Salem Witch Trials-The Truth

Salem witch trials, sound familiar to you? This was the event than happened in the year 1692 where a lot of women were accused as being witches. It happened in a town called Salem, England. Those women were detained in prison and later brought before the magistrates where the trials were held. Witchcraft has always been considered as evil in many cultures so was the European's. These accused women would then be sentenced to death where the common way of dying was to be burned at stake or hanged to death. The men will lit the fire and watch the accused women burned alive, screaming for the piercing pain, pleading for mercy and finally, what was left were the remains of dead innocent women. Ever since then, the people have been aware and advise their children not to go out at night for fear of witches. However, after more than 300 years, the scientists finally revealed the truth to these so-called-witches. No magic was involved but just a minute organism, Claviceps purpurea, a kind of fungus. When I learned about Claviceps in my last sem in the course of Fundamentals of Microbiology, I was amazed and shocked to see how this fungus brought about an influential superstitious and claimed the lives of many innocent women. Yes, this fungus infects human and when humans are infected, the medical condition is termed ergot poisoning. Humans with ergot poisoning will have common symptoms-throw up and hysteria. Unfortunately, this was what the Salem people saw as witches behaviour. The women behaved the same and had hysteria. Back then, Claviceps infected the grain and this grain was made as rye bread, a common food for the Salems. Many women had this bread for their meals and the ergot poisoning spread among the women which many saw it as a spread of withcraft. These patients were wrongly accused and were sentenced to death despite suffering from ergot poisoning. The cruel act and highly superstitious people back then made me realized that the lack of knowledge really condemn one to damnation. The belief of witches existence lasted for centuries and even now, people still believe witches exist. Let me tell you, you have been conned and the one who conned and also blinded us for centuries is actually something that you cant even see-a fungus.

                                                The examination of an accused 'witch'

                                                    The burning of 'witches' at stake

                                             Accused 'witches' were hanged to death