Final answer:
The witchcraft scare in Salem during 1692 was fueled by the Puritan belief in the supernatural and influenced by key figures like Cotton Mather, leading to the infamous witch trials. Social pressures and personal reputations, as in the case of Samuel Parris, played significant roles in the propagation of the scare, which eventually ended due to criticism of the legal proceedings.
Step-by-step explanation:
The witchcraft scare in Salem, which took place in the Puritan community of Massachusetts, represents a period of mass hysteria and social turmoil. This hysteria culminated in the notorious Salem witch trials of 1692, where several individuals, after exhibiting strange behaviors and claiming to practice the occult, were accused of witchcraft. The situation was exacerbated by the Puritan belief in the supernatural and the influence of prominent figures like Cotton Mather, who vehemently believed in the existence of witches and devils. The turmoil eventually subsided when criticisms of the legal procedures and executions began to emerge from influential figures, including Increase Mather, leading to a decline in the accusations and an end to the trials.
People like Samuel Parris, intimately connected to the afflicted girls, found themselves at the heart of the controversy. Parris, in particular, was pressured to quell the rumors of witchcraft in his household, as they threatened not only his reputation but the unity of the Puritan society. Underlying the witchcraft hysteria were broader issues of social strife, such as trauma from frontier wars and political changes, leading the Puritans to seek a scapegoat for their problems in the figure of the witch.