YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1bUYXBxu9-0
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View count:132,061
Likes:7,678
Comments:923
Duration:16:59
Uploaded:2026-01-13
Last sync:2026-04-07 00:00

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MLA Full: "No, Fungus Didn’t Cause The Salem Witch Trials." YouTube, uploaded by SciShow, 13 January 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bUYXBxu9-0.
MLA Inline: (SciShow, 2026)
APA Full: SciShow. (2026, January 13). No, Fungus Didn’t Cause The Salem Witch Trials [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1bUYXBxu9-0
APA Inline: (SciShow, 2026)
Chicago Full: SciShow, "No, Fungus Didn’t Cause The Salem Witch Trials.", January 13, 2026, YouTube, 16:59,
https://youtube.com/watch?v=1bUYXBxu9-0.
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You've heard of the Salem Witch Trials, a series of accusations and executions based on the idea that witches were rampant in the Puritan community of Salem, MA. And you may have also heard that the reason for all this chaos was ergot, a fungus on the flour that these people ate, which caused them to hallucinate and become paranoid. We at SciShow are here to tell you that this theory.... is bunk. Here's the real science behind ergot, mass panics, and what really went down in 1692.









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Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSekVylJ2rQ1zLtG9m4ujmB_NbunCV8LHXaKg9lkQQaWoFjZRUeHPdWyKJqDaKA1b5WM9eH3k6ETA3D/pub
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