this is for part of my research paper...
I need some sites and stuff...
thanx :)
2006-12-04 14:18:11 · 4 answers · asked by teenqueen198 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
There is a basic human desire for witch hunts (read Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Goodman Brown") that will always be with us, someone to blame everything bad on, heap our own sins on, blame for all our problems, and no one dares challenge it for fear they will be next on the list ("political correctness"). Plus, such activity had the blessing of King James, leader of the Anglican church who demanded sworn loyalty of every subject (my ancestor refused and was booted out of Plymouth colony) and reviser of the Bible, who did at least order that the practice of burning Quakers stop but "suffer not a witch to live." It basically was a sacrificial offering of human life, an ironic contradiction that people claiming Christianity were making a pagan ritual like their ancient ancestors used to do when they built giant wicker statues and filled them with living flesh. It was a means of these leaders maintaining their absolute power, the same as the nazis sending Jews to the ovens, showing what they would do to any who dare defy their will.
2006-12-04 14:34:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are speaking of the Salem witch trials (and there were many in England and throughout Europe before) - From the book A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans(Jeffrey B. Russell) (P) 1980 -- "The father of one the girls was Samuel Parris, the minister of Salem Village. Parris called in a physician, but the doctor, unable to discern any physical cause, suggested to Mr. Parris that the children might be the victims of a witch's spell."
There you have it -- when the two leaders (or important people) were at a loss as to explain why the children were beginning to develop nervous symptoms, the others in the community seeing the inability of Faith or Science to provide an answer "may have been overcome by the power of unconscious suggestion."
I also have Witchcraft at Salem (Chadwick Hansen) (P) 1969, which has a selected bibliography.
2006-12-04 23:08:10 · answer #2 · answered by WMD 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Someone was watching "The Crucible" on tv tonight. Good movie
2006-12-04 22:53:34 · answer #3 · answered by orzoff 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a well researched theory that witch hunts were caused by a fungus that contaminated the food supply. see
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/LECT12.HTM
2006-12-04 22:48:32 · answer #4 · answered by meg 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