Why Were Some New Englanders Accused of Being Witches?

1. What percentage of individuals accused of witchcraft were women? Men? Is there significance to this?

- about 80% of the victims were witches, most of which were over 40 and couldn’t have children anymore, the 20% victims that were men were usually related in some way to the accused witch. The significant in this is that the women were more likely to be accused for mainly two reasons. Women were thought to be weaker than meant mentally as well as physically and could easily be swayed by the devil. Also the men would accuse the women who did something that they didn’t like. Most of the people who were accused were people who stood out, who didn’t stick to the status quote. People who spoke there mind and were bold.

2. Is it significant that Puritans accused neighbors, not strangers, of witchcraft?

- yes because people just wanted to get rid of the people they didn’t like, rubbed them wrong or had something they wanted. Often times, people with money or land were accused because then there property would be divided amongst the people by the sheriff.

3. Do you think people would have still accused each other of witchcraft if the Puritan religion wasn’t so embedded in everyone’s lives?

- I personally think that yes people would still accuse each other of witch craft because the colonist just came from England and in England, witch craft was very real and very very feared by all. The puritans were trying to build a utopia with no blemish like the ones they saw in England and when they found “witches”, they were very afraid because they didn’t want it to effect their community. If they weren’t puritans, something like this could still have happened. If they were catholic, it could have been worse. Maybe if there was no overly zealous religion, that massacre wouldn’t have happened but accusation would always be there

4. Why did Puritans find it necessary to burn alleged witches at the stake? What was the symbolism of this?

- they believed they were sending the witches back to Satan through the fire because they believed that Satan was burning in hell