Why Did The Salem Witch Trial Occur

The final evidence that caused the Salem Witch Trial to occur was due to the health problems among the residents. The lives of the Puritans were difficult. They were required to practice religion, and the majority of them had to work on farms. The soils in New England was rocky, which made it hard to grow anything, plus the harsh winter made it more difficult. However, one thing that Colonial Massachusetts were able to grow was Rye. Rye is a type of wheat that many people used to bake bread. Though, the rye that the Puritans grew were consumed with Ergotism. “Ergotism, or long-term ergot poisoning, was once a common condition resulting from eating contaminated rye bread. In some epidemics, it appears that females were more liable …show more content…
One of the most common symptoms was the hallucination. This symptom mostly affects women and children. Although there were other symptoms that were along with this long-term poisoning. Likewise, this relates back to why the Salem Witch Trial occur during 1692. Symptoms started to appear during December 1691. This eventually lead to the beginning of the Salem Witch trial. After eating the contaminated rye bread people started to see things or hear things that are not there. This was concern onto their health issues. People were accusing others about their action due to their own health problem by eating contaminated rye bread. What they thought of seeing or hearing might not be what they actually saw. Sometimes people were able to feel crawling sensation and tingling in the finger that made them feel like they were possessed by something. Eventually, this leads to the reason for why people were accusing others. If the Puritans were more concern about their health problem of what they ate, then there wouldn’t have been people accused because of witchcraft due to the symptoms of Ergotism. In either case, the Puritans were having health problems that affect them to hallucination and have other