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In the summer of 1692, a mass hysteria broke out in several eastern counties of Massachusets after two young girls claimed they were being tormented by witches. The girls pointed fingers at their tormenters, and set of a chain of events that resulted in more claims of witchcraft and the deaths of many of the accused. The trials themselves sparked a great amount of interest during the period, but the fascination has not stopped in that era. Countless papers, articles and fictional works have been devoted to the subject, ranging from topics such as discussions on what truly caused the madness or to pieces that portray fictional characters involved in the action.

The trials began with two young girls: Betty Parris, daughter of the Reverend Samuel Parris, and her cousin Abigail Williams. They had strange fits, uttered odd things under their breath, crawled under furniture, and claimed to feel as though they were constantly being pricked with pins and needles and pinched. Unable to find any physical signs of their ailments, the cause was determined to be witchcraft, and fingers were soon pointed thereafter.
The first to be accused of being witches were two women from the village, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, and a black slave, Tituba. All three were hanged, but the trials did not end there. Cases of witchcraft in other neighboring counties of Massachusetts began to spring up, and more were arrested and tried. Before the end of the trials came when a group of accused was deemed not guilty, 14 women and 5 men were hung, a man was crushed under stones, 4 died in jail awaiting their trial and verdict, and over 200 others were simply arrested on accounts of witchcraft.

Records of Salem witchcraft, copied from the original documents

Reverend Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather was a Puritan leader in Salem Village during this time period, and played a prominent role in the influencing and descision making of this trial. He gave an account of his happenings in the trial, and this has been seen by some as an attempted revival to bring forth the issue once again. Mather frequently had a hand in the outcome of the trials, and some see his presence as both positive and negative. Mather played a prominent role in all of the happenings, and he had many accusers during his time that pinned him as the culprit responsible for the terrible happenings.
Mather gave his own story of the accounts in The Wonders of the Invisible World, where he provided his personal account of the experiences that took place in Salem Village and the neighboring trial locations.
As a Puritan minister, Mather took a particular interest in witchcraft and the evil workings of the devil, and while he didn't participate directly in the proceedings of the trials, he did play a significant role. It is believed that despite his indirect involvement, he did play a role in turnouts.
Wonders was published in 1692 after the final trials had come to a close.The importance of this work is that it is a self-condemning piece of writing where Mather describes the proceedings in his own words and seems to justify and endorse the proceedings and verdicts of the trial. Of particular interest is the fact that Mather states that his book was not written with a malicious purpose or to do harm, but he gives accounts of some accused witches stating that "little occasion to prove witchcraft, it being evident and notorious to all beholders". He fully endorsed the use of supernatural evidence for conviction, and that is clear in his work.
While he seems to be a thorough proponent of the trails and their proceedings, he states in his foreword that "I live by Neighbours that force me to produce these undeserved lines", which may mean that he wasn't as convinced of the righteousness of the trials as he and others make himself out to be, and this idea provides conflicting views with his stance in the rest of his test which leads to a confusing interpretation on what Mather's true stance actually was.

Strange phenomena of New England: in the seventeenth century: including the "Salem witchcraft," "1692." From the writings of "the Rev. Cotton Mather, D.D." ..

There have been some that gave grave accounts of Cotton Mather's involvement in the trials, and some have labeled him as the sole perpetrator and instigator of these accusations.
Robert Calef brings an important text to the table. It is most natural to assume that the Puritans were at a consensus over the trials, but Calef reveals that not all were endorsing or approving of the proceedings. Calef, a man of Boston, was one of those that sought to expose Cotton Mather. He brought to light that Mr. Burroughs (one of the accused who would later be hung) was a man who disagreed with Mather and his associates views and teachings. When Burroughs recited the Lord's Prayer perfectly, a task that a witch was not supposed to be able to do, there were murmurings amongst the crowd. Mather reminded people that this was a man who had been tried before a court and found guilty of practicing witchcraft.
Calef wrote vehemently against the clergy and Cotton Mather believing that "New England has destroyed thyself, and brought the greatest miseries upon thee".

