ult for them to defend themselves because people were so quick to believe that people were witches in order to save the village (Starkey 133). The colonists based their belief on the desires of the girls because the girls mentioned names to get revenge on anybody they had hard feelings towards. So, the trial outcome lied in their hands (147). It was even said that “the girls availed themselves of the opportunity of their illness to rebel against every restriction placed on them by the adult society.” (Starkey 25). False confessions slanted the outcome of the trials as well. Suspects were intimidated by the judges, and feared going against the court. When Mary Warren tried to confess the truth by saying the girls were pretending, the court questioned her so skeptically that it made it hard for her to get her point across. Many people were also intimidated in other ways. They felt they had to confess rather than go against the court. As a result, many people made false confessions in fear of being tortured or hanged (Starkey 93). The Puritans valued their orderly way of life, and believed people who disrupted it should be punished. Puritan society was very restricted and limited. Great resentment was felt towards the people who were accused of witchcraft because they were disturbing the contentment of life (Tobin 1). Also, “the Puritans believed that one bad person in a colony could bring God’s punishment down on all—like a smallpox epidemic—so many people were worried. They looked for the common fear of witchcraft to get the colonists back to the Puritan way of life”. (Zeinert 19). Even though the Salem Witchcraft Trials were based upon much false evidence, many other things affect it. The trials fell at just the right time to be taken to the extreme measures that they were taken to. The Salem Witch Trials would not have taken place if it had not been for the extremely religious ...
