These were called witch trials, but what happened across first Europe and then in America, most predominantly in Salem was more criminal than supernatural, the result of politics and mass hysteria. The Salem Witch Trials have left a lasting legacy when we think of colonial America. Born from the fury of the European witch hunts dating back as early to the 1400s to 1782 spanning across Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy (just to name a few,) the witch hunts firmly took hold in Salem, Massachusettes when in 1689 Sam Parris’s family was catapulted to the spotlight (and not in a good way) because his daughter Betty, niece Abigail, and their friend Ann started to play around with fortune telling. This child’s play resulted in multiple murders blessed by the church and the community and innumerable rumors and general unease across a Salem already divided from June of 1692 until May of 1693. 

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/witchcraft/The-witch-hunts

https://www.britannica.com/topic/sorcery

https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials

https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/Demographics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW4XFiHUQAs

https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_ZaFmX72EY