Why Is Tituba Important In The Salem Witch Trial

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The Haunting of The Salem Witch Trials
American history is filled with exciting events such as traveling, finding new territory and building up a country. However, in 1692, America was frightened when people started getting accused for witchcraft. At the time they believed that people could send their spirits off to harm other people. In order to understand the magnitude of the Salem Witch Trials, it is important to understand the symptoms and theories about ergot poisoning, Tituba the black slave from Barbados, and the history and facts about Salem.
It is important to understand the facts about Ergot poisoning. Ergot, the fungus that grows on the rye flower, replacing the grain with a hard, purplish bundle of Mycelia that may contain as much as one percent Ergot Alkaloids. Ergot poisoning “may have been associated with the Salem Witch Trials of 1692” (Ahlstrom). At least one million people die within five years of Ergot poisoning (Ahlstrom). Ergot is a …show more content…

Tituba belonged to Samuel Parris, the minister in whose household the witchcraft erupted. Tituba came from Barbados in 1680, with Parris. Tituba was caught by Parris singing her west indian songs over a fire, in the forest, as naked girls danced around. She was actively engaged in devil worship. Tituba admitted that she had pinched victims in several households (Schiff). Tituba later said “that Parris beat her into confession, claiming that her accusations of Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne, as well as two other women, were the result of his abuse” (Qtd. In Billings). Tituba had seen something of which every villager had heard and which all believed. Hours after her testimony, they trembled of “Strange Unusual Beast,” diaphanous creators that mutated before their eyes and melted into the night (Schiff). Tituba was later blamed for being the start of the

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