Riggy
Coward Posts: 10 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 6/4/2002 at 08:31 AM |
Okay, guys... iīm not doing a project for school or anything... itīs just
that three of my ancestors (Mary Easty, Sarah Cloyce, and Rebecca Nurse)
were accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials and two were hung
(Mary and Rebecca); so iīm just wondering... what do you guys think caused
it? OR if you have any other thoughts/comments on the subject. ____________________ I haven't lost my mind. I KICKED it out a long time ago. |
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DarkTigress
Member Posts: 104 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 6/4/2002 at 04:04 PM |
Actually I have no idea what could have been the starting point to it. As
we learn in social class, many leaders pointed their fingers at something
for society to hate and pursue, so that the people wouldnīt think about
what the leaders were doing and start to complain. Perhaps it were
something like that. Then the human nature came into play...
mass-hysteria... ignorance... I donīt really know. I do think
people am the same today though. Many things can be compared with the īwith
huntī... just look at WW2 in example... maybe even the whole terrorist
attacks and the war after can be compared to it. The only thing I know for
sure is that is scares me that humans can act like that. ____________________ ~The World Can Continue It's Excistence Without Mankind... But What Happens
To The Mankind When The Earth Is Gone?~ |
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Dolorosa
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 856 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 6/4/2002 at 06:33 PM |
If Iīm not mistaken, it actually started with Botany...yes, botany my
friends, an insidious plot by the vegetable kingdom to slowly destroy us
all...no seriously. They had rye fields around Salem at the time, and
theirs this stuff that grows on rye when itīs in a moist environment, itīs
called ergot or something. No shit, the stuff makes you go ape-shit,
hallucinate and act erratically. I think itīs started with a little
accidently ingested Ergot, someone thought they saw something, and like
mankind usually does...just went with the flow after that. Big fucking case
of the "mistakes". ____________________ In the valley of the Goats, the Goat Fucker is King |
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Devin
Administrator Posts: 317 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Online
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posted on 6/4/2002 at 07:14 PM |
Yep - that was what I learnt about it. The stuff has about the same effect
as LSD - and you can imagine what those stuffy religious fucks were
thinking when their kids started trippin their asses off and saying people
looked like witches, and talking about seeing stuff. Just a normal teenage
experience nowdays but back then mind altering substances were a little
harder to come by. If they would have just relaxed a little about it, weīd
be hearing about the Happytown Love Fest instead of the Salem Witch Trials. ____________________ So Sayeth Me |
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kat_vamp
Occasional Poster Posts: 12 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 6/4/2002 at 10:05 PM |
I am sure that the ergot may have started it for the girls begining to see
things; however, I know that the whole mess became politically oriented
around property and status. The governing officials were out for property,
and the ministers were out for the religious status. It was a good way to
clear the village of what their society would call "bums" as well.
Unfortunately the mess got out of hand, and fortunately it got stopped
before it got any further. You will notice that most of the victims of
these trials (and I did do a paper on it) were widowed, old, single and/or
female. Only one man was cried out on, and he had a wife who was condemned.
So, maybe the girls got a little nuts over some bad bread that a slave gave
them, maybe they spent some time with her and heard her stories (it is
oh-so-easy to blame the slave, now isnīt it) but the fact still remains
that the girls were just as much victims of their times as were the
accused. Blame hormones and an ultra-conservative/overly-religious society
for those poor things. Hysteria and fear. Anyhow, I blame the politicians.
But donīt I always? ____________________ A little shakey but still on our feet. |
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 6/4/2002 at 11:51 PM |
A history buff in middle school and now, let me shed a little light. A group of young girls (of a group of powerful men) were obsessed
with a cuban slave named tituba, who on certain nights would lead the girls
into the woods and taught them "love spells" to lure the boys they liked.
The youngest girl who followed them unbeknownst to the rest of the group,
saw them dancing (forbidden) around a fire (forbidden) and acting like
typical teenage girls (ie: maniacs). She was scared, spotted, and ann
putnam threatened that if she spoke of it, theyīd beat her. So she clammed
up. FOR GOOD. Her catatonia was first seen as a malady, a fever, then
someone suggested she was bewitched. They called in a magistrate, who
examined her, and the girls trying to save face, said she was indeed
bewitched, and that they themselves were being tortured by demons sent by a
witch. Knowing if they were found out to have been dancing *!* in the
woods *!* making "love spells" with the cuban slave they would be whipped
or worse. They blamed tituba, she tried to save herself and said she was
forced into it by the devil sent by someone ELSE, and so on and so on,
basically mass hysteria bred by a sterile uneventfull life, greed, and
bored teenage girls who dug a pit and couldnt get out, so drug as many down
with them as they could. Many of the names were cleared after
death (they even jailed and put on trial a three year old girl and a 90
year old woman, who was hung) Itīs mass hysteria. It started as
"dangerous" fun in the woods that got out of hand, and was perpetuated by
fear, ignorance, drama and greed. Thatīs what I have...there will
never be a totally clear story to it, but I read it straight out of a
historical case study book without elaborate story telling, so Iīm assuming
itīs as close to what happened as can be told. ____________________ Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas. |
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jadedraven
Member Posts: 114 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 7/4/2002 at 11:09 AM |
from what I have heard, along with everyone else, it was a fungus or
something that grew on bread. I find it hard to study the subject for to
long, because it freaks me out, but I know a bit if there is anythign
specific you want ____________________ this is your world in which we grow and we will grow to hate you |
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 7/4/2002 at 08:07 PM |
They actually believe that rye fungus is what spawned the werewolf tales of
europe, in fact. Making people crazy thinking they can turn into wolves,
making people crazy and thinking they can SEE werewolves...or have seen
people changing INTO wolves... Man, not even educated enough to
enjoy the trip...how sad I knew there was a reason I stayed away from drugs... ____________________ Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas. |
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Schizo
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 897 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 8/4/2002 at 08:28 PM |
I read a book that pretty much covered the social/political side of the
story, and shortly after, I happened to see a program on TV about the
medical side.
