The Salem Witch Trials We have all heard fairy tales about witches and wizards. You know, the ones that ride brooms and have that evil laugh! Well, in Salem, Massachusetts, the people there believed in them too. They might not have been the ones that can be seen in the books or popular movies, but they were considered a legitimate threat to the people of Salem. The “witches” of Salem have become a famous part of history, as the trials began in January of 1692. The Salem Witch Trials were some of the darkest times in human history because they caused unjustified hysteria and fear of the unknown; as a result, this caused physical, mental, and emotional harm as well as a great loss of human life. The first claim of witchcraft was William The court of Oyer and Terminer became the court that dealt with the witch trials. Plenty of cases came about dealing with witchcraft; some of which became very well known. The first person that was formally tried was Bridget Bishop. Bridget was accused of bewitching five young girls. People say that her “shape” forced them to do things, and that they saw voodoo dolls in her place where she stayed. The biggest thing that she did that condemned her was the amount of lying she did. Bridget endorsed all of the indictments against her and was formally convicted on June 3rd. Shortly after, on June 10th, she was executed by way of hanging 100-200 total people were imprisoned in the last year, and 24 died and 55 were falsely accused of witchcraft. The aftermath of the trials created a type of closure and relief in the town. Only one of the six original accusing girls actually publically apologized, and that was Ann Putnam Jr. She issued a public apology in 1706 saying “she truly felt that the Devil had taken over her.” She apologized for all of the other mistakes that she made as well. Each of the guilty acted in different ways, and some never truly apologized. Reverend Parris was removed from his position in the church and kicked out of the village in 1694. Governor Phips was removed from office: he believed in witchcraft, but knew the accused were innocent. The governor ran the court of Oyer and Terminer, and it was dissolved once he was removed from office. The King forced him back to England where he died of a horrible fever in February of 1695. After the year of 1752, the town of Salem was renamed to “Danvers” in order to leave its past of death and hatred behind. Finally, in 1957, the last of the “witches” names were cleared. The town finally realized their mistakes, and erected a memorial in 1992 in honor of the people who died of witchcraft accusations
The Salem Witch Trials are some of the most well known trials in American history. For over a year, twenty people most of which were women, were sent to be executed because they were prosecuted of performing witchcraft.
Bridget Bishop was officially the first victim to be hung at the trials. As trials and executions continued, the colonist began to doubt that so many people could be guilty of witchcraft. The colonists feared that many innocent people were being
In the book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, Rosalyn Schanzer describes what happens all because two girls fell ill. When Betty and Abigail started having fits, a doctor diagnosed them as bewitched. Almost immediately they accused the first witch, their slave Tituba. From there all the accusations started pouring out, Ann Putnam Jr., a friend of Betty and Abigail, became “afflicted” as well as multiple others, and soon the jails were overflowing. The first “witch” was hanged on June 10, and the last “witches/wizards” were hanged on September 22. The most likely reasons for the accusations were a thirst for revenge, boredom, and peer/parental pressure.
The Salem witch craft trials are the most learned about and notable of Europe's and North America's witch hunts. Its notoriety and fame comes from the horrendous amount of people that were not only involved, but killed in the witch hunt and that it took place in the late 1700's being one of the last of all witch hunts. The witch craft crises blew out of control for several reasons. Firstly, Salem town was facing hard economic times along with disease and famine making it plausible that the only explanation of the town's despoilment was because of witches and the devil. As well, with the stimulation of the idea of witch's from specific constituents of the town and adolescent boredom the idea of causing entertainment among the town was an ever intriguing way of passing time.
In 1702, the general court finally ruled the trials unlawful. Soon after the main accuser Anne Putman was made to apologize to the people of Salem, as well as Samuel Sewall, a judge during the trials, publicly confessed of guilt and apologized. Reverend Samuel Sewall also confessed of his misjudgment, but he mostly blamed others. Massachusetts even formally apologized for the event in Salem. Even though it took ten years the trials were finally over and the citizens of Salem were able to live with the right to having a fairer trial. Unfortunately, after this whole ordeal the Salem community became separated.
The Salem Trials took place between the 10th of June and the 22nd of 1692 and in this time nineteen people. In addition to this one man was pressed to death and over 150 people where sent to jail where four adult and one infant died. Although when compared to other witch-hunts in the Western world, it was ‘a small incident in the history of a great superstition,’ but has never lost its grip on our imagination’ . It’s because of this that over the last three centuries many historians have analysed the remaining records of the trials in order to work out what the causes and events were that led to them.
During the time of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, more than twenty people died in innocent death. All of those innocent people were accused of one thing, witchcraft. During 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, many terrible events happened. A group of Puritans lived in Salem during this time. They had come from England, where they were prosecuted because of their religious beliefs.
