The Legend of Salem Witch Trial

Introduction

Few events in colonial American history have riveted the imagination as much as the Salem witchcraft trials. From a play by one of America's foremost playwrights—The Crucible by Arthur Miller—to several episodes of the 1960s situation comedy Bewitched, the events at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 have provided material for both popular culture and serious reflection. Scholars of American religion also have struggled with these events and their meaning, finding in them ways in which both group hysteria and individual animosity can use religious values and understanding for evil ends (Brunvand, pp. 78).

The Salem witch hunt began ...