# data[].attributes.body
During the trials, verifying that a person was actually a witch or a wizard was a serious task. In order to examine a person, they stripped a person down for strange marks and for a 3rd nipple. Some other ways that they examined a suspect was to poke them with a needle in a certain spot to see if they would or wouldn't bleed, along with trying to see if a person would sink or float in water. These processes had extremely high mortality rates and more often than not, it would be safer for a person to just admit that they were a witch than to refuse. Later in the trials, they started questioning their methods when the supposed witches good recite the holy prayer in it's entirety causing large amounts of doubt.

# data[].attributes.body
Rumors were a huge part in why the Salem witch trials went on for so long. Mainly, it was from a few teenaged girls who used their "spectral sight" to call other people out. The Puritans almost treated the girls word like law and of course, theories say that the girls loved the attention. These rumors caused anyone that were called out by the girls to get tried for witchcraft and often times die. Eventually, these girls accusations started to be questioned leading to the decline in the witch trials.

# data[].attributes.body
The Puritans were the people that America evolved and developed from. Their belief system is what fundamentally set up our government today and also what caused the witch trials. Due to their extreme beliefs in God and Satan, going to a new place and seeing unknown things caused them to freak out. The Puritans began to be insecure about themselves and each other turning to Satan as a reason for the things that they found so strange. This is the reason why the Puritans began to accuse their fellow members of witchcraft if they began doing anything out of the ordinary.

# data[].attributes.body
During the cold war, mass hysteria went through all of America due to the threat and fear of Communists. People during that time were throwing neighbors and friends under the bus just because of that fear. This kind of fear has been engrained in the DNA of the USA causing people even today, to try and shut down whatever they don't like. It has caused many citizens to be divided and friendships to end. These kind of problems never end well and eventually will lead to pain and regret once any form of fear and hysteria regresses.

# data[].attributes.body
The Salem witch trials was a very serious thing in the beginnings of America and activities like it have been almost mimicked throughout modern day. This town was filled with mass hysteria caused by their extreme religious beliefs. Due to their beliefs and their lack of knowledge, the Puritans turned on each other assuming that strange behavior meant that either they were a witch or wizard or that a person had been possessed by one. The trials went on without hesitation during that time, not to mention other people chipping into the accusation game not because they actually believed it, but because they didn't like the person that they were trying to accuse. Even in relatively modern day, mass hysteria still existed not from religion, but from war and their fear of the communists.