Dorcas Goods: The Causes Of The Salem Witch Trials

“Husbands implicated wives; nephews their aunts; daughters their mothers; siblings each other” (The New Yorker: Inside the Salem Witch Trials). The Salem Witch Trials began on June 2, 1692, with the trial of Bridget Bishop. Many more trials were to follow in the next four months. Twenty people were killed, including Bridget Bishop. The Salem Witch Trials were an inexcusable event.

During the four months of the trials, over two hundred people were convicted and sent to jail. Twenty people were killed, and many more died in prison. Giles Corey’s life with witchcraft began on March 19 when his wife, Martha, was arrested for witchcraft. This was before the trials officially began. For unknown reasons, he decided to testify against his wife, leading

Most of the colonists were Puritans. Their religion was their life. Children grew up extremely religious. According to historian Judith Granholm, “Puritan girls and boys grew up in a culture that relentlessly required them to confess their sinfulness….” Some of the younger children who were accused confessed to being witches because they didn’t understand. This is what happened in Dorcas Goods case. Dorcas, along with all the other Puritan children, had been taught her whole life that when someone asked her if she had sinned in some way or another, they confessed and were honest. So why should this be any different? Dorcas was only four or five years old when Ann, Mercy, and Mary accused her of witchcraft. This shows a lack of compromise. Anyone could be convicted, no matter what age. Her mother, Sarah Good, was an accused witch. During Dorcas’s confession, she drew her mother into it, stating that her mother “had three birds one black, one yellow and that these birds hurt the Children and afflicted persons.” Sarah was accused and sentenced to hang, but she was pardoned until the birth of her child, who died in prison. Dorcas was imprisoned for over seven months. The Puritan practices may have made children more likely than adults to believe they were witches. Background also played a large part in this. The colonists came from Europe, where witchcraft was said to be much more common. This background