More than three centuries ago, in 1692, in the Massachusetts community of Salem, two girls aged 11 and 9 began displaying peculiar symptoms (convulsions, states of ecstasy, screaming) that no one could explain, until a doctor declared them possessed by demons.
The father of one girl, who was also a minister, began to suspect an Indian slave he had brought from the Caribbean of witchcraft. Under beatings, she was forced to confess, which his daughter corroborated.
Under pressure, the daughter then named other villagers as supposedly practising magic: a beggar woman, an elderly woman who didn’t attend church, and others were accused of consorting with the devil.
Trials were conducted, sending approximately twenty people to their deaths, including even a constable who refused to continue arresting people.
Only those who admitted their guilt and informed on others escaped execution. Beyond those executed, several accused persons died in prison.
Eventually, doubt arose about the validity of the girls’ testimony when they began accusing judges themselves.
Meanwhile, with so many people arrested and others fleeing the area to avoid trouble, crops were left in the fields and animals died without care. As a result, the State Governor halted the trials and pardoned all those arrested.
Fourteen years later, one of the girls admitted she had lied.
Many years later, playwright Arthur Miller wrote “The Crucible”, seeking to address the dangers of fanaticism, prejudice, and governmental intrusion into individual liberties.
Around him, a new witch hunt was raging. It was the era of McCarthyism, which led to the physical and moral destruction of citizens accused of being communists plotting to overthrow the government.
When it spiralled beyond all reason, in 1954, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to censure McCarthy for improper conduct.
Many witch hunts had preceded these events, each time targeting different groups and citing different causes. Sometimes it was drought, sometimes a pandemic, sometimes women were blamed, sometimes Jews… And the pattern continues.
“The people of Salem”, Miller had said, “saw themselves as possessing a superior truth. If the light of this truth were extinguished, they believed the world would end. When you have an ideological world that considers itself so pure, it’s natural to tend toward extremes”.
A new witch hunt has begun. Migrants, homosexuals, women who stand up for their rights, those who support them… Let’s keep our minds open.