In “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he recreates the Puritans' most remembered era: the Salem witch trials. He includes several historical names associated with the trial, some of them even belonging to his own ancestry. These historical facts are important to its story because they create a sense of apprehension, doubt, and superstition in the reader, while also containing tangible connections to reality. It also allows contemporary readers to examine the issues and see the repercussions of such a belief system and the impact it can and has had. In early 14th century Europe, many people believed strongly in the supernatural, or more specifically, the devil. giving certain humans (“witches”) the power to hurt others. This belief has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people accused of witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials took place from 1692 to 1693, when a group of young girls living in the village of Salem, Massachusetts convinced the town leaders that they were possessed by the devil and accused many women to be the origin of their possessions. It all started when 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris, daughter of Samuel Parris (Salem Village Minister) and 11-year-old Abigail Williams, niece of Samuel Parris, began having random “seizures.” They had screams, violent contortions, throwing objects and strange noises. Doctor William Griggs observed them and diagnosed that they had been bewitched. After her diagnosis, more girls in the village started showing the same symptoms. (History.com) On February 29, the girls went to court and under pressure from Judges Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne (Hawthorne's great-great-grandfather), they charged three women from their community with having bewitched them: Sarah Go.... .. middle of paper ......th (Colacurcio 286, 312). Hawthorne underlines the reality of the puritanist world and this, even if all these people were good works cited by Blumberg, Jess. "History, travel, arts, science, people, places | Smithsonian." History, travel, arts, science, people, places | Smithsonian. Smithsonian.com, October 24, 2007. Web. April 22, 2014. Blumberg, Jess. “A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials.” Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, October 24, 2007. Web. February 8, 2012. History.com Staff, . “Salem Witch Trials – Facts and Summary.” History.com. A&E Networks, and Web. April 6, 2014. .Colacurcio, Michael J. The Province of Piety: The Moral History in Hawthorne's Early Tales. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984.