Crucible by Erin Kliesch

99059085 — 2024-11-15 18:55:24 UTC

The belief of witchcraft comes from the Puritans and their belief of Satan as an entity. They believed Satan was out to destroy their "City On A Hill." and believed he came to earth in the form of sickness, disease, and illness. They also believed in the thought that Satan would recruit witches to aid him with the use of witchcraft

99059085 — 2024-11-15 19:01:24 UTC

The term "witch hunt" refers to the targeting of a person or a group who either have unorthodox ideas, or don't fit the social norms. The term comes from the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, where many would accuse mass amounts of (most of the time) women of witchcraft with no real basis for the claims.

99059085 — 2024-11-15 19:08:20 UTC

Also called Mass Psychogenic Illness, is a psychological phenomenon that initials the spread of an epidemic hysteria among a group of people. Basically when a group of people experience similar symptoms with no clear cause. Most of the time, Mass hysteria refers to when a group of people experience symptoms of an what would appear to be an illness. But there times in history where Mass hysteria has appeared in the form of psychological distress, with one example being the Dancing Plague of 1518. Mass hysteria is thought to be a cause of the witch trials.

99059085 — 2024-11-15 19:14:04 UTC

The Puritans were English Protestants from the 16th and 17th century who fled England in search for religious freedom. They had their own system of belief, "Puritanism." Puritanism entailed that God has "elected" people who will go to heaven since birth. Puritanism is deeply rooted in misogyny, which is the reason why so many people think that Puritanism was also a cause of the witch hunt, As most of the accused were either young girls, teenage girls, grown women, or old ladies.

99059085 — 2024-11-15 19:18:09 UTC

Trials were held against the accused. Most of the time, women were tested if they were witches by the use of bodily harm or torture. A popular way to see if someone was a witch was to tie them down and throw them into a body of water. If they sunk, they were human. But if they were a witch, they would float. During trials held in a court, "spectral evidence" was really the only basis the accused had to go off of. Spectral evidence is supposed evidence that only the accuser was able to see.