In the seventeenth century, the belief in witchcraft was spread among Europe and the colonies. According to the textbook, America a Narrative History, “Prior to the dramatic episode in Salem, almost 300 New Englanders had been accused of practicing witchcraft, and more than 30 had been hanged.” This outbreak of witches ruined Massachusetts Puritan utopia. This paper will discuss the settlers of Massachusetts prior to this calamity, what happened during, and the outcome. The original settlers of Massachusetts were the Puritans. Puritans believed the world was good but people were evil. God had direct line through elders of the Puritan community. Since the elders were thought to be closest to God they ran the town and made the decisions. To …show more content…
They were barking, shouting, twitching and crawling around for no reason at all. They claimed they had been practicing voodoo and fortune telling, taught to them by a slave from the Barbados. This slaves name was Tituba. Tituba worked for Reverend Samuel Parris giving the girls easy access to her. They would use these tricks to keep them entertained. Tituba was the first accused and first to confess to committing witchcraft. This to the Puritans was the devils work. Tituba was fortunate to not be put to death but did sit in jail for months until someone paid for her freedom. She escaped the village and was never heard from again. Tituba was just the start of this. Elizabeth claimed not only Tituba but 2 other lady’s had bewitched her. These lady’s were Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. Sarah Good was labelled as an old hag due to her attitude and personality. Many could easily see a witch from this behavior. Good was the first to testify and claimed that Sarah Osborne was the one committing witchcraft. Sarah Osborne is a prime example that at this time if you angered anyone then you were accused of doing the devils work. According to The University of Chicago Library News, “In a six-month period starting in January 1692 authorities in Salem, Massachusetts, accused over 100 men and women of witchcraft. Nineteen were convicted and hung at Gallows …show more content…
You could get accused for being a witch if you didn’t attend church, if you were reading, if you were singing, if you spent time alone, if you disobeyed puritan laws, or if you though that witches and witchcraft were fake. The Puritans had ways to test if the accusation was true. One way to test this was forcing a person to lay down with a board on their body and loading the top with rocks until the person admitted to being a witch or was crushed to death. Another way this was tested was by throwing a person, often someone who did not know how to swim, in a lake or river and if they floated to the surface they were a witch if they sank they were not but the person would end up drowning most of the time. People who were accused were more often hung at Gallows Hill then were burned at the stake like movies and TV shows today portray. The end to all of these trials and accusation came about when people were realizing they had killed family and friends that were innocent. They started to wonder if the “spectral evidence” they were using was even valid. It was easy in the beginning to accuse people, like Tituba, of committing such crimes of witchcraft. These people were of a lower class that had little to no power. In the end the panic had grown so big that people were accusing leaders and others who were of high status in the town, and question towards certain accusations arose. In 1693
Tituba caused the witch hunt outrage in Salem. Tituba was the servant of Reverend Parris. Practicing black magic was one of her hobbies and she showed this hobby to Reverend Parris’s curious daughter and niece. The young
One of the families who had denounced the economic changes was the Putmans who were a strong influence against the witchcraft accusations. Tensions had then become worst when Salem villiage had
Tituba practiced what many people from Salem saw as black magic, but she practiced on the request of Abigail Williams. Later on she was requested to give Abigail a magic cup to kill John Proctor's wife. Since Abigail had an affair with him. Later on Elizabeth accused Tituba of the act. “ She makes me drink blood!”
The two also threw things, made unnatural sounds, and acted out. After the word had spread about what had happened other young girls started acting in a similar manner; having fits. The following month there were warrants put out for 3 women that were accused of bewitching Abigail and Elizabeth: Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborn. When the three women were put on trial all pleaded innocent except for Tituba. She was from the Caribbean, according to A&E Television Networks, and happened to be the Parris’ slave at the time.
In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, accusations of witchcraft caused fear and confusion throughout the town. Neighbors were accusing neighbors and everybody feared that they would be the next to be accused. In late February, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams had accused Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. These three were seen as misfits in the society by many and none of the three were members of the church. On March 11, 1692, under the pressure of Reverend Samuel Parris, the girls accused Goodwife Martha Corey, a god-loving midwife who never would have been taking part in any type of witchcraft.
