reasons for the salem witch trials

The people of the town of a Salem led a very repressed, controlled and sheltered life. Of all the people it was the children who suffered the most. These children were pent up, not allowed to play, or do anything normal children do. They were forced to read the bible constantly. The elders thought them to be thankful for being permitted to walk straight, with their eyes slightly lowered, arms at their sides, and mouths …

…horribly repressed and imprisoned in a society based around God. The people created a witch-hunt to allow them to say and do things not normally aloud in public. They could take vengeance on a neighbor by calling them a witch or saying another man's wife's spirit came to him at night and could have them tried for witchcraft. The witch trials were not about witches but rather about an escape from the repressed pilgrim life.