The Salem Witchcraft Trials In New England

Firstly, the Salem Witch Trials began in the 17th century in Salem, Massachusetts. Because of the strong religious beliefs that founded these colonies,

Only two types of evidence were sufficient for the conviction of accused persons. The first was a “voluntary confession of the party suspected,” and the second was the “testimony of two witnesses… avouching… that the party accused hath made a league with the Devil or hath done some known practices of witchcraft” (Godbeer 102). This list of acceptable evidence made it difficult to convict a person accused of witchcraft, for good reasons. The first, and perhaps most obvious, reason was to diminish the conviction of innocent people. Many people in the Salem Witch Trials were convicted without having concrete evidence to prove their guiltiness.

In 1692, in the Essex County of Massachusetts, particularly in the community of Salem Village, a series of witchcraft afflictions, accusations, trials and executions began to take place. Afflicted with spells of black magic and sorcery, men, women and children were all rapidly involved in the activities of the witchcraft outbreak. As Salem's witchcraft outbreak began to spread throughout the community like a virus, more and more men, women and children were being arrested, tried, hung and executed. The very first incident of the Salem witch outbreak began when a group of young girls in the Salem Village met in their usual small, informal gatherings where they discussed their future.

The Salem Witch Trials began during the year of 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. The event that sparked the trials occurred when a group of girls claimed to be enthralled by the devil and accused numerous other women of experimenting with witchcraft. As an upsurge of frenzy trickled throughout the town of Salem, a special group assembled in Salem to put their input in the cases. Based on statistics from an article it states, ”the first convicted witch was hanged. Eighteen others followed, while some 150 more men, women and children were accused over the next several months By September 1692, the hysteria had begun to abate and public opinion turned against the trials.”

The Salem Witch Trials started in February 1692. It all began with a young African American slave who was owned by Samuel Parris. Samuel Parris called a doctor on this day for his daughter and niece because they were having weird out buts and not acting like themselves. The doctor claimed that his kids where under the exemption of witchcraft. The girls later on accused Tituba and two other woman.

Between 1692 and 1693, in Salem Village, Massachusetts, the Salem witch trials were taking place. In the event, many were accused of witchcraft and some were even executed. This event had left many curious as to what caused the people to accept witchcraft and treat it as a crime. To explain the trials, Paul Boer and Stephen Nissenbaum wrote the book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft in which they analyzed and broke down key components of the witch trials.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692-1693 was the most infamous witchcraft episode in United State's history. Set in a Puritan New England settlement, Salem Village, the original ten females became afflicted between January 1682 and the madness would not end until May 1693. Salem Village, Massachusetts became engulfed in hysteria. During this time, one hundred and fifty-six people accused of witchcraft, fifty-four people confessed, fourteen women and five men were hanged, a man was pressed to death, three women and a man died in jail. In addition, an infant, who was born in the jail died as welled.

Salem Witch Trials According to Blumberg, the Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft- the Devil’s magic- and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later.

Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials were a terrible event that happened in the history of the United States of America was when innocent individuals where accused and sentenced to death for the crime of witch craft. More than 20 people were executed by hanging and one man was pressed to death by stones being stacked on his chest. In England they would burn people at the stake or throw them in a body of water with stones tied on their feet and if they swam to the top, they were a witch is they drowned, they were innocent.

Throughout history there have been many instances where people were put in jail and even killed for no reason. Two examples of this would be The Salem Witch Trials and The Holocaust. These two events have their similarities and differences, but is ultimately the same situation. The Salem Witch Trials started in 1692 in the town of Salem,Massachusetts (Miller,1124). It all started with a group of young girls(Miller,1124).

Witchcraft Theory Back in Puritan life, many women were accused of practicing witchcraft. Many people feel the Salem Witch Trials were a fraud, but they cannot decide if this fraud was due to ergot poisoning, certain townspeople influencing the teenagers to accuse people in order to gain land or economic prosperity, or boredom of the teenage girls. Although there are many theories on why girls of Salem accused others of witchcraft, I believe the Salem Witch Trials occurred because the teenage girls of Salem were bored due to the strict religious environment. The Salem Witch Trials began during the spring of 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts (History.com Staff). During this time, young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and

Despite the fact that the chase began in Salem, it spread to the neighboring towns, and the quantity of individuals charged and captured was drastically expanding. Since the correctional facilites progressed toward becoming packed, the blamed witches were kept in different prisons in Salem, Boston and Ipswich. The witches were believed to be extremely hazardous, so they were binded to the dividers in the cell. The trials were held in the Salem courthouse which was arranged in the focal point of the Washington Street. The principal individual conveyed to the trial was Bridget Bishop.

The Salem Witch Trials started in February of 1692. They took place in a small village in Massachusetts that housed around 600 people. The trials initially began when a group of young girls in a place called started acting out. They then accused several women of “witchcraft”. This raised quite a bit of concern in the people of Salem.

The Salem Witch Trials The belief of witchcraft can be traced back centuries to as early as the 1300’s. The Salem Witch Trials occurred during 1690’s in which many members of Puritan communities were accused and convicted of witchcraft. These “witch trials” were most famously noted in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Many believe this town to be the starting point for the mass hysteria which spread to many other areas of New England.

Salem, meaning “peace”, was a Puritan haven in the late 1600’s, with a large concentration of Puritans in that area. In 1692, a historical outbreak appeared, with the accusations of innocent people being witches thrown about. The cause of these witch trials is widely argued on, but the most sensible and correct theory is that the townspeople’s Puritan beliefs had influenced this witch craze. Their strong belief in that Satan was the cause for all evil and all unknown fueled accusations fueled their actions, while the Puritans’ proof for persecution was in the Geneva bible. The Puritans of Salem also saw witches as the devil’s servants and could easily spot a witch for certain symptoms.