Part one of term paper
In 1692, nineteen villagers were put to death in Salem, Massachusetts. The reason for conviction was the torment of teenaged girls by supernatural means: witchcraft. These teenagers had experienced "pricking" and "pinching" sensations, and some contorted into strange bodily positions, reaching unusual postures of extreme rigidity. The villa ...

Part two of term paper
... ingestion of ergot--a fungus with LSD-like properties that resides in rye. Perhaps this is not the true cause of the strange behavior, but to the twentieth century world, it is a justification more believable than that of the village doctor. It is a human tendency to jump to conclusions without knowing all of the facts. In the case described above, the village doctor probably did not feel that he was jumping to conclusions because of the abundance of "witches" in those days. Even today, with t ...