In the winter of 1692, a wave of witchy hysteria surrounded the settlement of Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The accusations started with two little girls who were acting strangely. There are many underlying factors as to why these witchcraft thoughts started to appear. These problems were occurring before this winter of 1692. The winter of 1692 was the beginning of the hysteria behind the witchcraft trials. To understand the reasons for the hysteria, you need to know a little about the people who settled the Salem Village area. . The village of Salem was mainly inhabited by Puritans. There were very few other religions at that time. The Puritans left England to escape religious persecution. The Puritans wanted to purify the national Church by eliminating what they saw as Catholic influence. They believed in the total sovereignty of God and the absolute sinfulness of man. They wanted to establish a union between Church and State. The Puritans believed they were making a sacred covenant with God when they founded the colony of Massachusetts. They agreed to live according to his will in exchange for divine support in the New World. The people of Salem Village believed in witches. The word witchcraft designated “the art of bewitching, casting spells or manipulating the forces of nature”. The people's idea was that this was impossible without the cooperation of the Devil. Many understood that the Devil was after their way of life. The Devil had to act through a witch to physically harm human beings. He couldn't do it alone. People who fully believed in witches were still searching for them. As a result, many people have been wrongly accused. The Puritans saw the world in black and white. Discipline and devotion were watchwords in the service of the Lord. The simplest acts of innocence were considered questionable, even abnormal, behavior. Sinners were severely punished in the village of Salem. The punishments were intended to humiliate the person as much as to hurt them. There was never any respect for an individual's privacy in the 17th century. The community as a whole had to defend the Puritan religion. They were encouraged to keep a close eye on their neighbors and report any behavior that deviated even slightly from “the right and the right way.” According to some sources, there was a problem with the increasing independence of women. They lived in a society where men exercised substantial authority over women..