I do not know what is the medical condition of the two girls who showed peculiar behavior, which initiates witch trial.
Is it hysteria? or some other neurological disease?Witch trial?
"In the village of Salem surrounded by 1692, Betty Parris, age 9, and her cousin Abigail Williams, age 11, the daughter and niece (respectively) of Reverend Samuel Parris, fell victim to what be recorded as fits "beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or unconscious disease to effect," according to John Hale, minister in Beverly, surrounded by his book A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (Boston, 1702). The girls screamed, threw things just about the room, uttered strange sounds, crawled under furniture, and contorted themselves into peculiar positions. They complained of anyone pricked with pins or cut near knives, and when Reverend Samuel Parris would preach, the girls would cover their ears, as if dreading to hear the sermons. A doctor, historically assumed to be William Griggs, could find no physical evidence of any ailment."
Current idea ascribes their behavior to likely hysteria. Considering the Puritans' convictions that women be subservient to men and children were the lowest on the social totem-pole, and given that the men of this society spent long hours preaching hellfire and brimstone to the women (who be thought to be naturally lustful and specifically subject to the devil's influence, I think hysteria might be a logical conclusion. I know I'd abhorrence being yell at and called a sinner for hours and hours at a time, 7 days a week.
Read the connect below for the entire story.
the afflictions that caused the mass hysteria surrounded by salem were related to mold that grew on the rye that be kept in the clammy and dark pantries.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
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