1692年，美国马萨诸塞州塞勒姆一个牧师的女儿突然得了一种怪病，随后与她平素形影不离的7个女孩相继出现了同样的症状。从现代医学角度讲，这是“跳舞病”的一种表现。这类症状的病因是一种寄生于黑麦的真菌“麦角菌”。当时人们普遍认为，让孩子们得了怪病的真正原因，是村里的黑人女奴提图芭和另一个女乞丐，还有一个孤僻的从来不去教堂的老妇人。人们对这3名女人严刑逼供，“女巫”和“巫师”的数量也一步步增加，先后有20多人死于这起冤案中，另有200多人被逮捕或监禁。1992年，马萨诸塞州议会通过决议，宣布为所有受害者恢复名誉。

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one by hanging. Twelve other women had previously been executed in Massachusetts and Connecticut during the 17th century. Despite being generally known as the Salem Witch Trials, the preliminary hearings in 1692 were conducted in several towns: Salem Village (now Danvers), Salem Town, Ipswich, and Andover. The most infamous trials were conducted by the Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 in Salem Town.