Scientists discover sinister document that sparked the Salem Witch trials in Massachusetts

Theories about what led to the Salem Witch Trials include everything from a hallucinogenic fungus to mental disorders and economic conditions.

But now scientists may have settled the debate by identifying the sinister source of the Massachusetts “witch craze,” in which more than 200 people were tried and 19 executed by hanging 300 years ago.

A new study found that the invention of the printing press in the 15th century – which dramatically increased the spread of information – led to the spread of a book containing a detailed explanation of “demonology.”

The widely printed book Malleus Maleficarum – which translates to the Hammer of the Evildoers – depicted witchcraft as a ‘conspiratorial activity against divine society’ rather than benign ‘mischief by village sorceresses, pagans or ignorant peasants’.

This book also served as the first printed guide for witch hunters.

About 36 editions were printed in Germany between 1486 and 1669, leading to an outbreak of witch hunts across Europe.

Although the book never came to the US, its teachings traveled with colonists who settled in Massachusetts.

The researchers believe that Malleus Maleficarum’s message spread quickly through “ideational diffusion,” or “the adoption of new ideas, which prompt social actors to reinterpret the world and thus change their behavior.”

This was made possible by German inventor Johannes Gutenberg, who created the printing press in 1440.

This momentous invention accelerated the spread of knowledge, discovery, and literacy around the world and ushered in a new intellectual age.

Malleus Maleficarum, written by Dominican monk Heinrich Kramer, was first printed in 1486 and quickly became one of the most widely read books about witches and an early form of mass media.

Its message spread first through literate members of European society, and then through conversations to the illiterate.

Eventually, Malleus Maleficarum’s teachings reached the US, ushering in a new perception of witchcraft and mobilizing a wave of persecution never seen before.

Witches have been present in folklore long before the printing of the Malleus Maleficarum, dating all the way back to the ancient Romans. But this book stoked a new level of fear that ultimately led to tens of thousands of deaths around the world.

“The book’s great innovation was its combination of a comprehensive theological explanation of witchcraft with practical guidance on the methods of investigating, interrogating and convicting witches,” said the study, which was published in the journal Theory and society.

Malleus Maleficarum – which translates to the Hammer of Evildoers – depicted witchcraft as a ‘conspiratorial activity against divine society’

The researchers mapped the dates and locations of several witch hunts that took place in Central Europe between 1400 and 1679, and compared them to where Malleus Maleficarum was printed and distributed.

They found that “Cities closer in time and space to the publication of the Malleus were more likely to initiate witch trials.”

The research suggested that the printing press played a key role in spreading this new perception of witchcraft, and therefore indirectly fueled the ‘witch craze’ that led to witch hunts around the world, including the Salem Witch Trials.

These infamous trials began when a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft.

This caused a wave of hysteria to sweep across colonial Massachusetts, and in 1692 a special court convened in Salem to hold the first trial.

The first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was executed by hanging in June.

In the months following her death, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 19 were executed.

Years later, several accusers – most of whom were teenage girls – admitted they lied about the charges. In 1702, the General Court of Massachusetts declared the trials illegal, and in 1711 it overturned the convictions of 22 trial victims.

Today, the Salem Witch Trials are considered one of the most notorious cases of mass hysteria in colonial America.