The Salem Witch Trials were a series of court hearings held in 1692-93, addressing allegations of witchcraft in several colonial Massachusetts towns. In 1692, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams – the young daughter and niece (respectively) of Reverend Samuel Parris – began suffering episodes of uncontrollable convulsions, screaming, and grunting. Doctors could find no physiological cause, and when two other girls started reporting the same symptoms, they turned to more supernatural explanations.