Their theory was the whole ergot
thing. One thing that bore that out was the practice of making a dog eat a
biscuit soaked in the pee of someone who was afflicted. If the dog
suffered the same symptoms, it was "proof" of witchcraft. Of course, the
pee was chock full of ergot, so of course the poor dog started tripping.
Also, all the afflicted people ate rye from fields on
marshy ground - perfect breeding ground for ergot.
The same sort of thing happened in France, not so very long ago.
Recently enough for some elderly people to remember. Everyone who ate
bread from a certain bakery went off their heads, and some died. Even
then, there was talk of witchcraft.
There was some
really ancient guy that they dug up out of a peat bog in England or
someplace, pretty much perfectly preserved. They had slit his throat and
bashed him over the head. They examined the contents of his stomach, or
something, and found traces of ergot. So apparently they were
witch-hunting even then,
Politically, things were
pretty much split between the farmers (who wanted to separate from Salem
and form their own town) and the merchants (who were dependent on Salem for
their livelihood.) Apparently the minister for that region of Salem was
anti-separating, while most of the people in his congregation were pro.
But the most powerful people sided with the minister, even though they were
outnumbered. The split seemed to run along the same lines as the bad rye
fields. So when the sickness broke out, the political split (and the
anti-witchcraft sentiment) helped things to get way, WAY out of hand.
Funny how Salem has become this big witchcraft center,
even though chances are there werenīt even any real witches involved in the
whole shindig! ____________________ "You can tell by the scars on my arms and the cracks in my hips and the
dents in my car and the blisters on my lips that I'm not the carefullest of
girls." - Dresden Dolls, "Girl Anachronism" |
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Anonymous
Posts: 116 Registered: 14/4/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 16/4/2002 at 07:34 AM |
Yeah, iīve heard those ones before (Iīm kinda obsessed with reading about
the trials! :-) ). Thanks for writing too, you guys... i like hearing what
people think. Hey Schizo, i think i saw that movie, too! Was it on PBS? ____________________
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jadedraven
Member Posts: 114 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 16/4/2002 at 12:56 PM |
I read a book although it is fiction, I am quite sure that it had a basis
in reality about the whole fungus thing, it is by Robin Cook (former doctor
turned medical horror/thriller writer) anyway, it is fun for a light
read...I donīt remember the title, but it shouldnīt be that hard to find. ____________________ this is your world in which we grow and we will grow to hate you |
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Sardonic-Pain
Fanatic Posts: 248 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 16/4/2002 at 06:38 PM |
Iīm not trying to be a bytch or anything..I take that back anywho. I have
done lots of research on the Salem Witch trails. This year my Skoolīs
production was Authur Millerīs The Crucible which is based on the true
story of John Proctor and the rest of them. I had to do all kinds of
background information cause I was the Stage manager and was in charge of
the sets and all that good stuff as well as helping with character
development.
I find it very hard to believe that your ancestors are Mary Easty Sarah and
Rebecca Nurse sense all of them were not related by blood. If Iīm not
mistaken Rebecca Was hung because she didnīt sign a statement saying that
she compacted with the devil blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda........I
dunno I could be wrong but from all the research that Iīve done and all the
reading that I have done Those three were in the same area of town
convicted of witchcraft but were not blood related.....
Could be just my information was wrong....but hey you could be right......
____________________ My Life is like a porno-Without the sex-Just the weird music |
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jadedraven
Member Posts: 114 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 16/4/2002 at 10:49 PM |
I kind of agree due to one to many ppl trying to convince me that they are
related to this famous dead person or that famous dead person, I always
tend to take it with a grain of salt, not that I am saying this person
would lie, just that i am a bit skeptical about certian things ____________________ this is your world in which we grow and we will grow to hate you |
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Zander
Occasional Poster Posts: 22 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 16/4/2002 at 11:40 PM |
given the fact that the people at this time were not as sexualy liberal as
we are now,
most likely hints at a motive for getting carried away. the acused would
have to be examined by a priest. i fear that i was tortured on the rack in
another lifetime. that could have been the spanish inquisition though.
see if there were indians in salem it would have been a hippie fest.
indians know there hallucinegens. ____________________ You can do more with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word.
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kat_vamp
Occasional Poster Posts: 12 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 18/4/2002 at 10:54 AM |
Again, Bette, I agree with what you researched; I found out much of the
same thing in my research as well. However...whoīs to say that the ergot
mayīve been involved as well? It was all happening arond the same time.
However, I beleive (if memory serves me) that Salem was the last real
"Trial" of the whole witch-craze period. Anyhow, I do know that things
usually involve more than one element, and that part of the whole
burning-times hysteria was religio-politically oriented. I am sure that the
same element became involved in Salem as well, humans being humans. :roll:
____________________ A little shakey but still on our feet. |
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