facts about the salem witch trials

Salem Witch Trials Memorial at Proctor's Ledge The following are some facts about the Salem Witch Trials: The court didnt believe them, and found all three women guilty of practicing witchcraft. When was this last edited? The other two accused women, Sarah Good and Sarah Osbourne, werent well liked by the community either. . The Salem Witch Trials were one of the best documented trials of colonial times. Alden spent 15 weeks in jail before friends helped break him out and he escaped to New York. Although the witch hunt started in Salem Village, it quickly spread to the neighboring towns, including Amesbury, Andover, Salisbury, Topsfield, Ipswich and Gloucester, and numerous residents of those towns were brought to Salem and put on trial. One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people . Titubas confession was the trigger that sparked the mass hysteria and the hunt for more witches in Salem. A Brief History of The Salem Witch Trials.Brief History Of The Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials took place between 1692 & 1693, in colonial Massachusetts. What gave witches away were body marks, such as scars and moles. They basically played the trump card of the times. This court consisted of eight judges. Luckily ann putnum jr lived to apologize. You never know what you will find when you start researching your family tree! History of the Salem Witch Trials. History of Massachusetts Blog, 18 Aug. 2011, historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials. Or maybe it was the 1711 bill that cleared the names of the accused witches. This was so helpful for my project! The hysteria gripping Salem a settlement resonating with the incessant sound of accusation and counteraccusation showed that no-one was exempt from suspicion. When was this site last edited? One freezing day in January of 1692, something strange happened inside the Parris household of Salem Village, Massachusetts. The infamous Salem witch trials lasted for approximately one year. Twenty-four people died during the Salem witch trials, though many more were accused of witchcraft. There is actually a compilation of all of the primary sources on the Salem Witch Trials. How were the 2 dogs killed during the salem witch trials? Porters never forgot about this n intermarried with many of the families afterwards. i need it for my bibliography, do you have any websites that could help me to find the secondary source? One theory which could explain the apparent madness of the trial and judicial hangings may be found in the bread the settlers were eating. It was viewed as a sin against God, the church, and the Crown, and thus was treated as a crime. Other evidence used in the trials included confessions of the accused, possession of certain items such as poppets, ointments or books on the occult, as well as the presence of an alleged witchs teat, which was a strange mole or blemish, on the accused persons body. thank you for the bibliography it helps a lot! The day of prayer and fasting was held on January 15, 1698, and was known as the Day of Official Humiliation. Good luck! To complicate matters further, within Salem Village itself, there were two separate social groups. Although many of the other accused women were unpopular social outcasts, Nurse was a pious, well-respected and well-loved member of the community. These were the last hangings of the Salem Witch Trials. In June of 1692, the special Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) sat in Salem to hear the cases of witchcraft. A man of God literally planned out a witch genocide. A secondary source would be a book, journal or article written long after the event by someone who didnt experience it first hand. Essex County Court Archives, vol. Being burned at the stake was an occasionally used method of execution in Europe, when one was convicted of witchcraft, but was generally reserved for those who refused to repent of their sins. Other medical explanations have included encephalitis lethargica, a disease carried by birds and animals, and Lyme disease, an infection that produces skin rashes similar to those believed to have been administered by the Salem witches. I see that you told someone quite a while ago but I dont think that is up to date. Keeping to yourself and minding your own business seemed suspicious. It also helped with my reading assignment. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. At the same time, the accused would be denied legal representation. While Puritanism in New England demanded rigidly defined behaviour (hymns were the only permissible music, while childrens toys were outlawed), the colonys geographical isolation increased the insularity of these communities. The trials are believed to have been the reason why the US constitution recognizes witchcraft as a legal religion. When Salem Villages new pastor,Reverend Samuel Parris, came to town, he denounced the secular behavior of the innkeepers and blacksmiths and others. There is no documentation of where she may have gone after the trials. Salem witch trial started as feud between Porters n putnums cuz putnums felt Porters gave too much freedom to their black servants. The initial article took me a few days to write and then I have been slowly adding to it and expanding it over the years. The persecutors had to come up with a whole irrational legal system in order to justify this insanity. Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Although the afflicted girls were the main accusers during the trials, many historians believe the girls parents, particularly Thomas Putnam and Reverend Samuel Parris, were egging the girls on and encouraging them to accuse specific people in the community that they didnt like in an act of revenge. Id really like to see period sources for your assertion here. I find the history interesting and would like to find more information on this matter. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in the settlement of Salem in colonial Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693, and resulted in the executions of twenty people accused of witchcraft, most of them women. Why do you think there are so little primary sources on the Salem Witch Trials? If you are looking for more info on the victims themselves, you can check out the article I wrote specifically about them titled The Salem Witch Trials Victims: Who Were They? "5 Facts About the Salem Trials." Some (incredibly mean) people devoted their time to making a science out of witchcraft. Not many people fled Salem, only a handful did, because Salem was their home and had been for a long time. When James II, unspeakably Catholic, became the titular head of the Church of England (itself considered evil), it was proof that the mother country had come under diabolical control When James II created the Dominion of New England, ordering the New England theocracy to allow the C of E inside, it was the end of their holy mission in the wilderness. Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. The devil had won. Susannah Martin was my 10th great grandmother and John Proctor was my 11th great uncle. She was hanged on June 10, 1692 at a place now called Proctors Ledge, which is a small hill near Gallows Hill, making her the first official victim of the witch trials. I need to do a bibliography, and I have this page on it. Note: it is expensive. Corey still refused to offer a plea and paid with his life. It disgusts me but at the same time interests me, and makes me want to learn more. Random House, 1956Fowler, Samuel Page. Thank for the site it is so helpful for my project! Awesome Article. Get ready to pull out your history books as we bring you the most DISTURBING facts about the Salem Witch Trials. Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2005Upham, Charles Wentworth. Here's what we know about the original witch hunt: 1. The new court was presided over by William Stoughton, Thomas Danforth, John Richards, Waitstill Winthrop and Samuel Sewall. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. All rights reserved. Indeed, as Stacy Schiff explains in The Witches, her history of the witch trials, It would have been difficult to find more than a few souls to whom the supernatural was not eminently real, part and parcel of the culture, as was the devil himself. No one cared about minorities or "loners" anyway. Thank you, using this as a source! Church was all powerful in those days. Im just going to use Smithsonian, ARe you the editor/author of this site @Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, Hi Gigi, yes Im the editor/author of this site, thanks so much I needed that for my homework, Where can I get a copy of the Salem 1692 map that you posted? Her son Richard is one of my 8th great grandfathers and I keep waiting for a DNA match to pop up with one of his other descendants. How inhumane! The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 31. Does that mean they couldnt have been practicing witchcraft? Psychosomatic disorders have been suggested as the root of the hysteria, most notably the societal strains placed on them in a strict, deeply religious adult world that made no contingency for the developmental needs of children. While women were of course on the forefront of persecution, men could also be accused of witchcraft. Ergot is a fungus found in bread, and has the same effect as hallucinogenic drugs. Well, most of the people accused lived in the part of Salem Village that was full of businesses and shops. Although spectral evidence, evidence based on dreams and visions, wasnt the only evidence used in court during the Salem Witch Trails, it was the most common evidence and the easiest evidence for accusers to fake. In effect, theSalem Witch Trialswere over. The first of the girls to start experiencing symptoms was Betty Parris, followed by Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., Mary Walcott and Mercy Lewis. While many modern-day Pagans cite the Salem trials as an example of religious intolerance, at the time, witchcraft was not seen as a religion at all. Those who lived nearer to Salem Town engaged in commerce and were seen as a bit more worldly. Nor can we esteem alterations made in the sufferers, by a look or touch of the accused, to be an infallible evidence of guilt, but frequently liable to be abused by the Devil's legerdemains. It was last edited on September 8, 2013 at 4:52 pm, Thank you, Rebecca, recently I have been down and this is a paper for a class Im failing, Thank you for helping me get an A, What is the publisher for this website? Do not lay more stress on pure spectral evidence than it will bear, he cautioned. http://www.easybib.com/cite/view. The Salem Witch Trials. It is called Records of the Salem Witch Hunt and is edited by Bernard Rosenthal. