Before 1692, the supernatural was part of people's normal daily lives. This is because people firmly believed that Satan was present and active on the earth. Men and women of the village of Salem believed that all the misfortunes that befell them were the work of the devil. For example, when things like infant death, crop failure, or friction within the congregation occurred, people were quick to blame the supernatural. This concept first emerged in Europe around the 15th century and then spread to colonial America. In the past, farmers relied heavily on particular spells for farming and farming. But, over time, white magic transformed into dark magic and became associated with evil. Although the people of Salem believed that Satan walked among men on the earth, colonial life was relatively peaceful. However, a series of events occurred that ultimately led to the “hanging of nineteen defendants, fourteen women and five men”; these events are known as the Salem witch trials. “The Salem witch trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693 in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties in colonial Massachusetts. They consisted of a series of hearings and trials that were brought before the local magistrate to prosecute people accused of witchcraft. More than 150 people were accused and arrested of practicing witchcraft and there were even more who were not actually prosecuted by the authorities.” However, some sources state that during the Salem witch hunts more than 200 people were arrested as witches, nineteen of them were hanged, and one man over the age of eighty was forced to death for refusing to submit to a trial with the accusation of witchcraft. The seeds of the hysteria that plagued Salem Village, Massac...... middle of paper ......b. Accessed 11/24/11. Pagewise, 'Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Hunts', 2002. Online at http://www.essortment.com/all/salemwitchhunt_rulb.htmAll references to Tituba's testimony in this article are taken from the transcriptions reprinted in SWP, 2:36i-62, 3:745-57. The paucity of Indian women's voices in written records makes her confession a unique document. On the difficulties of extracting evidence about American Indian women from literary sources see Clara Sue Kidwell, "Indian Women as Cultural Mediators," Ethnohistory 39 (I992): 97-107. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts, 3 vols. (New York, I977), 3: 755 (hereinafter SWP).Burns W, 'Witch Hunts in Europe and America', pp.303, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.Burns W, 'Witch Hunts in Europe and America', pp .303, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.