The sleepy town of Salem, Massachusetts was once home to one of the most terrifying events in our nation's history: The Salem Witch Trials. First settled in 1626, Salem quickly became a haven for Puritans, as well as a predominant seaport in early America. As one can see from this particular painting of the town, Salem was a typical early New England town, picturesque, quiet and rooted deeply in its religious values. However, by the end of the 17^th century, it would play host to a series of events which would forever change the town and its inhabitants.

The Salem Witch Trials were put into motion by a series of events and accusations well before the actual trials began in the spring of 1962. Earlier that year, two children, Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris, were noted as exhibiting odd behavior: strange fits and unexplained anger. While it would appear that they acted simply out of boredom and curiosity, the two were thought to be afflicted by bewitchment. This accusation was not taken lightly. The family of the young girls then identified several people as having been the culprits of their new affliction. Soon after, the town erupted into accusations, as friends and families turned on one another in order to spare themselves from prosecution.

As one can see from this particular image, the Salem Witch Trials often led to heated court hearings and lengthy testimonials. Due to the serious nature of such a crime, the matter of conviction was not taken lightly. After all, bewitchment was a felony and punishable by death. The Salem courts soon became host to countless examinations, as citizens began making claims of their own neighbors' guilt in hopes of escaping punishment. With such rampant panic spreading across the settlement, the trials became synonymous with absolute guilt and almost-certain death.

This particular volume contains original documents written by Increase Mather, a minister and judge who presided over the Salem trials. In it, Mather makes a case against the hysteria which seemed to growing around the trials. While he did offer his support to the judges involved, he still held that court officials should be wary against accepting “spectral evidence”, including dreams and visions, in testimonies. In doing so, he hoped that he would be able to assuage the people of Salem and calm the growing tension which marked the trials. In this text, Mather writes his feelings on the seemingly unjust sentencing of countless individuals by saying: “It were better that Ten Suspected Witches should escape, than that one Innocent Person should be Condemned.”

Over the years, leading researchers have struggled to gain greater insight into the events which led up to the Salem Witch Trials, in order to better understand the reasons for its somewhat strange and sudden occurrence. Many historians feel that the trials were simply a product of a rather strict adherence to Puritan law and belief. Their belief system produced a sort of theocracy, allowing for the church to rule in cases of civil law. This, coupled with the fact that Puritan beliefs include the idea of an “invisible world” between inhabited by God, angels, and evil spirits capable of inhabiting man, it is no surprise that Salem became the host of the world's most infamous witch hunt.

Still, other researchers hold that the trials were simply a product of various social and economic problems within the community. As households began to increase in size, many families were forced to produce more crops in order to survive. Doing so, however, required encroaching on others' lands. Feuds between families soon arose, and some historians attribute this bitterness and greed to explain why countless innocent people were put on trial.

In recent years, however, another compelling argument has been brought up to explain the widespread hysteria which seemed to grip Salem in the summer of 1692: ergot poisoning. Due to the limitations of technology at the time, rye and wheat were stored in rather unsanitary conditions and left in open air barns. By doing so, the citizens of Salem were unknowingly growing a fungus commonly known as ergot, which has similar properties to LSD. After ingesting the ergot (which would have been used in baking rye bread), people would have suffered from vivid hallucinations or delusions, mania, psychosis, and even muscle spasms. Such responses to the ingestion of tainted rye bread are all listed as symptoms of bewitchment during the trial.