![]() ![]() All would await trial for a crime punishable by death in 17th-century New England – the practice of witchcraft. Soon, prisons were filled with more than 150 men and women from towns surrounding Salem their names had been “cried out” by tormented young girls as the cause of their pain. A strong belief in the devil, factions among Salem Village families and rivalry with nearby Salem Town combined with a recent small pox epidemic and the threat of attack by warring tribes created a fertile ground for fear and suspicion. There were the ordinary stresses of 17th-century life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. To understand the events of the Salem Witch Trials, it is necessary to examine the times in which accusations of witchcraft occurred. In addition one man was pressed to death several others died in prison, and the lives of many were irrevocably changed. His diagnosis of bewitchment put into motion the forces that would ultimately result in the hanging deaths of 19 men and women. ![]() William Griggs, the village doctor, was called in when they failed to improve. In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village became ill.
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