WITCH-HUNT: THE ASSIGNMENT OF BLAME

The witch panic at Salem in 1692 was not just the result of a miasma of circumstances coincidentally falling into place but something that was also consciously and deliberately kindled, fuelled, and manipulated. A main difference between Salem and previous New England witch trials was in its virulence, magnitude, and scope. This author can only sum up the Salem episode in relation to other New England witch trials as analogous to the difference between a fire that occurs naturally from a lightning strike followed by the rainstorm that puts it out and an inferno set deliberately in several places on a windy day in dry season to inflict maximum damage.