In the February of 1692, eight women exhibited symptoms of witchcraft. The girls had
muscle spasms, delusions, seizures, contortions, and hallucinations. As the housekeepers, women worked closest to flour. When making dinner, they handled flour with their bare hands as they always had. The winter of 1691 had a high amount of moisture leading to the potential growth of ergot. Ergot is a fungus that grows on rye which thrives in wet conditions such as swamps and marshes. According to Leela Mundra, “The trials began when several young girls in Salem, Massachusetts, fell ill and developed unexplained symptoms, including temporary blindness, skin lesions, convulsions, and hallucinations. The local doctor, unsure of the etiology of their sickness, diagnosed the girls as having bewitchment, a clinical judgment that led to the persecution and subsequent prosecution of the accused individuals.” When consumed, ergot is known to cause symptoms similar to what the women accused of witchcraft were said to have: delusions, seizures, muscle spasms, and contortions. Conveniently, the eight women with the initial symptoms lived in the marsh area of Salem. The summer of 1692 was extremely hot and dry, and the symptoms suddenly ended, along with the witch hunt. So it seems obvious that food poisoning is the cause of the witch crisis, but if the witchcraft symptoms were food poisoning, why were women the only ones accused of witchcraft? While some men were infected, women used the scare as an opportunity. The false accusations on women during the Salem Witch Trials can be explained as attacks upon women who strayed from their societal expected gender roles.
Religion played a major part in the Salem Witch trials and the treatment of women. At
this time, the church believed magic and alchemy was the work of the devil. Religion was the center of the government and all societal institutions, so straying from religion was considered dangerous and malignant. To be accused of straying from christianity was damaging to social relationships, relationships in the church, and job opportunities for friends and family, so witchcraft and devil’s work proved to be the greatest accusation one could make to create a social outcast. Friendships were destroyed from an accusation lacking evidence, and family members were shunned. The majority of religious folk at the time believed that men could turn back to God before they were drawn in by the devil and women were believed to have bonded with the devil and were more susceptible to sin. This belief was not new, as the stories of Adam and Eve and Pandora’s box both show how in other points in history women were believed to be inherently more evil. The puritans were the only group that did not agree with European viewpoint that women were more capable of evil than men were, and only few sects of Christianity even allowed for women to have positions in the church; this rare position was the highest honor a woman could have. Traveling female preachers could never have a permanent home due to the ridicule they faced from town members. At the time, public speaking was considered to be un-feminine, and so their sexuality was questioned, proving hard for them to return to expected gender roles.
From a young age, males were taught that they must be educated, be active in the
community, participate in government, own property, and maintain a family. The whole emphasis of their life was to have power, both in society and in their private lives with their families. They were expected to control the behaviors of their families. Male children were given the privilege to leave the house while female children had to stay in and do household chores. Women were expected to be housewives and mothers. “By age 13 girls were expected to share in all tasks that were expected of adult women.” “Women’s work” consisted of weaving, cleaning, and spinning. Women who did not follow the expected roles were dangerous to the foundations the society was built on. Women with power took away sense and purpose from men, and thus created insecurity. This lead to harsh treatment of women by husbands who felt they were incapable of keeping control of their wives. The poor treatment also affected the slave women. Women who caught their husbands doing something that they did not want the rest of the town to find out due to reputation accused their slaves. Slaves who were being beaten by their masters gave false testimony to get away from their masters. An indian slave girl named Tituba is one of the names that was documented, but there were others like her. “Tituba later recanted her confession, saying that she had given false testimony in order to save her life. She claimed "that her Master did beat her and otherways abuse her, to make her confess and accuse…her Sister-Witches.”’Most of the social punishments for stepping outside of their guidelines included ridicule and harassment, but occasionally the law would punish them for their actions. This led to the guaranteed punishment of outcast for witchcraft.
While the majority of women met the society standards of housewife, some stepped
outside of the expected behavior. Women became jealous of the freedom that the others had, and so they acted on that jealousy with accusations. “In 1691, a group of girls in Salem, Massachusetts, accused an Indian slave named Tituba of witchcraft.” The girls who accused Tituba did not like her, and felt it necessary to be rid of her by accusing her of witchcraft. Jealousy spread when women noticed the freedom widows had to hold jobs, own properties, and leave the household. The theory that gender roles played such a huge role in the deaths of many can be supported by the percentage of witches of each gender. Approximately 78% of witches were female, and only about 22% accused were male. Men did not play a large role in the trials as neither the accusers nor the accused. Overall, the accusations upon women proved to be effective, because even if a woman won the court case she was still discriminated against by society, and was considered an outcast. During the trials, not many were willing to side with innocent for fear of being accused of witchcraft themselves.
In 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, over 200 people were accused of witchcraft, and 19
executed by hanging. Of the group, 78% of accused were women. While some theories choose to blame the fungus that caused food poisoning, there is more to the story. Women were expected to act and look a certain why, and were heavily influenced by the church’s belief that women were generally more capable of evil than men. Women who saw other women step outside of this belief system and live life outside of their expectations became jealous of the freedom, and took advantage of the mysterious illness. To rid their lives of these free women, they accused them of witchcraft leading to their punishment by law, and for some, death.