Salem/European Witch Trials Compared to the Mccarthy Hearings

The evidence of witchcraft and related works has been around for many centuries. Gradually, though, a mixture a religious, economical, and political reasons instigated different periods of fear and uncertainty among society. Witchcraft was thought of as a   connection to the devil that made the victim do evil and strange deeds.   (Sutter par. 1) In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth century, the hysteria over certain causes resulted in prosecution in the Salem Witch Trials, European Witchcraft Craze, and the McCarthy hearings. These three events all used uncertain and unjustly accusations to attack the accused.





The Salem witch trials in Massachusetts Colony lasted from 1692 to early 1693. Even before the witchcraft trials, Salem Village   was not exactly known as a bastion of tranquillity in New England.   (Sutter par.2) There was a population of over six hundred that was divided into two main parts; those that wanted to separate from Salem Town and those that did not. They divided themselves into the eastern and western parts of the town. With this tension and   an unfortunate combination of economic conditions, congregational strife, teenage boredom, and personal jealousies,   (Oliver par. 2) Salem became unstable. When Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams, Reverend Samuel Parris\'s daughter and niece, started to exhibit strange behavior   including convulsive seizures, screaming, and trances,   (Oliver par. 2) and the doctor declared that the girls were under the influence of the devil, the townspeople believed him. This could be because there was an Indian War ranging less than seventy miles away, and with many refugees from the war were in that area, that   the thought that the devil was close at hand was possible.   (Oliver par. 5) From then on, the accusations were everywhere.   Neighbors accused neighbors of witchcraft, and the fright was mounting.   (Sutter par. 4) The accused were mostly women, and to make them confess, different methods of...