What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria?

Some scientists say that ergot poisoning caused all of the hysteria. In Linda Caporael’s article, Ergotism: the Satan Loosed in Salem?, it says that ergot grows on a lot of different cereal grains, especially rye. Rye was a main source of food during the time period of the trials. Ergot grows especially well in warm, damp, rainy springs and summers, which was what the climate was like at that time. Some symptoms of ergotism are hallucinations, mania, psychosis, etc. All of these symptoms were recorded during the Salem trials.

Land-ownership also could have caused the hysteria. In The Enduring Vision, the richest Salem residents lived on the eastern side of the village. The poorer residents lived on the western side. The eastern side had richer soil and benefited from Salem Town’s flourish, since the town was closer to that side. The western half had less fertile soil, and was segregated from Salem Town. In the book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, written by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, there is a map that shows where the accusers, accused, and accused witches lived. Most of the accusers lived on the west side, and most of the accused and the witches lived on the east side. Some historians believed this is because the accusers wanted the accused hanged so that their lands could be taken, since it was fertile and closer to Salem Town.

Another possibility is that the “afflicted girls”, four teenagers, faked being tortured by a witch. Teenage girls were the lowest level in the social classes of Salem. In the book Salem Witchcraft, written by Charles W. Upham, it says it is possible that because of being looked down upon, they could have wanted to be famous and faked it all. After seeing how successful their plan was, they continued. It was recorded that once or twice they messed up, but were not caught because everyone was confused.

There are many more possibilities as to why the residents of Salem Village became hysterical. Because we have no proof that proves that one specific scenario could have been the reason, we may never know what really caused the Salem Witch Trials.