In the small town of Salem, Massachusetts in spring of 1692, the Reverend Parris got his daughter and some other girls being told fortunes by Tituba. The Girl were excited about these fortunes, but the excitement soon got out of hand. They began to have dillustional fits. Some village girls began to cry out the names of townfolk by whom they had been bewitched. It didn't take long for mass hysteria to spread and for dozens of people to be imprisoned. Some theories say that the girls were crying out for the sake of amusing themselves and to get attention. Other theories say that an attack of meningitis, or some other viral infection, was spreading through the Salem area, which caused the teenaged girls to become dillusional.
Of those tried in court, the ones which denied any practice of witchcraft were automatically sentenced to hang. Those who confessed were thought to possibly be able to redeem themselves, and remained in prison. Some were lucky enough as not to hang. In one case, Giles Cory, was crushed to death with boulders under the penalty "peine forte et dure".
It is sad to think that over 125 innocent people were imprisoned, 19 hanged, and one crushed to death because of this misunderstanding. Unfortunately, this is nothing compared to what happened in Europe during the Burning Times. Nevertheless, may the Salem Witch Trial be a lesson to all of us that ignorance and intolerance are deadly weapons.
