Salem Village, now Danvers, Massachusetts, was at one time the setting for one of the most controversial trials in American history. Seventeenth century Puritanical New England encompassed strict laws, harsh punishments, and politics that coincided with religion. In 1692, a group of adolescent girls residing in Salem Village, broke out with symptoms causing unexplainable fits, after hearing tales told by a West Indian slave. When questioned, the “afflicted” girls denounced several local women as being the …showed first 75 words of 2232 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2232 total…bewitched them. These mental stresses would consume their minds and convert into physical manifestations. When the emotional disturbances set in, the hysteria began. As Upham explains, the victims were able to perform the unnatural twisting motions without feeling the pain (396). It cannot be said that all of the “afflicted” were hysterical, as some were most likely able to create affliction on queue, in order to get attention, or to justify the problems of the community.