A Brief History
The Reverend Samuel Parris, his daughter Betty, and her cousin Abigail Williams came to Salem Village in 1689 after Parris was offered a position as a minister.
Matters were complicated in the winters of 1691 and 1692, which were accompanied by Indian raids and smallpox outbreaks, leaving many congregation members wondering why these awful things were happening to them. In order to stay entertained during these unsettling times, Betty and Abigail started practicing non-Puritan acts. They started practicing what was thought to be voodoo, magic, fortune-telling, and sorcery. They would try fortune-telling experiments. They would tell their fortunes by dropping an egg white into a glass of water and then interpret the picture formed (10).