Salem Witch Trials: What Really Happened, and Why? – clip

Richard Bell / University of Maryland

Salem, 1692: Two young girls living in the household of one of the town’s ministers are acting strangely, having “fits.” The doctor is called, and he tells the minister that his girls are suffering from the action of the Devil’s ‘Evil Hand’ upon them. News of the doctor’s diagnosis quickly spreads and confirms what many in town are already whispering: that these girls are the victims of witchcraft; that they have been cursed by witches living somewhere in Salem.