Elizabeth Parris, and Abigail Williams were the first to display what was thought to be symptoms of bewitchment (US History). Tituba, a caribbean slave belonging to the Parris family, was one of the first to be accused. Tituba confessed to being a witch, later Tituba also claimed that there were other witches along with in the community. The conviction process was very easy for anyone to be prosecuted. The last straw was when the governor's own wife was accused of witchcraft.
Tituba was accused of witchcraft by the girls and sent to jail (Loiselle). Tituba reported that the devil had come to her and five others, including Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, and declared they aid him in hurting children. Sarah Good’s husband and their four-year-old daughter, Dorcas, both vouched that Sarah was more than likely a witch (Currie 12-14). Other girls who were accused of witchcraft brought up the chance of Dorcas Good being a witch.
In Rosalyn Schanzer’s Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, there is a catastrophe in Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1690’s. There were accusations after accusations after accusations about witchcraft. Also, people weren’t satisfied with just accusing one person. In the end, 25 lives were lost.
Many more women were accused afterwards and most of them were hanged. If they admitted to being apart of witchcraft and accused others, they would be spared. If Tituba had not confessed to being a witch, they may not have believed
My English III class just finished watching The Crucible based on the true story of the Salem Witch Trials. There are many factors that contributed to the trials, but I have found three in particular that stand out. The citizens of Salem's religion, their gullibility, and jealousy all led to the deaths of many innocent people. Their puritanistic religion is the main reason the trials even began. The girls were extremely fearful of their strict religious elders.
Salem Witchcraft Trials In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 there was an outbreak of teenage girls who were accused of practicing witchcraft. If you were accused of being a witch you had two options. One option was for the person to deny their practice of witchcraft, which resulted in their hanging, while the other option was for them to confess their practice of witchcraft and be exiled from the community. The following paragraphs will examine events and details concerning two specific Salem Witchcraft Trials; one in which the accused confessed to the practice of witchcraft and another in which the accused denied being a witch.
When the doctor had came and examined the girls there was so explanation for their behavior and stated it was a supernatural cause. Towns people had noticed more of the same symptoms happening to other people. Symptoms of witchcraft could include suffering fits, acting as cats and dogs, screaming, walking on hands and knees, odd noises (Cullender 30). The first women who was accused of witchcraft and was taken in for questioning was Tituba. When Tituba was questioned she had confessed that she was approached by satan along with two other women in the city.
In the spring of 1692, in a small village know at the time as Salem, tension was brewing between the local townspeople of Salem and the young women accused of witchcraft. Not many knew this yet but the trials to come over the next few months would have an enormous impact on the history of Massachusetts and America as well. Salem was a decent sized village with about 500 residents residing within the city lines. So for the most part everybody knew everybody, and one of the most popular figures in salem was the town minister, Reverend Samuel Parris. Parris was a father and a uncle to two young girls named Betty Parris and Abigail Williams both around the age of 9.
It all started in Salem, Massachusetts. Reverend Parris’s grand daughter Abigail and some of her friends were out in the woods dancing. They were dancing by a hot kettle of boiling water. 8 months before this, Abigail was released from the Proctor’s house because she was having an affair with John Proctor. When asked about what they were doing in the woods Tituba said she was doing witchcraft and in order not to die she started accusing other people of it, and those people were arrested.
The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller. It is a play that is based on the actual events in 1692, which led to the Salem Witch Trials, it is a series of hearings before local magistrates to prosecute over 150 people that were accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. Arthur Miller had an inspiration when he wrote this play, there was a meaning that he was trying to get across to his readers. An interesting fact about the title of the Crucible is that the definition of crucible can metaphorically refer to a time in history when great social, political, and cultural changes are in force, where society is being melted down and being recast into a new mold. To begin with, Arthur Miller was born in Harlem,