Witch trials have happened before in Europe. Later, they would soon come to the United States. Many innocent people ended up dying because of the witch trials. The Salem Witch Trials started in 1692 (SAK 8). It happened at the Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony (SAK 16). Many people believed that the devil could give witch’s power for harming others for loyalty (Blumberg). People in Salem lived a Puritan lifestyle (SAK 17). They were expected to live by the teachings of the church. Their lives revolved around the church and they would attend lengthy sermons twice a week. Puritans had to avoid sinful activities like dancing, non religious music, and celebrating Easter and Christmas. Children could not play with toys such as dolls because they …show more content…
You had to recite the Lord’s prayer to pass the test, if you messed up even a little you were a witch. The physical evidence they would look for includes birthmarks, mole, scars, extra nipples, marks made by the devil’s teeth and claws, and any other marks the devil can enter through the body. (SAK 40). Witness testimony is when anyone can attribute their misfortunes to the sorcery of the accused person and doing that might help get them convicted of witchcraft. Spectral evidence is that the Puritans believed the devil could not take the form of any unwilling person. Finally, confession is the only way you can not be executed (Witchcraft in …show more content…
Gallows Hill is where all of the executions took place. Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Wild are just some of the women that were accused of witchcraft and hanged (SAK 71). George Burroughs, John Proctor, John Willard, and elderly George Jacobs are just some of the men that were hanged for witchcraft (SAK 73). After the witches were hanged, their bodies were cut down and tossed into the crevices in the rocks at the side of the hill. No graves were dug and no respects were given to them (SAK 72). Only one person was spared from hanging and that was Elizabeth Proctor. She was spared because she was pregnant ( SAK
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
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
The Salem Witch trials were when hundreds of citizens of Salem, Massachusetts were put on trial for devil-worship or witchcraft and more than 20 were executed in 1692. This is an example of mass religion paranoia. The whole ordeal began in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris. People soon began to notice strange behavior from Parris’s slave, Tituba, and his daughters. Many claimed to have seen Parris’s daughters doing back magic dances in the woods, and fall to the floor screaming hysterically. Not so long after, this strange behavior began to spread across Salem.
Many people have been accused of witchcraft. More than twenty men and women died during this terrible time. Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Wildes, George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs Senior, John Proctor, John Willard, Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, Ann Pudeator, Margret Scott, Wilmont Redd, and Samuel Wardwell were all accused of witches hanged on Gallows Hill. Gallows Hill is a little hill near the town of Salem. Accused witches would be put in a cart and carried there.
Hinds, Maurene J. Witchcraft on Trial: From the Salem Witch Hunts to the Crucible. Library ed. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2009. Print.
The Salem Hysteria started in 1691 in Massachusetts. When Betty Parris and Abigail Parris heard stories about witchcraft from their slave Tituba, they started having visions and sharp pains. When they went to the doctor the doctor said it was witch craft. So the girls started blaming women that were poor, had low social class, and did not go to church of witchcraft. They even said that their slave Tituba was using witchcraft. Once they stared accusing higher class people the court started questioning if the girls were actually telling the truth. Once the court realized they had made a mistake they made a day of mourning and silence for all the people they wrongfully accused and killed of witchcraft.
The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. At this time there appeared to be an outbreak of witches. This started when the children of the Goodwin family begin having mysterious fits. The doctors, not knowing what had happened to the children, blamed it on witchcraft. From that point on many people were accused of being a witch and were killed. This occurred for many different reasons; either they were hanged for their crimes, crushed by stones for refusing to stand trial on their cases, or from waiting in the jail for so long before their case came up. As people began to investigate the Salem Witch Trials further they came up with two explanations; either the people of Salem were begin acted through by the devil or
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
In Salem England, the Puritans encountered a number of hardships such as economic instability, political struggles, and social frustration. The families that inhabited Salem were large and everyone was highly educated. In the Puritan community, men were encouraged to take up a trade or earn their way into a skilled profession an early age. As a result, men were the leaders of their homes and in the community. Women were educated in a variety of subjects but they were unable to attend college. They were expected to have an educational background in order to pass on knowledge to their children at an early on. In the Puritan society women had no rights compared to the opportunities that are available today.
First, lots of respected church members were confident that witchcraft was real, even though you can’t see it. In Evidence A, Cotton Mather, the influential leader of the Puritans, says that witchcraft exists. He says that even if you never witnessed witchcraft, that doesn’t mean that witchcraft doesn’t exist. Cotton Mather says that both the Bible and other people have said that witchcraft exists. In Puritan life, the church was a very important part of life, with required attendance and government based on the church. So, if a respected church leader said something, everyone
The judges also decided to allow the so-called “touch-test” (defendants were asked to see if their touch, as was generally assumed of the touch of witches, would stop their contortions) and examinations of the bodies of the accused for evidence of “witches’ marks” (moles or the like upon which a witch’s familiar might suck)
Salem Village was much poorer than Salem Town, and was consistently trying to gain its independence due to overbearing rules on taxes and prices of crops. The division between the two was cause for tension, and may have played a role in the severity of the witch trials later on. The main problems faced by puritans included many forms of oppression. Puritans were required to go to church, and if they missed a service, they would potentially be arrested, and have their crops destroyed. Entertainment was not an emphasis it was not even a portion of a life in 1692 Salem. Alongside of religion and the conflicts caused from it, Puritans could not be self expressive; affection was unheard of, emotions were rare in public and every day was about fulfilling their duties and nothing
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.
According to Jones, modern estimates suggest perhaps 100,000 trials took place between 1450 and 1750, with an estimated execution total ranging between 40,000 and 50,000. This death toll was so great because capital punishment was the most popular and harshest punishment for being accused of witchcraft. Fear of the unknown was used to justify the Puritans contradictive actions of execution. Witch trials were popular in this time period because of religious influences, manipulation through fear, and the frightening aspects of witchcraft.
Witch Trials began in 1692 when odd behavior among some of the village girls that could not