# Ergot Poisoning in Salem
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [March 15, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752 "2011-03-15T05:33:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@eden\_night](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eden_night)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/1 "2011-03-15T05:33:10Z")
RE: The question were the Salem witches a result of Ergot poisoning?
> **[Were the witches of Salem a result of poisoning with ergot fungus?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343700/were-the-witches-of-salem-a-result-of-poisoning-with-ergot-fungus)**
Hi Cecil and everyone else!
Far be it for me to contradict you Cecil, but I thought it might be of interest to you to draw your attention to the book ‘Secrets of the Dead’ by Hugh Miller (ISBN: 0752271660).
Although, like most mysteries in history, science is yet to concretely prove a theory, this book (well, chapter to be precise) does make a persuasive argument!
Although, I’m just a part-time browser of your wonderful site, I’m sure it’s been brought up before.
Best Regards,
Eden Night.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/2 "2011-03-15T17:25:02Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, eden.
I helped Cecil with the research for this column. The _Secrets of the Dead_ book you mention (which I have not read) is evidently affliliated with the PBS documentary series of the same name. The “credulous 2001 PBS documentary” that Cecil mentions in the column is an episode of that series, “Witches’ Curse” (which I have seen).
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/3 "2011-03-15T17:37:09Z")
I’d say the ergot argument is persuasive, but not definitive. It’s the theory du jour.
One can draw modern parallels with “satanic panic” trials ca. 1980’s-90’s. People were jailed for no more evidence than that used in Salem; in particular, unbelievable and uncorroborated testimony coerced from children was believed over rational adults.
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### Author:  [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/4 "2011-03-15T19:11:52Z")
10 points to Eden Night for being a new member who included the original link. Hooray for reading the FAQ!
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### Author:  [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/5 "2011-03-15T23:11:42Z")
What evidence is there for ergot? Can you summarize the chapter in the book?
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### Author:  [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/6 "2011-03-16T01:00:16Z")
The ergot poisoning theory is thoroughly unpersuasive. It’s whole premise seems to be, “Hey, there was this famous example of a community in a panic thinking up nonsense to strike out at some innocent victims, how on earth can we explain that? I know, let’s pick the first pseudoscientific explanation we can think up instead of, say, researching the long history of extremely similar social panics thoroughly documented elsewhere but which we can’t be bothered to go read.”
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/7 "2011-03-16T16:56:06Z")
It’s been a long time, but I seem to remember that other aspects of the Salem event suggested ergot poisoning, specifically, a significant jump in human and animal miscarriages.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/8 "2011-03-17T19:41:35Z")
Man, I hate it when someone poisons my ergot.
What?
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/9 "2011-03-17T19:52:15Z")
There’s a chapter on the ergotism hypothesis in the great book “The Barmaid’s Brain” by Jay Ingram. I think he came up with largely the same conclusion; the idea is interesting, but the general opinion is that mass hysteria is a better fit.
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### Author:  [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/10 "2011-03-20T19:32:12Z")
While working on my Master’s degree, I took a class that examined this very phenomenon, the witchcraft trails in Salem. The book we used was: [Salem Possessed](http://www.amazon.com/Salem-Possessed-Social-Origins-Witchcraft/dp/0674785266/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300649250&sr=8-1).
Long story shortened, the explanation given for the witchcraft scare was essentially a shift in the balance of power (social and economic) between the two dominant families in Salem at the time. It’s a very good read with lucid explanations for how the whole phenomenon came about.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ergot-poisoning-in-salem/574752/11 "2011-03-21T18:47:55Z")
> [@Freyr](#):
>
> While working on my Master’s degree, I took a class that examined this very phenomenon, the witchcraft trails in Salem. The book we used was: [Salem Possessed](http://www.amazon.com/Salem-Possessed-Social-Origins-Witchcraft/dp/0674785266/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300649250&sr=8-1).
>
> Long story shortened, the explanation given for the witchcraft scare was essentially a shift in the balance of power (social and economic) between the two dominant families in Salem at the time. It’s a very good read with lucid explanations for how the whole phenomenon came about.
_Salem Possessed_ is the basis of a short movie called [Three Sovereigns for Sarah](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090164/) that also goes into the “Who was accusing?” v. “Who were the accused?” patterns.