Salem Witch Trials

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Recommended: Social, political and religious impact of the Salem witch trials in 1600-1900

Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials was probably considered the darkest time for the New England Colony. This was a mass murder of women and a few men that were supposed witches. All of this started from two little girls and a bacteria in the bread that affected the brain. This all started on January 20,1692 when nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams started to exhibit strange behavior. Blasphemous screaming, Seizures, Trance-like states and Mysterious spells. After this was noticed other young girls from around Salem began acting the same way. By February No one was able to find any physical causes that could explain why this was happening. So when no physical ailment was determined the physicians they determined that the girls were under the influence of Satan. Reverend Samuel Parris held prayer Services and fasting in hopes of relieving the evil forces that plagued them. In an effort to expose Witches John Indian baked a witch cake made with rye meal and the affected girls’ urine. This was, in theory, to be a counter-magic to reveal the identities of the witches to the affected girls. Under pressure to identify the sources of affliction, the girls’ named three women Tituba, Parris’ Carib Indian slave, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. On the 29 of February arrest warrants went out and the women were arrested. On March 1 magistrates John Hothorne and Jonathan Corwin examined them. Osborne and Good maintained their innocence while Tituba confessed that she saw the devil in the forms of a hog and dog. Yet the thing that started the whole witch-hunt was the comment that she made saying that there was a conspiracy of witches at work in Salem. Over the following months towns folk ca... ... middle of paper ... ...e yet on the 25 of November a Superior Court was founded to finish off the last few witch trails and clear this subject. All those in these trials were proven innocent and released thus ending the Salem Witch Trials. Though the Trials ended in Salem the fire was spreading all over the New England states and thus the trials and deaths went on till those too died down. Yet even after that, the idea of witches never died as they are still with us today and they are most predominate in Salem, where it all began. Works Cited Salem Witch Trials Chronology, Salem Offices of Tourism and Cultural Affairs available at http://www.salemweb.com/memorialAccessed March 1,1999 Salem Witch Trials, Salem Witch Museum, available at http://salemwitchmuseum.com/learn2.html Levack, Brian P. Witchcraft in Colonial America. New York, Garlend Pub., 1992

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