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This table shows what the accusers martial status/age/gander was. (click on it to make it bigger)

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Quote from Sarah Goode, an accused witch

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Quote from Sarah Goode, an accused witch

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" I am no more a witch than you are a wizard. If you take my life away , God will give you blood to drink."

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Symptoms of Hysteria vs. Ergot poisoning

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Symptoms of Hysteria vs. Ergot poisoning

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This table shows how similar hysteria and ergot poisoning are. Ty are so close that Ergot has been found to cause Hysteria!

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In conclusion, in my opinion I believe that the most likely cause of The Salem Witch Trials was ergot poisoning. I came to my conclusion due to many pieces of evidence. These pieces of evidence include; that all the accusers lived close together making the poisoning of a food supply probable,  ergot poisoning could have caused the hysteria the accusers claimed to have, ergot poisoning is common in teen females and that was the common time of accusers, and lastly, ergot poisoning grows on rye and that was the puritans main food source.

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Document C is written by Cotton Mather who was a colonial intellectual. He was very trusted  in the puritan population and whatever he said was believed as fact. Mather claimed that evil spirits were the cause of the trials. This disproves my claim because Mather comes to a totally different claim than what I've decided. In order to come to the conclusion of egotism as the cause of the trials, modern day science would be needed. Although, the evil spirit claim might have been accurate for the time period but, today we now we know that evil spirits probably did not cause the trials.

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Document E is a table showing what percentage of the accusers were female/male , which ones were single/ married/ widowed, and their age. This table supports my claim because the most common type of accusers was a single female who was 16-20 years old. This supports my claim because the people who were the most susceptible to ergot poisoning were female in their teen years. 23 out of the 29 accusers were in their teens and 27 out of 29 accusers were female. In conclusion, because more accusers were female and in their teens then any other group, it proves that ergot poisoning is very probable.

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Document N is an article written by Linda Corporal about Egotism in Salem in 1692. This article provides many key details about egotism  and how it could connect to the Salem Witch Trials. This paper makes two points, ergot grows on rye and, the symptoms of ergot poisoning match what the accusers complained about. It is important that Ergot grows on rye because the colonists main crop was rye. This means it would be very probable for them to  have consumed the ergot. The other point that the article makes is that the symptoms of the accusers that was believed to be witchcraft matches up perfectly to the mold symptoms. In conclusion ergot mold has a lot of evidence that supports that it was the cause of the  Salem Witch Trials

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Who~ A group of Puritans
What~ The Salem Witch Trials
Where~ The Salem Village in the New World
When~ It started on September 19,1692 and ended in the summer months of 1692.
Why~ This question is still up in debate but,this padlet will clearly explain some of the main theories to you.
The Salem Witch Trials left sixteen Puritans hanged, others dead in jail, and one pressed under rocks in 1620. Horrible events occurs such as little girls driven to madness, shrieking and hollering that witches were tormented them. Doctors could not save them from these fits so the town of Puritans turn to the thought that Satan was attacking their village through witches. People of all age and=d gender were tried for sorcery and 24 were found guilty and died. The whole event still baffles historians today, leaving them with the question of, what caused the Salem Witch Trials.

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Document H is an article written by James Davidson and Mark Lytle. The article is written about hysteria and how the authors believed hysteria was the cause of the Salem Witch trials. Although this article does not come to the same conclusion that I came to it does support my claim. This supports my claim because ergot poisoning can cause hysteria. Hysteria is a psychological disorder that can cause hallucinations, amnesia , and overall pain. Ergot has been found to cause this disorder along with other mental illnesses. In conclusion this article states that Hysteria was the cause of the Trials and this supports my claim because hysteria is a symptom of ergot poisoning.

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Document I is a map of the Salem Village in 1692. The thing that makes this map special is that it shows where the people who accused witches live and where accused witches lived. This supports my claim that ergot poisoning could have caused the outbreak because the map showed that the accusers lived close to each other, therefore they all probably ate from the same food supplies. If the food supplies was infected with ergot mold it would explain why all of the people who went insane lived on one side of the village. In conclusion, the proximity of the accusers in a huge detail because the food supply would be the same.

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I believe that ergot mold is the main cause for the Salem Witch Trials.

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This map shows where the accused witches and their accusers lived in the village. The squares represent the accusers and the triangles represent the accused.

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Ergot is a poisonous mold that grows on cereal grains, especially rye.  Ergot needs moist and humid springs and summers to grow but, will die off once the air turns cols.  Ergot spreads very easily and naturally and can affect whole crops at one time.
Ergot poisoning affects the  victims nerves and can cause; trembling, shaking, muscle contractions/spasms, confusion and delusions, and last but not least hysteria. Ergot is not a disease and cannot be caught, but instead has to be consumed(usually through the mouth).

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This photo features a big colony of ergot mold that could have grown in the Puritans food supply.