Witchcraft or Food Poisoning?

The Salem trials and Ergotism 

As the beginning of 1692 loomed, a witchcraft hysteria swept into the colonial town of Salem, Massachusetts, a fact that would establish its notoriety for years to come. Accusations of practising magic were launched at over 200 individuals, resulting in the execution of twenty. Whilst scholars have long examined the origins of the trials through the historical context and social tensions, science may offer a physiological explanation. 

It began with the ‘distempers’ of three young girls: Elizabeth Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam. Their common affliction was characterised by bodily contortions, convulsive fits, incoherent speech, and the making of strange sounds. The failure to find an explanation prompted one doctor, William Griggs, to claim the girls were suffering from an ‘Evil Hand’ — a loathsome supposition for the local minister, John Parris, to accept. Yet as time passed, with no remedy to be found through fasting or prayer, charges of witchcraft were brought upon three vulnerable targets. Tituba, an Indigenous American woman enslaved by the Parris family; the homeless beggar Sarah Good; and Sarah Osburn, an elderly impoverished woman. The convictions and confessions that followed, whilst encouraged by prejudice and imbued with injustice, are inextricably linked with these first displays of possession. 

Contrary to the supernatural imaginings of those living in the late seventeenth-century, these unnerving ‘distempers’ may not have been the result of witchcraft but rather symptoms of convulsive ergotism. Ergotism can result from consuming grains, such as rye, barley, and wheat, contaminated by the fungus Claviceps purpurea. The severity of ergot poisoning can extend to epidemic proportions. In the Middle Ages, its gangrenous form was associated with ‘St Anthony’s Fire,’ ignis sacer, which causes burning sensations, gangrene, and, in severe cases, the loss of affected parts. Convulsive ergotism is no less harrowing, with symptoms including crawling sensations in the skin, hallucinations, and painful muscular contractions leading to epileptiform convulsions. Beyond the physical, convulsive ergotism also induces mental disturbances such as mania, psychosis, and delirium.

The theory of ergotism in Salem was first proposed by Linda R. Caporael in Science in 1976, in a paper titled ‘Ergotism: The Satan Loose in Salem?’ In this paper, she offers two main lines of evidence. She first points to growing conditions, with the warm, rainy spring and stormy summer of 1691 bringing about favourable circumstances for ergot, which thrives in wet and humid conditions, to infect rye. The following year's drought, which would have discouraged grain contamination, coincided with the abrupt end of reported symptoms. So the environment promoted an infestation, and with rye being one of the most well-established New England crops by the 1640s, it becomes a question of tracking the evidence to those plagued by the Devil. Caporael identified the western region of Salem Village as a potential source of contamination, where swampy farmland may have encouraged fungal proliferation. The Putnam household situated there — home to three afflicted girls — was of particular interest; with its extensive landholdings, it offered a possible explanation for the seemingly selective nature of the symptoms. Indeed, 30 of the 32 accusers resided in this western region. Furthermore, Parris's salary was predominantly paid in provisions, and the Putnams were among his wealthiest supporters. It’s not hard to see how contaminated grain may have reached the first symptomatic household. 

Of course, this theory is not without its pitfalls, with historians and scientists citing issues in the selective population of sick young girls, intermittent behaviour rather than ergotism’s continuous physical affliction, and an incomplete matching of symptoms.  So ambiguity remains; maybe the true culprit was indeed the Devil, whether that be mortal prejudice or supernatural evil. Nevertheless, the ergotism theory shows how science can grant us greater insights into resolving history’s mysteries.

Illustration by Eve Fishman