Salem Witch Hunt Web Quest

Witch Hunt Web Quest

1. During the experience, I felt embarrassed, ashamed, scared, hopeful, and scared again. I felt embarrassed because I was accused because I had done nothing wrong. I thought that maybe something was wrong with me for them to single me out like that. I was ashamed because everyone in my town would look at me as if I were the most disgusting thing they had ever seen. I was scared for my life because if the town thought that I was truly a witch, they would put me to death. I felt hopeful during my trial because it seemed as if my friends and neighbors were sticking up for me, and we might actually win the judge over. Finally, I felt scared again as I was about to be hanged for something I did not even do, I didn't want to die; dying scared me. 

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3) I think Caporael's theories are correct. Her theories about the wheat being infected with ingredients for LSD would make the whole situation make sense. The doctors back then would not know the symptoms associated with taking/consuming LSD and would not be able to diagnose the girls having issues (they had never dealt with LSD before). Other forces could have been that the girls had found some sort of drug in the woods and kept consuming it even if they didn't know what it was; that would also explain the symptoms and hysteria. 

4) In both cases of the Salem witch trial and of McCarthyism, the accused are accused based on things that people have said, not actual proof. The witches were viewed as outcasts of society, as were Communists during the time of the red scare.  In both cases, the witches were accused by others without evidence, like McCarthy accused people working in the government of being Communists. I was very surprised with some of the facts that were in the article because I did not know about many of them. I have learned about McCarthyism in US History, but I did not know that Marilyn Monroe was involved in any of it.

5) The hysteria of both incidents of the Salem witch trial and the Red Scare caused citizens of affected areas to fear that their neighbor was a watch or Communist (depending on incident) and that they might turn against them. All the citizens of affected areas were more watchful of each other and if for some reason they would be investigated as a Communist or witch, they would quickly turn and tell any supporting evidence that might put their neighbor in danger of being persecuted, just to be able to get themselves and their family away from blame's finger. 

6) All of the victims of the Holocaust, American Interment Camps, and injustice around the world (the article I read was about a Russian Environmentalist who was imprisoned for political reasons regarding the Olympics and the environment) are in the same boat as those who were involved in the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare because all of the victims had done nothing wrong.  They did not do anything to deserve the punishment that they received. It is different because the victims of the Holocaust, American Interment Camps, and the Russian Environmentalist that was imprisoned were not persecuted due to their neighbors actions; it was the government persecuting and 'punishing' them; in the Red Scare and Salem witch trials, neighbors were throwing their friends under the bus so they would be free from being persecuted.

7) The quotes means that things that happened in the past will keep happening if we do not learn to correct the mistakes humans before us have made in the past, then we are bound to repeat the mistakes that they made. One way that history has been repeated is when Hitler invaded Russia. He made the same mistake that Napoleon had made decades earlier. Hitler's army, like Napoleon's, was destroyed while trying to invade Russia. I think the Crucible is very good at educating its readers about history. It brings the history to life in a way that people find a bit more enjoyable to read than a history textbook. I feel that people have a better understanding of the historical events that are portrayed in the Crucible.