Two girls lye sleeping, one with her eyes open, the other with her eyes closed. Not such an unusual picture except for the fact that the two sleeping girls cannot awake. A mysterious servant from a faraway place, a group of young ladies seeking magic to joins their hearts with the men that haunt their dreams. A man of the cloth who stumbles onto a secret dance in the middle of the forest who will spend the next year of his life harboring secrets and trying desperately not to be exposed. The town of Salem sucked into the vacuum of conspiracy, accusations, innuendo and the horrifying fact that maybe Lucifer has come to make a house call. They say that truth is stranger than fiction and if this story wasnt a dark shadow on our nations history it would make for a great novel. But if it was the truth and for those who where there, a horrible reality. This community so caught up in the possibility that witchcraft existed, they completely lost their senses. The following is a breakdown of all the legal issues that by todays standards where not followed.Church and StateOut of all the issues that will be addressed, this one is the most difficult. In the 1600s, the church was interwoven with the state and the operation of government. Enter Reverend Hale a scholar of witchcraft. Unbeknownst to everyone, a novice at his trade; a person trying to gain status in the new country. The power of life and death lay in his hands, by his words a person could be deemed a witch and suffer the consequences. It was Rev. Hale who was the fuel that lit the fire. The first amendment clause of the United States Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Although this country was founded in a belief of god and morality, the intent was never to have the church involved with the judiciary. The justices would not assemble in Salem, Massachusetts until Reverend Hal...
