Salem Witch Trials

What began as a simple game of fortune-telling by reading shapes of egg whites dropped in a pan was the beginning of the Salem ......... of witchcraft accusations.
hysteria
halyard
harlequin
harmonic

One child was frightened by what she thought was the shape of a coffin and began shaking, shouting ......... at the West Indian servant girl who had taught them the game.
obese
obscenities
organelle
opportune

When the village doctor had no explanation for the girl's ......... behavior, he declared it was the "evil hand of witchcraft." Consequently, the servant girl, Tituba was suspected of being a witch.
erratic
erotic
ecliptic
ectomorph

As time passed, other girls joined in the strange ......... pointing the finger of blame at three local women: Sarah Osborne, who had a poor record of attending church, Sarah Good who was a beggar and the servant Tituba.
disagree
diversion
distress
distemper

Eventually, a warrant was issued for the women's arrest. At the same time, more and more people seem to have become afflicted, making ......... against neighbors and even a minister.
audiophiles
accusations
austere
audacious

Finally, ......... court trials were held. The afflicted girls would writhe and scream. Some reported seeing spectral shapes under the accused control.
chaotic
cuneiform
curette
cursed

Since 1692, many psychologists and psychiatrists have given numerous possible explanations for the ......... of violence and hysteria that infected this village.
panegyric
perspicacious
paroxysm
perverse

One theory said to be responsible for the mass hysteria was contributed to a wheat fungus that made the villagers .......... Still another explanation was that the village may have suffered from a viral sleeping sickness.
hallucinate
hassium
herpetology
heterodox

Historians have suggested another less ......... explanation when they uncovered an old map. The curious division of the village revealed all the accusations against those living in the more affluent east half of the village were made by those living in the western half.
extraneous
ellipsis
emanate
exotic

After all the deadly accusations and their results were studied, historians now believe the Salem witch trials began because of a ......... village grudge match between the "haves" and the "have-nots."
vindictive
vacillate
vaccinate
vanadium