Salem Witch Hunt Research Paper

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of one wrong accusation after another from a group of young ladies. The Trials were tragic, as so many innocent people were hanged and imprisoned based on the testimonies of several lying children. It all started with a group of girls caught in the woods dancing around a fire and cauldron, but instead of these girls taking the blame, they passed it on to innocent bystanders. These documents can be found on a Salem witch trials website that is an archive containing a plethora of documents from different people during the time of the trials. It has maps that show the area of where each event took place in and books explaining how it all happened. The primary source documents that I have chosen are a diary written by Samuel Sewall and a letter written by Governor Phips. The diary was not one that Sewall wrote in everyday, rather it was more like important

The diary tells about when someone was pressed to death while the court was trying to get information out of him, and how a female prisoner escaped the cell where she was being held. Later in the diary Samuel notes that the first condemned person confesses and throughout the trials the judges prayed a lot. For some reason towards the end of the diary Samuel skips three years in between entries for a reason that is not known. The diary allows us to see the trials through a superior's eyes that had control during this time.

In the letter written by Governor phips to Stephen Sewall we learn about Phips wanting a copy of the evidences that the clerk Stephen wrote down so he can review it. Phips goes on to tell him it make cost him some time but that he hopefully will realize the benefits in it. He also goes to ask for his observations on the people that confessed to witchcraft. It seems to be a private letter only ment for these two mens