The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English colony, and many people there had brought the belief in witchcraft from their mother country. Under English law, witchcraft was punishable by death. Sixteen people had been hung as witches in New England before 1692, mostly in Connecticut.
The Salem trials occurred as a result of a witch hunt that began nearby in the small farming community of Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts). Suspicions of witchcraft soon led to the arrest of three women. More arrests followed. Eventually, they included prominent people, such as a former village minister and the wife of the wealthiest merchant in the town of Salem.
It is now illegal to try to convict someone of witchcraft in the United States.
Most information taken from discovery.com.
