In both pieces, the entire plot is based on the Salem Witch Trials, connecting them once again. In both, it all starts with Betty Parris and Abigail getting sick and then going crazy. In I Walk in Dread, the Salem witch trials began when “Mr. Parris returned from the conference, their girls suffering worse than ever. Furthermore, Abigail and Betty's eyes were opened to the invisible world. Now they can see what torments them: the figures of real people who come to pinch and hit them” (79). They claim that a witch is pinching them and that their eyes are now open to the invisible world. Then, hysteria descends on the population with more and more people claiming to be afflicted. This not only happens in I Walk in Dread, but similarly happens in The Crucible. The plot is very similar, but “Ten-year-old Betty Parris is lying in bed, inert” (3). She later dies from this mysterious illness which leaves her bedridden for a long time. The doctor thought and told the reverend that he would not be surprised if she died of unnatural causes. This left the town wondering if it was possible due to witchcraft. Abigail tells her uncle that "the rumors of witchcraft are all related... the parlor is full of people, sir" (9). The town thinks that the witches are doing the Devil's work and using them to plague the people in Salem. In both publications, the Salem witch trials are basically