Salem Witch Trials One infamous part of American history, was the Salem witch trials of the year 1692. This led to the results of the execution of a group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts (“The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692”). During this time fourteen women and a total of five men ended up being accused of being involve with witchcraft and possessed by the devil (“Salem Witch Trials - Facts & Summary”). Not only did the fourteen women and five men put to death, but one eight other people die in prison waiting got trial (“The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692”). In the amount of men and women being accused, one child and one baby were in prison as well waiting to be proven they were witches (“Salem Witch Trials - Facts & Summary”). This …show more content…
Samuel Parris decided on calling a local physician, Parris called William Griggs, who walked into the girls acting like wild animals and uncontrolled violence acts (“Salem Witch Trials - Facts & Summary”). Williams Griggs, who was an experienced doctor was puzzled by what he saw and could not come up with a medical condition, which would explain the both Elizabeth Perris and Abigail Williams’s condition. Since there was no medical explanation Williams Griggs suggested that what both of the girls had was being done by an evil force (“Salem Witch Trials - Facts & Summary”). This led to Samuel Perris to go and talked to other ministers and see what they recommended, the other local ministers recommended that Samuel waited to see how the girls reacted and if their condition got worst (“The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692”). Since Salem Village was a small town the story of Elizabeth Perris and Abigail Williams started to spread around the town, later that day there was reports of other girls having the same behavior (“The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692”). Since the town people were starting to be afraid they were …show more content…
Bridget Bishop was not the first one being sentenced to death, Sarah Osborne was but she die of natural cases in jail. Since the trail and the way they were finding this woman guilty was new the Cotton Mather of Boston’s First Church, wrote a letter to the court asking to explain what evidence they required to find anyone guilty of witchcraft (“Salem Witch Trials - Facts & Summary”). The minister wanted the trials to the involvement of things to be left out of the public eye and for the following months no trials were being held. The pause on the cases did not last really long since a court was held on June 29, which was about five women being accused of witchcraft. Four of the women were found guilty right away, but Rebecca Nurse was not, the jury went back to the meeting room and took more time to decide (“Salem Witch Museum”). When the jury return for the second time, they had changed their mind and found Rebecca Nurse guilty of witchcraft. Rebecca Nurse was sentenced to death by hanging and was later hanged on July 19 of 1969 (“Salem Witch
Women started to accuse other women and they also accused a few men. Murrin details that this caused a challenge in the local judical system: “…a number of judicial irregularities, including an unusual heavy dependence by the courts on spectral evidence ( when an accused witch’s spirit or specter, supposedly tormented the victim) and the use of open confessions by the accused to escape punishment” (339). New England had a organized way of doing things when it came it witches, but once accusations arose in Salem they started a new system which led their town into hysteria. “The Salem witch panic stands out, in part, because the judicial execution of twenty people within three months became an event of enormous drama in a region that hanged comparatively few offenders and in a colony that hanged only five people for witchcraft before 1692 and only one before 1656”
Before reading historian Marilynne K. Roach’s Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials, it must be clear that I hadn’t known much about the Salem Witch Trials besides what knowing they were in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692-93. I only recognized that there were a few unfortunate women who had been accused of being witches, sentenced to their deathbeds, and brutally burned in front of the whole town. After reading Roach’s book, I’ve found out that this thought alone was false because none of the accused were meant to be burned at all but instead the whole town was called out to watch these women being hung. It created an example for the town and explained to them the consequences of being convicted of witchcraft. What I’m now recognizing is what I did ignore: how it came to be and how it all ended, who was accused, and was giving these accusations out.
The Salem witch trials of 1692 were one of the bloodiest witch-hunts in America colonial history. The event started in the house of the new minister of Salem, Samuel Parris, when his daughter, Betty, suffered from mysterious symptoms, and later she accused her slave, Tibuta, for using witchcraft on her. Later, two other women, Sarah Goode and Sarah Osborne, were accused of using witchcraft on other girls; right after the accusations, they were arrested (Lecture 9/13/2016). As a result, the hunt of witches began which led to hundreds of arrests, and nineteen accused were hanged (Text 190). Although three hundred years have passed, the true cause of the episode remains a mystery. Many scholars have conducted numerous studies of the trails, however,
More than two hundred years have gone by since the discovery of the new world. People of with all types of backgrounds and problems came flocking over the ocean to start anew. Jamestown, Virginia and Salem, Massachusetts, were very early settlements, and perhaps two of the most known names of colonies. Jamestown was known for many things, including Bacon’s Rebellion. And Salem was known for one reason, the Salem Witch Trials. These two pieces of history reflect the tensions of the unstable society and of their beliefs.