The wonders of the invisible world displayed In five parts

There have been some that gave grave accounts of Cotton Mather's involvement in the trials, and some have labeled him as the sole perpetrator and instigator of these accusations.
Robert Calef brings an important text to the table. It is most natural to assume that the Puritans were at a consensus over the trials, but Calef reveals that not all were endorsing or approving of the proceedings. Calef, a man of Boston, was one of those that sought to expose Cotton Mather. He brought to light that Mr. Burroughs (one of the accused who would later be hung) was a man who disagreed with Mather and his associates views and teachings. When Burroughs recited the Lord's Prayer perfectly, a task that a witch was not supposed to be able to do, there were murmurings amongst the crowd. Mather reminded people that this was a man who had been tried before a court and found guilty of practicing witchcraft.
Calef wrote vehemently against the clergy and Cotton Mather believing that "New England has destroyed thyself, and brought the greatest miseries upon thee".

The fascination and curiosity associated with the Salem Witch trials has yet to die down. The event has spurred the creation of many fictional works that have been inspired by the event. One of these is a portion of The New England Tragedies, the section entitled "Giles Corey of Salem Farms" in particular. There wasn't any fictional work until this piece by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow came out, creating a renewed interest in the subject. This is a drama, written very much like a Shakespearean work, dwelling on the tragedies that occurred there with a particular emphasis on Giles Corey and his wife, Martha- following from when they were accused, to their trials, all the way to the end for them. While it is merely a fictional work, it did serve to spark a revival of interest in the subject.

The New-England tragedies I. John Endicott. II. Giles Corey of Salem Farms

Arthur Miller's The Crucible

Perhaps one of the most important pieces of literature that has come out of the Salem Witch Trials is that of The Crucible, a drama written in the early 1950s. Miller's play follows the events of the trials while changing a few things. The point of Miller's work was not to tell the story with great historical accuracy, for he changed a great deal of the events and the people involved in order to make them fit the plot of the story. However, the basic historical gist of the witch hunt is there, and that is what Miller focuses on.
The sole motivation for Miller was to write The Crucible as a commentary for the anti-communist proceedings of the government. During this time, the Cold War from the Soviet Union was lurking threat in the back of Americans' minds, and the United States government was blacklisting people for being accused Communists.
Miller spent a week in Salem, learning of the history of the town and the trials and he found that there were striking parallels to the modern-day McCarthy trials put forth by the government. He found that the more he read into the mass hysteria and panic of the Salem trials, the more it reminded him of what was happening- "the old friend of a blacklisted person crossing the street to avoid being seen talking to him; the overnight conversions of former leftists into born-again patriots; and so on."
With what is a remarkably famous historical event, Arthur Miller used it to create an allegory for the testimonies of accused Communists during the Cold-War era.

Why I Wrote "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller

An article relating to Ergot poisoning and the Salem Witch Trials

Historical fiction isn't the only literature that has been produced on the subject; ever since the trials ended, scholars have been asking themselves "why" to come to a final conclusion about what actually caused these cases of madness and the accusations. Some of the most interesting literature produced on the subject has been related to the idea of ergot poisoning, a subject that had been brought to the light by a woman named Linda Caporael.
When Caporael was a college student, she began to notice the similarities between the behavior of those with ergot poisoning and some of the accusers involved in the Salem Witch Trials. Ergot is caused by a fungus called Claviceps purpurea, which primarily affects grain crops such as wheat and rye. The infected grains and easily be confused with darker, larger pieces of grain and can lead to the consumption of these infected pieces. These fungus-filled pieces include potent chemicals called ergot alkaloids, which include lysergic acid, the compound from which LSD is produced.
Those familiar with the effects of ergot poisoning note that the effects caused can include delusions, hallucinations, violent muscle spasms, and crawling sensations on the skin- conditions Caporael noted were listed in the official records from the trial. It is also pointed out that when the trials began, the conditions were wet and swampy. By the time the trials had ended, weather conditions had become much drier. However, the idea of ergot poisoning doesn't account for all aspects of the accuser's behavior, since there were definitely some that were following the leads of the initial accusers.
While it isn't like most works produced out of interest in the trials, the scientific papers on ergot poisoning provide an interesting perspective and explanation as to what set the events in motion.

Ergotism and the Salem Witch Trials

Although they occurred over 300 years ago, the Salem Witch Trials continue to spark interest among many, spurring the creation of literary fictions and dramas, and probing the start of scientific investigations that continue to rivet and intrigue everyone familiar with the happenings.

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