This would also explain why the torment continued even after the supposed witch had been put to death. When the oldest girl was outside of the house, she stopped her act until she realized she would be found out, "But on the Twentieth of November in the Fore-noon, she cry'd out, "Ah, They have found me out! I thought it would be so!" And immediately she fell into her fits again," (Mathers 1689:8). Additionally, there are some elements that can actually be described as medical issues, or symptoms of a real physical ailment. The symptoms resembled medical conditions, "the poor child became variously indisposed in her health, an visited with strange Fits, beyond those that attend an Epilepsy or a Catalepsy," (Mathers 2). These symptoms can be associated with seizure disorders or other physical ailments. The immense physical pain seemed to be constant, which could be reminiscent of fibromyalgia.….

Witchcraft in Early Modern England: History
Witchcraft was a serious social problem in early modern England. It was classified as a capital offence, punishable by death. However, how the punishment was executed depended on a number of things, including the individual's status in the society. This text analyzes witchcraft as a crime in early modern England. It illustrates among other things, how the punishment was implemented.

Crime and Punishment in England

Queen Elizabeth 1, on assuming the throne of England in 1558, inherited a number of things, including a judicial system that stretched back to the Anglo-Saxon error. Capital punishment was common at the time, and justice was brutal and swift. Crime and punishment were intertwined with the localized nature of social relations. Criminality could not be disconnected from who the individual was, their social status, their community, or relations to their family. Thus, criminal law violation was seen as a violation of….

crime Junius was accused of was witchcraft. However, testimonial goes into more specific and varied details. Dr. Georg Adam Haan explained he saw the accused about a year and a half ago attending a witch gathering within the electoral council-room. He said he saw the accused drinking.
Hopffens Elsse said the accused was spotted on Haupts-moor attending a witch-dance. The court says his accomplices had confessed and ratted him out. People said they spotted him attending a witch meeting and a witch-dance. They did not say he performed magic. They did not say he put a curse on anyone or was seen casting a spell.

The merely said they saw him quite a while back, attending witch-themed events. This is of course insane because even if he attended these events, he was not seen doing anything wrong. He in fact did not commit a crime. If his "accomplices" were in fact….

In some cases, it seems to be okay to get rid of something or someone as long as those doing the removal believe that the individual was indeed involved in witchcraft.
Throughout the past few hundred years, witchcraft has been prevalent in many cultures. What we do know today is that witches do exist in some manner. They may not be flying through the air on a broomstick or creating fire from their fingertips, but there are people in the world who believe in magic. Those individuals use spells and rituals to try to charm people and fate into going in the direction they choose. Whether or not this is truly a bad thing remains to be seen, but some people feel it is bad and once they set out to rid the world of this evil that they believe is there, they get many followers. If this happens, hysteria….

Salem Witchraft Trials
Salem witchcraft is probably the most fascinating and most talked about subject in the history of the world. How people were accused of being witches and wizards, the trials that ensued, the baseless charges that were made and the hysteria that had gripped Salem in the 17th century have fascinated historians around the globe and most prominently in the United States and Europe and endless researches have been conducted so far. These researches focus on the one troubling question: what gave rise to the witchcraft hysteria and paranoia? Some people it was the simply the invasion of new changes in social values and beliefs that resulted in these tragic events where many were hanged and numerous others were sent to prison. Some believe that the fact that most women in those days were confined to their houses where depressive conditions had had a negative impact on their psyches….

Later most people admitted that they had overreacted to the situation and even Cotton Mather confessed that "errors" had been made in handling this crisis. The chief judge William Stoughton came under attack for his overzealous response to the accusations which led to many innocent deaths and false convictions. e however refused to shoulder any blame for the situation. Samuel Parris also did not accept his role in triggering the hysteria.
offer thus offers a very close and unique explanation of why witchcraft trials ever took place in Salem. e blames the early fragile American law which had no right to counsel clause and which did not offer protection against self-incrimination. Massachusetts had wanted to develop an inexpensive and speedy justice system which only led to more problems as judge played the dominant role and in the case of witchcraft trials, it was the judge freely handing out convictions and….

Rituals and Witchcraft
ody Ritual among the Nacirema by Horace Miner

Different cultures have various ways of looking at the human body and the manifestation of which in the community or society they live in. Some open societies do not mind having people displaying their bodies in public along with accoutrements that add beauty thereto. Other closed societies frown on display of any body parts especially with female members. The Nacirema of North America have a different way of looking at their bodies and for them, "the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease (Miner, 1956)." This is the same belief most cultures have regarding the human body -- the tendency to grow old and get sick, except for the part of being unsightly. The result of this belief by the Nacirema renders them to have various body rituals to ensure cleansing and rehabilitation or….

Salem itch Trials -- Theories and Causes
In the year 1692, a tragedy occurred that is remembered to be one of the most immense disasters of American History. In a small region of Salem village, which is now the now Danvers, MA area, in the home of the provincial minister Samuel Parris, a little girl started acting in s strange predicament. It would not be long before this behavior would be dubbed as witchcraft. Soon, the puzzling behavior extended to other young girls in the community, and ultimately to massive parts of the Bay Colony. The Salem witchcraft frenzy of 1692 had started. The ensuing witch trials had an impact on people all through Essex county, which is where Salem village was at but also Middlesex and Suffolk counties as well, and plus margin parts of the Bay Colony in what is at the moment the state of Maine. Even today,….

