Theories about the causes of the Salem witch trials range from hallucinogenic mushrooms to mental disorders and economic pressures.
However, a new scientific one study may have identified the real cause behind the infamous events in Massachusetts that led to the trial of more than 200 people and the execution of 19 by hanging more than 300 years ago.
The study points to the invention of the printing press in the 15th century as a crucial factor. By vastly increasing the spread of information, the press helped spread books on “demonology,” fueling the fear of witchcraft.
One such book, Malleus Maleficarum (or ‘The Hammer of Evildoers’), portrayed witchcraft as a sinister conspiracy against pious society, in contrast to earlier views of witches as isolated village figures or ignorant peasants.
As the first printed guide for witch hunters, Malleus Maleficarum had great influence. Between 1486 and 1669, 36 editions were printed in Germany alone, sparking witch hunts across Europe. Although the book itself never reached the United States, the ideas spread among European colonists who settled in Massachusetts.
Researchers believe that the Malleus Maleficarum’s message spread quickly through “ideational diffusion” – the adoption of new ideas that led people to rethink the world and change their behavior.
This was made possible by the invention of the printing press in 1440 by German inventor Johann Gutenberg. His creation accelerated the spread of knowledge and literacy, sparking an intellectual revolution that reshaped societies around the world.
Malleus Maleficarum, written by Dominican monk Heinrich Kramer, was first printed in 1486 and quickly became one of the most widely read books on witchcraft, representing an early form of mass media. Its teachings initially reached literate Europeans, but soon spread to the illiterate through conversations and community interactions.
Eventually, Malleus Maleficarum’s influence made its way to the United States, creating a heightened fear of witchcraft that led to widespread persecution.
Although witches had been part of folklore since ancient times, the book’s theological explanation of witchcraft, combined with practical advice on how to investigate, interrogate, and convict witches, brought unprecedented fear. The result was tens of thousands of deaths worldwide.
According to the study, published in Theory and Society, researchers mapped witch hunts in Central Europe from 1400 to 1679 and compared them to where and when Malleus Maleficarum was printed and distributed. They found that cities closer in time and space to the book’s publication were more likely to initiate witch trials.
This research underlines the role of the printing press in spreading new views on witchcraft, indirectly contributing to the witch hunts that culminated in the Salem Trials. These trials began when a group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft.
The resulting hysteria swept through colonial Massachusetts, leading to the first trial in 1692. Bridget Bishop, the first convict, was executed by hanging in June. Within months, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft, and 19 were executed.
Years later, several accusers, mostly teenage girls, admitted they had fabricated the charges. In 1702, the Massachusetts Court of Appeal declared the trials illegal, and by 1711 it had overturned the convictions of 22 victims.
Today, the Salem witch trials remain one of the most infamous cases of mass hysteria in colonial America.
