The witch trials in Salem occurred from May to October 1692. This included a series of investigations and persecutions which resulted to the executions and imprisonment of many people. The trials started after several girls in the Salem village started having hysterical fits and exhibited bizarre behavior. The doctors diagnosed that the girls were suffering from an evil hand (Purdy, 2007). The girls were then pressured to declare who was bewitching them and they accused members of the society. This ignited a series of trial where many were arrested and accused of being witches.

With time even members of the respectable members of the church were accused of being witches.  William Phips, who was the Governor, established the Oyer and Terminer Court to handle the witchcraft crisis. Six months after the establishment of the court, the trial progressed and spread out the whole county. Many people were imprisoned and others were toured to death during questioning. The trials were largely powered by the spectral evidence. This was the claims made by the affected girls. Any claims they made were taken as legitimate evidence. However, when the trial progressed and the girls accused the Governors wife, the court was dissolved. In the years that followed, many people who were involved in the trials apologized to the affected directly or indirectly.

The period of Enlightenment commonly known as The Age of Reason, was a period of religious, social and political revolution that occurred mainly in the 18th century. The Enlightenment changed the feelings of people during this awakening time. It was a deliverance of ignorant actions, thoughts and ideas which had busted away from the uninformed sensitivity of how society was to be maintained and obeyed thus living little room for new ideas about the world and society at large (Purdy, 2007). The Puritan society found that these new ideas of thought were extremely radical as compared to what they believed. They believed that there was a strong rational morality and religion. The Enlightened society had a belief that use of reason could be a channel of social change and demanded political representation which resulted to individualism being widely accepted in the new world (Purdy, 2007).  The Puritan society had strong believes in magic, myth, and religious superstitions which were hugely used by the Puritans before capitalism, democracy, and the scientific revolution gave rise from the Enlightenment period.

From the 17^th century to the 18^th century, many views and arguments regarding the trial were written by scholars. What came out were the rivalries between classes and families. However, different people gave different accounts on to how the atrocities leading to the trial began.

References

Purdy, S. (2007). Conjuring History: The Many Interpretations of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Rivier Academic Journal, 3, 1-18.

 
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