Sara's Qualitative Essay

Qualitative Response to Witch Project

by Sara Fox

Author’s Note:  We were assigned a qualitative piece to finish up our Witch Project.  I decided to write my opinion on the information we found and how much of it could only be read by reflecting on your own beliefs and morals.   Each of the members in the project will have a different view on how the project was successful or unsuccessful and here are my thoughts on the project and research overall.

The teenage years for are filled with cravings for attention.  All children want the affections of their peers, but once you no longer have a cute face or adorable personality; it is much harder to receive attention.  Some teenagers might misbehave and disrespect others.  They might even dye their hair strange colors or wear clothes to purposely stand out in a crowd.  Others may brag and show off their talents and skills.  Everything people do to stand out either gets them compliments that boost self esteem, or insults that hurt their feelings. Unfortunately, in an attention-seeker’s life, there comes a point where any attention is better than none.

Teenagers often lie, because they long the interest of others. But in most cases--taking into consideration that teenagers and preteens are also young adults--people believe them.  Betty Paris and Abigail Williams acknowledged this and used it to their advantage.  By accusing others of being "witches" their popularity only grew.  Once they had accused about half of the town they should have stopped, but stopping would slowly drain their popularity.  Sadly, Abigail and Betty were clever, greedy girls that needed attention to prosper.

Eventually the two girls stopped the accusations and the lies they had spread in their town, but this act of unkindness influenced all life that was going to follow theirs.  For example, in every bookstore, you can find a book written about the haunted places in Wisconsin.  However, I don’t believe Wisconsin’s haunted areas to be anything more than tourist attractions. I proved my theory when I traveled around Wisconsin to search for these “witch spots”.  What I found was that any grave, any park, any school could be haunted and we will never know if the stories are legit.  I also found that an author could write an entire story based on opinion and still make thousands of dollars. Betty and Abigail started a new style of living and many people still use it today. 

There are many examples of Abigail and Betty's impact on the world, but one that I have noticed while doing my project research was untrue stories.  Not Disney or fairytale stories, but haunted house or ghost stories.  We have all noticed that adults and children will act suspicious when approaching a leaky faucet in a basement, or a farmhouse covered in spider webs.  So why not accuse them of being haunted?   It gives the storyteller attention and grants them access to other people's thoughts on the subject.  Any story that people tell could easily be a lie so researching witches was a very difficult task.  Everything we found on the internet, books, and field trips could have easily been fake.  Even our research on the Salem Witch Trials may be false.  Abigail and Betty could have been mentally ill, or maybe even poisoned from grains that grew close to their house.  I could be a witch, Abbie, Mai, or Mitchell could all be witches, and all we would have to do is say so.

The message I am trying to get across is, you cannot believe everything you hear, read, or find.  Witch stories, rumors, and accusations are as true as you make them.  It is our job while researching to ignore the information we do not think is accurate.  It is our job while eavesdropping to think about what may just be opinion.  It is our job while living our normal lives every day to figure out what we believe, who may influence us, and what we feed our growing minds.  I am still undecided as to what’s real or unreal, but based on your morals that guide you through life, it is up to you to find out whether you believe in witches…or not.