European itchcraft

Because the origins of European descendants in America are well-known, as are the origins of Europeans throughout the European continent; it is possible to dispense with that history and to go to the point of the analysis of this essay and examine European witchcraft.

In European studies, the understanding of witchcraft begins with a understanding of language (Clark, Stuart, 1999:3). That is, the "terms in which they were expressed, and the general systems of meaning they presupposed (Stuart, 1999:3), and in what ways the language lends itself to the belief set in overall terms (Stuart, 1999:3).

In consequence, it has been possible to account for witchcraft beliefs (like any others) in only two ways. First, they have been submitted, if only implicitly, to empirical verification to see whether they correspond to the real activities of real people. ith important exceptions, the answer has been 'no.' The entity 'witchcraft' has turned out….

Salem itchcraft Trials that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts reveal a complex component to human behavior. It illustrates how hysteria can operate on many levels. Specifically, we can learn about the growing hysteria of the accused and the hysteria of the members of Salem to do something about these so-called witches.
Mary Beth Norton asserts that in order to understand the witchcraft crisis that erupted in Salem Massachusetts, we much explore the origins of the time and place in which the crisis occurred. hen doing so, we find that Salem was heavily involved with the Second Indian ar, which "dominated public policy and personal decisions alike" (Norton In the Devil's Snare 5). In addition, we must also consider the village itself, as well as Puritan attitudes toward woman.

One critical aspect in understanding the mindset of the Puritans is realizing that they did not have the benefits of science on their side.….

Ergotism & Witchcraft Hysteria in England During the iddle Ages
This paper looks at the witchcraft problems faced in England during the iddle Ages and the arguments used by acfarlane in his book and also those used by Caporael on the possible reason for hallucinogenic properties of ergotism. Discussing the Salem witch-trials as an example and also the trial of England with particular reference to the region of Essex. Bibliography cites five references.

Ergotism and Witchcraft

an has always needed an excuse for unnatural occurrences and death, one of the easiest excuses to arise was that of the accusation of witchcraft, the persecution of witches has been seen as one of the most horrific events in history, known as the "burning times."

European witchcraft emerged only at the end of the iddle Ages, the great witch craze occurred during the renaissance, reformation and ended at the end of the 18th century. During these periods….

Salem itchcraft Scare
The social tensions that influenced the Salem itchcraft Scare were based in politics and social class. Among the group that wanted Salem Village to be independent from Salem proper, were the Putmans, who formed their own church with Samuel Parris as its minister. Many of the wealthiest members of the village were among those who refused to attend meetings at Parris' church, and "refused even to assess taxes for the payment of Parris' 1692 salary" (Pestana 63).

The gender role had particular significance in the itchcraft Scare. Seventy-eight percent of those accused of witchcraft in New England between 1620 and 1725 were female, and roughly half of the accused males were "suspect by association," meaning that they were the "husbands, sons, other kin, or public supporters of female witches" (Pestana 66). hile, women who incriminated themselves were generally punished by death, men who incriminated themselves were whipped or….

supernatural phenomena were associated with everyday life emerged in 15th century Europe and spread to the New World with the influx of European colonists (Bonomi, 2003). Seventeenth century colonists in the New World had been using charms to foster the growth of crops, control the weather, etc. As these beliefs served to provide a sense of control over otherwise uncontrollable conditions for them (Bonomi, 2003). However, the notion of dark magic was also prevalent during this time and the notion that demons and evil spirits could possess people were common superstitions in the New World during this period (Bonomi, 2003). The Salem witchcraft trials did not represent the first time people were executed for witchcraft in the world; however, these particular incidents have endured over time to represent the mindset of individuals during the time period as well as serving as a type of metaphor for types of accusations….

Witchcraft in the 16th & 17 Centuries: Response to Literature
At first glance, a logical 21st Century explanation for the "witch craze" (also known as a witch-hunt) during the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe was based largely upon human ignorance. That is to say, the belief that a sub-culture of the general population performed witchcraft (and other magic-related phenomena), and ate the flesh of children, helped the unenlightened explain the unexplainable, and helped the ignorant deal with the darkness. Witchcraft seemingly established a reason that a person had that bad luck and it explained illnesses, and probably it helped explain natural calamities such as tornadoes, seismic catastrophes and sudden killer bolts of lightning or sheets of rain turned into disastrous flooding. Or it could even explain a stillborn child and a puppy with a broken leg. Somebody put a spell on that poor dog. Mysterious events that had no apparent….

Wicca
There can be no exhaustive or authoritative sources that can trace Wicca back through ancient times. Wicca is mainly a manifestation of ancient systems of nature worship in the 20th century that is based out of northern Europe that has been in existence for thousands of years ago. Wicca is basically a religion that is rooted in the mist of Neolithic history which can be termed as fertility and agrarian society. Wicca is a nature worship religion and subsequent interaction with nature which is dissented from that practice by the Celtic clans that were found in the Western Europe as well as the indigenous people of British Isles. Therefore it is one of the mainstreams of indigenous earth spirituality that is found in European culture.

Wicca has its origins from the Celts and other people that lived in the area which is known as Great Britain. The Wiccans celebrate the earth….