[Witches saints and other diseases].

ABSTRACT

Salem, was the site at which Massachusetts was established in 1632, however, it is more famous for the witch-hunt that took place there 60 years later by some riotous puritans. Several teenaged girls that were struck by delirious fits and seizures captured the center of the stage. The local physicians, who could not come up with a medical solution, explained the strange phenomenon as witchcraft. The new world's moral code was brought to trial along with 20 innocent men who were accused, convicted and executed for the crime of practicing witchcraft. In this article we will try to acquit these men by introducing historical, medical and circumstantial evidence that ergot and alkaloids substances, produced by a mold called Claviceps purpura, may have been responsible for an intoxication that could account for the events of Salem 1692. Furthermore, we will try to explain how this ergot intoxication, also referred to as Saint Anthony's fire, has had a crucial influence on modern history including the Black Death plague that struck Europe since the 14th century.