does anyone know why the Salem witch trials happened?
from what i gather:
a young (apparently charismatic) preacher moved to New England from England. he riled people up against "witches"
his daughter and her friends started accusing people of being witches. if those people didn't confess and rat out their co-conspirators, they were put on trial.
this process ended up killing an 80 year old Rebecca Nurse who wasn't putting up with this nonsense about witches.
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what were these really about?
was this a form of color revolution from the crown to destabilize the colonies?
was it a simple land grab of old money by up-and-coming money?
were there real witches consorting with he-who-must-not-be-named?
was it a localized insanity?
was it the government or the church doing this? was it pre-separation of church and state?
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the explanation that i heard is:
fundamental christian pastor avails himself of systemic sexismto further persecute women
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i'm very curious because "new-in-town" people don't generally wield that much influence. so i'm really wondering what was going on back in the day...
