Salem, Massachusetts, USA and occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned and even more accused; but not pursued by the authorities. 29 were convicted of witchcraft but only 19 were hanged. The best known trials were in the Court of Oyer and Terminer. It was a series of hearings before local magistrates, which led to county court trials to persecute people accused of witchcraft. Trials took place against the theocratic, Puritan British colony where the church ruled in civil matters. Women were believed more likely to side with the devil then men due to their lustful nature and obedience to men. The first 3 people to be accused of witchcraft was: Sarah Good(a beggar), Tituba(a native) and Sarah …show more content…
Most of the evidence was spectral evidence, a testimony of the afflicted who claimed to see the person afflicting them but “devil marks” on the body (moles or birthmarks), poppets(dolls used to cast spells on the represented person), pots of ointment, books of horoscope/palmistry, gossip/stories or “witch cakes”(rye flour and human urine of the afflicted person, which was fed to the dog to see if it was afflicted). Eventually doubts developed as to why so many respectable, wealthy people were guilty to such shocking crimes. Many of the accused were better off financially than the accusers and the accusers often gained their property. Governor Phips ordered for proof of guilt had to given by clear and convincing evidence and many of the trials ended in acquittals until the movement came to a halt. The Court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved in late October 1962 and a Superior Court tried the remaining cases. The last trial was held in May 1963 and Phips released all the accused and convicted witches from prison. Several judges and jurors declared they were “sadly deluded and mistaken” in their judgements, as time transcended the Salem Witch trials. William Stoughton refused to apologise or explain himself and criticised Phips for interfering when he was about to clear the land of
Additionally, both courts made use of the following method described in the Malleus maleficarum: “while he is being tortured, he must be questioned on the articles of accusation, and this frequently and persistently, beginning with the lighter charges-for he will more readily confess the lighter than the heavier. And, while this is being done, the notary must write down everything in his record of the trial - how the prisoner is tortured, on what points he is questioned and how he answers.” There was no presumption of innocence in the Salem trials; one was assumed to be guilty and in need of confession, rather than the plaintiffs being forced to prove the supposed acts of witchcraft performed against them. In conclusion, it is surprising that more defendants were not convicted of witchcraft, given the significant lack of due process rights for the accused and the (obviously) Puritan nature of those overseeing the Salem courts, in which hearsay and heresy went hand in
In the trial they where accucing a girl of witch craft and acted crazy so She shook her head as if she was being possed. The poor people
The Salem Witch trials happened between the years 1692-1693, in Massachusetts Bay Colony, Salem town. Between Feb 1692 and May 1693, over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned, with many more accused but not properly brought to justice by the authorities, and 19 were eventually hanged. The best known trials, were conducted by the Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 in Salem Town. Betty Parris and Abigail Williams were the first to experience the “witchcraft,” and reported it. The first accused were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba.
The Salem Witch Trials started in 1692 and ended in 1711. The Salem Witch Trials were the period of the Puritan religion’s belief in witches in Salem, Massachusetts. The trials started with Betty Parris and her orphaned cousin Abigail Williams, when the girls began to contort their bodies, crouch beneath furniture and speak words that don’t make sense. When the girls were diagnosed as bewitched, it led to the witchhunt called the Salem Witch Trials. In Rosalyn Schanzer’s Witches!
In 1692, as the puritans of Salem Massachusetts over-turn on each other, they started scapegoating many of their villagers with witchcraft. During this time many were murdered unfairly. The Salem Witch Trials was a reformation of the government. People believed that this was an era where the devil gave certain humans powers to harm others in joining them into their beliefs. It was certain to happen, because many had personal envy which caused many of the accusations,trials, and the implementations.
In the late 1600’s, in Massachusetts, The Salem Witch Trials began. According to a young group of girls who claimed to be possessed by the devil accused women in the village of witchcraft. “There was series of hearings and prosecutions of innocent people” (Salem Witch Trials). “The hysteria concluded around 150 people thrown in witch jail” (Salem Witch Trials).
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of trials against witches in Salem. As idiotic as that sounds that is as simple a definition as one can give it. Between February of Sixteen Ninety two and May of Sixteen Ninety three, twenty people were executed on the accusations of “Witchcraft.” The accused would be rushed through a trial and publicly executed before the public. After they were executed vigilantes would generally go after their families as well due to them being satanic for “housing witches”.
Nineteen people were hung due to false judgement by human nature and society. Taking place in a small village called Salem, inside of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, during a depressing seventeenth century, was a movement that would challenge the nation’s religious and psychological beliefs. Innocent people were being accused of witchcraft, when rather they were just ill or not taken care of properly by family and friends. Thought to be caused by stress, fear, and panic, the Salem Witch Trials was an event that changed the nation’s view on mental illness because of false assumptions and mischievous behavior. The Salem Witch Trials was a series of false accusations of witchcraft taking place in Salem, which during the seventeenth century, was apart of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The Salem witch trials was one of the most famous witch hunt in history. More than 200 accused witched occupied the local jail. 19 people executed, were hanged, one pressed with rocks to death and few more died in jail within a year from 1692-1693. It happened in Salem Village, New England in Massachusetts, now known as Danvers. Witchcraft was second among the hierarchy of crimes which was above blasphemy, murder and poisoning in the Puritan Code of 1641.
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.
The trials were held in what is now the city of Danvers,Massachusetts. The aftermath took place all over the world,people held “witch hunts” sometimes they didn 't look for actual witches. The most famous witch hunt took place during the cold war in America. People hunted communist and accused others of being communist without any clear evidence that they were. The Salem Witch Trials are an important event in American history.
In 1957 the state apologized and added another name to the list. On the 300th anniversary (August 1992) the Salem Witch Trials memorial was dedicated in Salem. Finally on Halloween (October 31) 2001 in an Act approved by the Massachusetts Legislature the final five women hung unjustly for witchcraft were official cleared by
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.
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.