The Salem Witch Trials occurred because “three women were out in jail, because of witchcraft, and then paranoia spread throughout Salem” (Blumberg). In the Salem Village, “Betty Paris became sick, on February of 1692, and she contorted in pain and complained of fever” (Linder). The conspiracy of “witchcraft increased when play mates of Betty, Ann Putnam, Mercy, and Mary began to exhibit the same unusual behavior” (Linder). “The first to be accused were Tituba, a Barbados slave who was thought to have cursed the girls, Sarah Good, a beggar and social misfit, and Sarah Osborn, an old lady that hadn’t attended church in a year” (Linder). According to Linder, Tituba was the first to admit to being a witch, saying that she signed Satan’s book to work for him. The judges, Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, “executed Giles Corey because he refused to stand trial and afterwards eight more people were executed and that ended the Witch Trials in Salem”
This trial was held in Salem but people all around Salem who were accused of witchcraft were bought to Salem for trial. The Salem Witch Trial was a trial for people being accused of associating with witch craft. Over 100 men and women majority of them being women were in this trial. The trial had a 3 step process first was a confession then a testimony of two eyewitnesses to the act of witchcraft and a rare ‘’spectral evidence’’ where most of these witches didn’t make it too. A spectral evidence is when the accused person’s spirit or spectral appeared in a testimony dream when the accused witch was at another location. During a trial if you could recite the ‘’Lord’s prayer’’ you were not a witch and you could indeed be let go during trial just for reciting the prayer (Louis-Jacques, Lyonette. "Http://news.lib.uchicago.edu/blog/2012/10/29/the-salem-witch-trials-a-legal-bibliography-for-halloween/." The University of Chicago Library News. 29 Oct. 2012). The trial was during the Puritan times so people believe during trial, these witches could harm anyone in the court houses (Purdy, Sean. ‘’Conjuring History: The many interpretations of The Salem Witch Trials.’’ Reviver Academic Journal, vol. 3, no. 1, 2007, pp. 2.). At the end of the trial 19 men and women were hanged at Gallows
The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were the largest outbreak of witch hunting in colonial New England up to that time. Although it was the largest outbreak, it was not something that was new. Witch-hunting had been a part of colonial New England since the formation of the colonies. Between the years 1648 to 1663, approximately 15 witches were executed. During the winter of 1692 to February of 1693, approximately 150 citizens were accused of being witches and about 25 of those died, either by hanging or while in custody. There is no one clear-cut answer to explain why this plague of accusations happened but rather several that must be examined and tied together. First, at the same time the trials took place, King William's War was raging in present day Maine between the colonists and the Wabanaki Indians with the help of the French. Within this war, many brutal massacres took place on both sides, leaving orphaned children due to the war that had endured very traumatic experiences. Second, many of the witch accusations were based on spectral evidence, most of which were encounters of the accused appearing before the victim and "hurting" them. There were rampant "visions" among the colonies' citizens, which can only be explained as hallucinations due to psychological or medical conditions by virtue of disease, or poisoning.
Anne Whittle was the first of the Pendle witches tried, she had confessed to being a witch in all of her examinations and blamed Elizabeth Sowtherns for introducing her to witchcraft, but plead not guilty to the crimes of using witchcraft to harm others. After examination of Anne Whittle, the Justices of the Peace examined those that were accused with her about the actions of Anne Whittle in relation to acts of witchcraft. Notably, James, Alizon, and Elizabeth Deuice all testified against Anne Whittle accusing her of multiple witchcrafts. Anne Whittle was found guilty of using witchcraft to harm people, and sentenced to death. Anne Whittle’s case was not the only one of the cases from Pendle Forest that resulted in execution. Executed along with Anne Whittle were, James Deuice, Alizon Deuice, Elizabeth Deuice, Anne Readfearne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewytte, John Bulcock, Jane Bulcock, and Isabel Robey. Of the eleven cases from Pendle Forest that went to trial, ten people were executed, Margaret Pearson was deemed guilty by the jury but not executed. Instead of execution, Margaret Pearson was forced to stand on a pillar in the market for four market
Trials regarding the witchcraft began at the dawn of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, were said to be bewitched. Salem, a village that homes nearly 2,000 people, was surrounded by paranoia. Inhabitants were confined to their home during the winter
They declared that the courts were neglected and so they elected an anti-Parris committee. Since the trials ended there had been no more deaths of people accused of witchcraft and no more accusations of it. The Salem Witch Trials has left such an effect on Salem that it was renamed Danvers and is still called that today. In the end, the Salem Witch Trials didn’t have a very good effect on anyone in Salem. These trials also left a major imprint on Salem.
The Salem Witch Trials took place in the summer and into the fall of the year 1692, and during this dark time of American history, over 200 people had been accused of witchcraft and put in jail. Twenty of these accused were executed; nineteen of them were found guilty and were put to death by hanging. One refused to plead guilty, so the villagers tortured him by pressing him with large stones until he died. The Salem Witch Trials was an infamous, scary time period in American history that exhibited the amount of fear people had of the devil and the supernatural; the people of this time period accused, arrested, and executed many innocent people because of this fear, and there are several theories as to why the trials happened (Brooks).
The notorious witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts occurred from June through September. It is a brief, but turbulent period in history and the causes of the trials have long been a source of discussion among historians. Many try to explain or rationalize the bizarre happenings of the witch hunts and the causes that contributed to them. To understand the trials and how they came to be, we must first examine the ideals and views of the people surrounding the events. Although religious beliefs were the most influential factor, socioeconomic tensions, and ergot poisoning are also strongly supported theories. A combination of motives seems the most rational explanation of the frenzy that followed the illness of the two girls. This paper looks closely at the some of the possible causes of one of the most notable occurrences in history.