![]() ![]() The furor began with young girls – Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam – acting strangely after having their fortunes told. In 1691, in Salem Village, religious repression and fear combined with baser ingredients of boredom and greed boiled over into the infamous Salem Witch Trials. It made for an environment in which clear thinking and logic paled before cries of “She’s a witch!” If these worries were not enough, Puritan leadership filled their followers heads with hogwash about demons and devils and evil spirits. They killed settlers in their beds, dragged women and children into the woods, and were reputed to be cannibals. Possessed of an almost mystical connection to the land, the Indians could appear, strike, and vanish at any moment. The forests also would have hid Indians, the most terrifying creatures of all. Beyond the gridded towns and the tended fields, a giant wilderness would have loomed, huge dark forests that hid ferocious bears, stalking panthers, larcenous squirrels, and possibly homicidal raccoons. Undoubtedly, the Massachusetts of the 17th century would have been a terrifying place for a Puritan colonist. ![]()
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