Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Salem Witch trials. I attended a lecture many years ago with Emerson Baker who is a professor at Salem State University and at the time was working on a book on the Salem Witch Trials. It was release about five years ago as A Storm of Witchcraft.

One of his key arguments in the lecture (I have not read the book) is that theories about the Salem Witch Trials reveal more about the times the theories were developed in than the underlying facts. Since so many people were experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs in the late 1960s and 1970s it makes sense that they would be used as part of a theory that explains Salem.

According to Professor Emerson Baker the only form of Ergot poisoning that causes hallucinations also causes limbs to blacken and ultimately death. For that reasons he rejects the Ergot poisoning hypothesis.

What I find intriguing is the fact that the girls who made the first accusations were likely suffering from PTSD from Native American raids on the Maine frontier. Also, a certain community size and type of religious belief clear has fed witchcraft hysteria.

Humans often define their goodness in opposition to an evil other who appears to threaten the community. Sociologists study this phenomenon and often refer to it as the "scapegoat mechanism."

I quick review of modern politics suggests that scapegoating remains alive and well today, with or without ergot poisoning.

Thanks for sharing your article.