When did a historical consensus emerge that the Salem witch trials were just an outbreak of mass hysteria? And when did a consensus emerge that all witch trials are just ridiculous, because witchcraft isn't real?

by [deleted]

I know that the witch trials were shut down after a while and people pretty quickly figured out it had gotten out of control, but for a while people still believed that some of the accused were guilty of witchcraft, it was just that the accusations were starting to fly wildly. But I've read that by the Founding Fathers' time, they considered belief in witchcraft to be a superstition, and the witch trials to be a shameful relic of medieval barbarism. Was their opinion widespread or was it only popular among educated elites with Enlightenment philosophies? Did regular people generally still believe in witchcraft?

In the 18th and 19th centuries did anyone ever write revisionist histories trying to claim that actually the witch trials were correct and perhaps didn't go far enough in rooting out all the witches and sorcerers? Apparently in the 21st century there are evangelicals who still believe witchcraft is real and dangerous (and therefore refuse to read Harry Potter or play Dungeons & Dragons). What do those people believe about the Salem witch trials?

dhowlett1692

I'm a bit busy this week so I can't write an answer specifically to this question, but some of my previous answers might be of interest to you:

How soon after the Salem witch trials did people realize it was not about witches?

We're living in an age where Atheism is slowly becoming mainstream and replacing religiousness, has this ever happened in the past or are the last two centuries' behaviors novelty for history?

Why did American Puritans seem to deradicalize so rapidly? In the 1690s they're accusing each other of witchcraft en masse with the entire society revolving around the congregation. A mere 70 years later their descendants are some of the most intellectually radical/liberal in the world. Why?

If you have follow up questions, feel free to reply and if I'm able to respond later than I'll get to it.

b0bkakkarot

I can't answer your questions, but I was able to find a few links for you to try. The AskHistorians FAQ has a section https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/renaissance#wiki_witchcraft but from the titles alone I'm not sure if any of those topics will help answer your specific questions.

u/dhowlett1692 has provided several lengthy responses to a few topics that aren't in the FAQ and which seem to provide information relevant to what you're asking, and he has hosted an AMA.