The evidence presented against the supposed witches during the Salem Witch Trials was not physical evidence. Most of the testimonies given by the townspeople were random happenstances that were told to make the accused seem guilty. Other types of evidence given were statements about the accusers being bitten and pinched; this apparently classified as bewitching someone. Some of the accused claimed to be conspiring with the devil so they would not be executed and instead be put in prison (Godbeer 143). Many years later statements given by testifiers were recanted, jurors apologized, and the families of the executed were given compensation for their loss.
Salem 1692, two girls ,Betty Parris, age nine, and her eleven year old cousin Abigail Williams, had a dream. They wanted to be the best actors in the village. They worked very hard to do that and they got twenty people killed. Betty and Abigail were Puritans and they are not supposed to lie or they would end up with the devil in the afterlife, but it seemed like they didn’t care. That’s why we ask, why were people blaming the innocent for being witches in Salem, 1692? The Salem Witch Trials were caused by two poor, young girls who acted possessed. There were also other people who took the risk of lying and accused other people. Most of the accusers were under the age of twenty and woman. The little girls caused the Salem Witch Trials hysteria by pretending to be possessed. Most of the accusers were poor and lived in the western part of the town.
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of prosecutions of men and women who were accused to practice witchcraft or have associations with the devil. The first Salem witch trial began with two girls in 1692, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams who started to have “fits”, in which they would throw tantrums and have convulsions. The random outburst of the girls threw the town of Salem into a mass of hysteria. Although historians have not found a definite reason or cause for the witch trials, they have taken different approaches to explain the hysteria that took over Salem. Some historians approach a psychological theory by proposing the girls suffered from diseases that made them act out. Other historians refer to factors such as religion, economics, and weather to explain the beginnings of an unforgettable time in Salem, Massachusetts. For over 300 years, historians have tried to reveal the truth about the beginnings of the Salem Witch Trials, but in order to do so historians must look at both the way of life in Salem in the seventeenth century and use knowledge that is available now to explain the phenomenon.
...in their family to become sick and possibly die. Many people were accused of witchcraft. More than twenty people died all together. One person was flattened to death because he was accused of witchcraft. When people were accused they had to go to jail, which the conditions were terrible. Then, they had to get a trial from the Court of Oyer and Terminer. After an accused witch had their trial, and went to jail, they would be carted off to Gallows Hill. This was the hill where all the witches were hanged. After a witch was hanged, later that night, their family would usually take the body down and give it a proper burial. The Salem Witchcraft Trials were one of the most terrible times in the history of America. As you can see the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, and hysteria.
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”
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.
During the early winter of 1692 two young girls became inexplicably ill and started having fits of convulsion, screaming, and hallucinations. Unable to find any medical reason for their condition the village doctor declared that there must be supernatural forces of witchcraft at work. This began an outbreak of hysteria that would result in the arrest of over one hundred-fifty people and execution of twenty women and men. The madness continued for over four months.
It was no surprise that Bridget Bishop was accused of being a witch. Being known as the girl who dressed inappropriately and got into many fights was not a good reputation to have. Bishop had the most accusers out of any of the accused witches. During her trials, when she looked at the girls who accused her, they would fall down, like they had been pushed. Bishop was found guilty, and was the first person to be hanged on what was known as Gallows Hill on the morning of June 10.
About twelve months after the first incident, nineteen of the accused were killed, four had died in prison, one man had been pressed to death, and two-hundred people were arrested. The Salem Witch trials was a horrific period in history. This was mainly due to teenagers having fun, family feuds, epileptic fits, or diseased rye. (The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary).
A real fear feels like death, but less satisfying. These fears enthralled the minds of the naive and frightened during the most dangerous time to be alive in New England, The Salem witch trials. The fire inside the Salem Trials needs a fuel, fed to it from the spoon of the stupid, will grown until it burns everything in sight. Who knew a mere lack of knowledge could get 20 people killed and drag Puritan society through hell. Highly religious peoples had a large role in fueling the hysteria that occurred during the trials. The fear from being attacked during the Indian war also had a played a big role in why the Witch Trials kept going strong for so long. The Salem witch trials, fueled by fear and influenced by hardship of Puritan life and deep religious integration led to mass hysteria in the New England Colonies in 1692.
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a time of hysteria, stress, and destruction. These dreadful trials took place in Massachusetts (“A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials”). During these trials, more than two hundred people were accused of being witches; 24 of them were executed (“A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials”). All of these innocent people were falsely accused. However, it is not possible to fully blame the girls who initiated it, because they most likely had Ergot of Rye which occurs as a plant disease, affects the girls, and caused this incident.