Many would assume that after the witch trials that occurred in Salem in 1692 people would be terrorized or cautious, but is that really what happened? Out of the almost two hundred people accused of witchcraft only "nineteen were hanged on Gallows Hill" (Brooks, 2011). After this gruesome event one would think that people would be disgusted by themselves for randomly blaming innocent people. The few who were pardoned continued their lives normally seemingly not caring about the ones who had passed away due to false accusations.
Who Started These Crazy Accusations
One of the main accusers during the witch trials in 1692, according to History.com (2011), was an eleven year old named Abigail Williams and a nine year old Elizabeth Parris. By the
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According to Richard Sibbes, a Puritan Minister, "The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God, we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise" (Faiza,2008). Their belief that the devil could be amongst them was one of the main factors of the start of the Salem witch trials. The Puritans wanted their communities to only be made up with believers and followers of God and they thought that by hanging anyone suspicious of being "touched" by the devil they would accomplish that goal. According to Faiza (2008), one theory remains that ministers spread the rumor of witchcraft to bring more people into the churches. However the witch trials started one thing is for sure, many lives and families were affected by these tragic events. In 1693 the people remaining in jail were released and four years later a day of fasting was declared for the many tragedies caused by the Salem witch trials. Eighteen years down the road in 1711, the Massachusetts colony tried hard to clean up the names of the people accused of witchcraft and even went as far as providing compensation to the family members affected by the false accusations (Staff,
In the book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, Rosalyn Schanzer discusses an outbreak of witch accusations in the little town of Salem, Massachusetts in late 1692. People were accusing friends, enemies, and even family members of being witches and plotting evil schemes with the devil. No one was safe anymore. If a person were to be accused, they were stuck in a stinky, grubby jail where they were pelted with never-ending questions.
Many people know the stories of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. These events took place in two completely different times, the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 and McCarthyism in the early 1950’s. Due to the drastic time difference, different belief systems, and other differences, many wouldn’t even think to compare the two. In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts a group of young girls, led by Abigail Williams, began accusing the townspeople of witchcraft.
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.
The Salem Community Goes wrong The Salem Witch trials started in 1688. However witch trials started many years before. There were forty- to fifty-thousand people killed because of witchcraft, in a matter of 300 years. The main punishment for witchcraft was being hanged, others died in jail, or rocks were stacked on them till their chests collapsed. The Salem community consisted of five hundred individuals who were very pious.
People would accuse others for doing witchcraft just to get revenge, land, or to take the blame off of them (History.com). In the events of this it caused nineteen people to be executed by hanging, burning at the stake, or being crushed by rocks. In total 150 men, women, and children were accused and were awaiting trial before the end of it.(History.com) The Salem Witch Trials came to an end in May of 1693 when William Phips pardoned all and
In total, the process of his execution took two full days (Findling 162-163). Executions consumed the summer of 1692 for Salem Village. Finally realizing how awful the court system and executions were, the Salem Witch Trials came to an end. Although the chaos caused by the trials had started to resolve, some of the same original fits occurred in the years following (“Salem Witch Trials” n. pag.). Salem Village was ready to move on, so the victims were ignored.
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions that lead to the death of 20 innocent lives with over 200 accused of Witchcraft. However, I believe that something similar would’ve happened if the Salem witch trials didn’t happen. Salem was a ticking time bomb ready to explode any moment. The restrictive Puritan society coupled with personal fear of the severe punishments that ensues witchcraft, and people’s natural inclination for survival and power made Salem an ideal setting for mass hysteria.
Salem was known for its dark events and history, the Salem Witch Trials was a great hysteria that happened during the spring of 1692 in Salem Massachusetts . This all happened because a group of young girls were said to be possessed by the devil in Salem Village. After this happened, several other women were accused of witchcraft. The first witch to be convicted was Bridget Bishop who, after many times, defended herself saying she had nothing to do with any of the events. But was hung on June 10th, 1692.
In Salem, Massachusetts, Puritans were strong believers in the Bible. The Bible states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans beliefs led to them accusing 20 innocent people of being a witch, this resulted in their deaths in 1692. Even though the Puritans couldn’t see it at the time, their accusations were really based off jealousy, lies, and Salem being divided into two parts. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was jealousy.
Nearly anyone from the New England has heard of the famous Salem Witch Trials. A year of persecution, leading to the accusation of nearly 200 citizens of all ages. No one was safe; men, women, children, even pets stood trial and 20 were hung for the supposed crime of witchcraft (Blumberg). 1692 was a year of witch hunting. Most today blame the trials on hysteria, or perhaps a bad case of paranoia.
The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day.
One cause of the witch trial hysteria was the story of Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, the two were cousins, they decided to visit a fortune teller. This occurred on February 29, 1692, shortly after receiving their fortunes Parris’s father, who was a priest, began to notice that his daughter was acting strange, he eventually found out about the session with the teller and was
The Salem Witch Trials began in Salem Massachusetts in 1629. Many people were accused of being a witch and many lives were lost. In Author Miller’s The Crucible, Abigail Williams is the most to blame for the events of the Salem Witch Trials.
Bridget Bishop, a resident of Salem, was the first person to be tried as a witch. Surprisingly, Bishop was accused of witch craft by the highest number of witneses. After Bishop, more than two hundred people were tried of practicing witchcraft and twenty were executed. Many of these accusations arose from jealous, lower class members of society, especially towards women who had come into a great deal of land or wealth. Three young children by the names of Elizabeth, Abigail, and Ann were the first three people to be “harmed” by the witches.
Not many people know much about what actually happened in the Salem Witch Trials. Maybe someone would think that it was just about witchcraft and crazy people being hanged, but it is a lot more than that. The Salem Witch Trials only occurred between 1692 and 1693, but a lot of damage had been done. The idea of the Salem Witch Trials came from Europe during the “witchcraft craze” from the 1300s-1600s. In Europe, many of the accused witches were executed by hanging.