''Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft'' (1974), classic social history

 

==External links==

==External links==