The purpose of this essay is to examine and discuss what the reasons behind the witch hunts in Salem were and attempt to explain why and how they could occur. In order to do so, the following questions have been chosen in order to narrow down the field of interest, as the topic in itself is very vast, even when considering a single event such as this one. That there is no simple explanation behind the rise of a witch hunt, will be clearly visible. Therefore, the focus will be on these issues:

- Were there really people who can righteously be termed witches, and in that case, who were these?

- Who were those who accused others for being witches?

To be able to do this, it has been essential to look into the beliefs of this age both in general and Salem in particular. What made humans so susceptible to belief in witches and other dark powers, which they believed were plaguing them? Were they only superstitious or was there something more to these claims? The main source for this essay is The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and therefore the focus will be upon the events which took place in Salem. Miller used the witch hunts in Salem to make comments and protest against the persecution of the Communists in the U.S.