One of the most notorious periods of American history, the Salem witch trials of 1692 resulted in the execution by hanging of fourteen women and five men who were accused of being witches during a period of mass hysteria. In addition, one man was pressed to death by giant stones for refusing to even plea innocent. At least eight people died in prison, including infants and children alike. Additionally, nearly two hundred people were jailed for months awaiting a trial that never came. Due to the survival of a large multitude of records, including notes and official rulings, the true facts of accusations, trials, and even the executions are known by the public. The survival of these records directly displays how inhumane and unnecessary the Salem …show more content…
Parris eventually called in the local physician, William Griggs, who found the girls convulsing on the floor and barking like dogs. The doctor was perplexed and unable to offer a specific medical explanation, but suggested that it might be the work of evil. Parris consulted with other local ministers, who recommended he wait to see what happened. As the word of these inexplicable fits spread around town, a man named Thomas Putnam, Jr. came forward and admitted that his girls were also behaving out of the ordinary. The women of Salem were scared and under pressure, so they named three women who were also behaving strangely “witches” to make themselves seem normal. Warrants of arrest for the women were issued on February 29, and the next day, the Salem Town magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin examined the women in the Village meeting house. Presumed witched named Good and Osborne declared that they were innocent and knew nothing of witchcraft, but a woman by the name of Tituba ultimately confessed, claiming that witchcraft was practiced by dozens of women within the city …show more content…
The chief justice for the Court of as they called each court, Oyer (hearing) and Terminer (determining) was William Stoughton, and the others serving included men named John Hathorne and Samuel Sewall. The court's first official session resulted in the first death sentence for the accused witch Bridget Bishop. Bishop was accused due to her sharp tongue, unorthodox dress style, and strong wit. Bishop was hanged on June 10, 1692, only 8 days after her trial. Socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer Cotton Mather of Boston's First Church wrote privately to the court expressing his concerns and questions about the evidence behind Bishop’s execution. On June 15, 1692, a group of ministers including Mather wrote to at the time Governor Phips urging that special caution be taken in the use of evidence in the trials. The court next met on June 29 and heard the cases of five more accused women. When the jury tried to acquit accused witch Rebecca Nurse, William Stoughton sent the jury back to deliberate, and returned with a changed verdict from innocent to guilty. Ultimately, all five of the women were hanged on July 19, 1692; at this time the witchcraft hysteria had spread out of the Salem border to Andover. When the hysteria reached the Corey household for the second time, Martha’s husband Giles
Rosalyn Schanzer’s Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, is a Short, breakneck paced book discussing what happened, and possibly why it happened, in the tragedy of 1692. Betty and Abigail, wife and niece of Samuel of Parris, fell ill experienced numerous convulsions. A doctor’s unvarnished diagnosis was that they were bewitched! A deluge of accused puritans surged into Salem Village and neighboring town.
Out of these three, only Tituba confessed to being a witch. Osborne and Good were supposedly innocent. These accusations began the Salem witch-hunt (Blumberg). Afterwards, people in England began sending people to America to be tried for witchcraft.
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.
Accused, trial, guilty, executed, devil, jury - the news spreading around Salem, Massachusetts was deathly. Starting with women, and then expanding to men, there were accusations of witchcraft encompassing the whole town. The arraigned did not stand a chance against the court. The accused witches went through one of the most arduous times of all people in Salem; however, after a well-abounding amount of trials, the cases were closed and the issue was solved. “It was the darkest and most desponding period in the civil history of New England.”
The Salem Gazette has the news about the so called “Salem Witch Trials”. These trials began in January of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts when Betty Parris, Tituba, Abigail Williams, and several other girls were found dancing in the forest, around a fire, in the middle of the night. This suspicious activity led to the hospitalization of young Betty Parris, and the rise of hysteria in our small, farm town. After questioning, none of the girls confessed until they were threatened to be punished.
The Salem witch trials of 1692 realized the execution by hanging of fourteen women and five men reprimanded for being witches. one man was pressed to death by overpowering weights for declining to enter a supplication and more than one hundred and fifty individuals were detained while foreseeing trial. In light of the survival of various critical records, including notes, articulations, and power choices, the essential truths of the claims, catches, trials, and executions are known. On January 20, 1692, in Salem, the Reverend Samuel Parris' daughter, Elizabeth, and his niece, Abigail Williams, began show bizarre behavior, including thundering joke and going into trances. Sarah and Osborne maintained that they were exemplary and stayed unconscious of
June 1692, Rebecca and others convicted of being witches were sentenced to die by being hanged in the gallows. In July, 1692, Rebecca and the others were hanged at Gallows Hill.
Which led Parris to call the local physician, William Griggs, and diagnosed the girls of bewitchment. Other young girls in the community began to exhibit similar symptoms, including Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott and Mary Warren. Pressured to explain what or who had caused their behavior, the girls named three Village women as witches. One named was Tituba, the Rev. Parris ' slave, who had enthralled many local girls with fortune-telling in her master 's kitchen. Another named as a witch was Sarah Good, an unpopular woman who had reportedly muttered threats against her neighbors; the third was Sarah Osborne, who had allowed a man to live with her for some months before they were married.
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of court cases surrounding the mystery of witchcraft in the small town of Salem Village. More than 150 people were accused, and 20 were executed (Smithsonian.com). Many people such as Samuel Parris, Abigail Williams and victims of the hysteria kept the madness going. Before understanding why the Salem Witch Trials happened, one must understand what happened. Before Salem, witch trials had taken place in England long before salem .
Shortly afterwards, the group of girls were barking like dogs and falling out (Witchcraft in Salem). The girls were examined by the town’s doctor who deemed them bewitched. Word spread quickly and ministers from nearby quickly came to help aid the girls and their
She confessed the witches were assisting the devil in antagonizing the puritans. The young girls that she named were immediately arrested, including Sarah Good’s daughter. The accused would accuse others in a repeating cycle. Eventually, Governor William Phips ordered a special court to hear and decide on witchcraft cases. John Hathorne, Samuel Sewall, and William Stoughton led the special witch
The text says,“If she could be a witch, then anyone could” (Blumberg). This was said about Martha Corey who was a very loyal member of the church, so when she was found guilty, the court did not know how to find the people practicing witchcraft. Relating to that, the court knew innocent people were being accused, but could not tell who was innocent or guilty. The article says,“It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person be condemned” (Blumberg). This shows the court did not want innocent people to die, so releasing one possible witch was better than many innocent people dying.
Multiple accused individuals died while they were in prison, due to the terrible conditions. During the time of imprisonment the accused people were said to have been tortured and even denied water to try and get them to confess to being witches. One common story that is spoken with the Salem Witch Trials really shows how far they went with the situation. That story involves a man named Giles Corey, who was accused of being a witch, but unlike the others he refused to plead in any way. In an effort to get him to talk, Corey was forced to remove his clothes and lay flat on his back where they began to place large rocks on top of his body.
Griggs diagnosed these girls by being afflicted by the evil hand. In the seventh century the Salem had been known of blaming witchcraft of the evils of the world and even prosecuted those who were thought of conducting these evils. As the mysteries continued the girls blamed three women for afflicting them with these estrange illness and so this the start of the Salem witch
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.