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were killed during the hysteria. Eventually, after seeming to realize how unfair the trials were to the accused, the court refused to hear any more charges of witchcraft. As in complaints upon witchcrafts, there may be matters of inquiry which do not amount unto matters of presumption, and there may be matters of presumption which yet may not be matters of conviction, so it is necessary, that all proceedings thereabout be managed with an exceeding tenderness towards those that may be complained of, especially if they have been persons formerly of an unblemished reputation. All Top Ten Lists History and Events Top 10 Dark Truths About the Salem Witch Trials We have all had to acknowledge the Salem Witch Trials, at one poimt or another, in this place called USA.To put it simply, the Salem Witch Trials were essentially the American equivalent to the Dark Ages, although the United States was not yet a proper sovreign nation, at the time. And if you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink.. Oh well, live n learn, Its sad when you can pick out names of your relatives in every list. Legal Legacy of the Salem Witch Trials. Between 1692 and 1693, more than two hundred people were accused. On October 29, 1692, Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer, a decision that marked the beginning of the end for the Salem witch trials. No one was burned at the stake in the Salem witch trials. I think they where viewed in an horrible way, because the people who where accused where not really witches. Text adapted from the National Geographic book Witches! North Wind Picture Archives, Alamy Stock Photo. Did you know they executed 2 dogs?! Another notable person who was accused of witchcraft was Captain John Alden Jr., the son of the Mayflower crew member John Alden. Salem was ruled by English law at the time, which only allowed death by burning to be used against men who committed high treason and only after they had been hanged, quartered and drawn. The heat was stifling on a July day in 1692, as five dishevelled and bound women are paraded on a wooden cart through the streets of Salem village in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. 1982)]. One of the most popular theories as to what could have caused the mass hysteria of Salem is that of ergot poisoning, but recent scholars have questioned this idea. The Salem Witch Trials offered a salutary lesson not only to the colony of Massachusetts Bay but also to the new nation that would be forged in the following century. As a devout and strongly religious community living in near isolation in the mysterious New World, the community of Salem had a heightened sense of fear of the Devil and, as a result, it didnt take much to convince the villagers that there was evil among them. thanks, primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials, View all posts by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, http://www.zazzle.com/salem_village_map_poster-228789587972988887?rf=238784808055391622, https://historyofmassachusetts.org/best-books-about-salem-witch-trials/. On that day, Judge Samuel Sewall attended prayer services at Bostons South Church and asked Reverend Samuel Willard to read a public apology that Sewall had written, which states: Samuel Sewall, sensible of the reiterated strokes of God upon himself and family; and being sensible, that as to the guilt contracted upon the opening of the late Commission of Oyer and Terminer at Salem (to which the order of this day relates) he is, upon many accounts, more concerned than any that he knows of, desires to take the blame and shame of it, asking pardon of men, and especially desiring prayers that God, who has an unlimited authority, would pardon that sin and all other his sins; personal and relative: And according to his infinite benignity and sovereignty, not visit the sin of him, or of any other, upon himself or any of his, nor upon the land: But that he would powerfully defend him against all temptations to sin, for the future; and vouchsafe him the efficacious, saving conduct of his word and spirit.. The Salem Witch Trials: Facts & History. The Salem Witch Trials: Facts & History. The English laws against witchcraft were repealed in 1736, after which incidents of suspected bewitchment, by now very isolated, were dealt with by mob rule rather than by a clear legal framework. I wonder how many people ran away from The Salem Witch Trials. This helped with my English assignment! These spirits could inhabit any human or any creature. After Nurses execution on July 19th, the residents of Salem started to seriously question the validity of the trials. In seventeenth-century New England, pretty much everyone was practicing some form of Christianity. DHowlett1692, who blogs regularly about all things Salem, cites a 1977 article by Nicholas P. Spanos and Jack Gottlieb that disputes Caporaels ergotism study. The first to be tried wasBridget Bishopof Salem who was found guilty and was hanged on June 10. As if the lonely and misunderstood didn't have a hard enough life on its own, they seemed the most suspicious to the crowds. The Salem Witch Trials began in spring 1692 and lasted for seven months, during which more than 150 people where arrested, 19 were hanged and one was tortured to death. You can check out my article on books about the Salem Witch Trials here:https://historyofmassachusetts.org/best-books-about-salem-witch-trials/ or you could search the court records online on the University of Virginia website. 1 Most of the accused were women but men were accusedand executedtoo. In additionone man was pressed to death; several others died in prison, and the lives of many were irrevocably changed. The preacher sad they could not kill the devil by shooting the dog but did anyway. The bill cleared the names of: George Burroughs, John Proctor, George Jacobs, John Willard, Giles Corey, Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Mary Easty, Sarah Wildes, Abigail Hobbs, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Martha Carrier, Abigail Faulkner, Anne Foster, Rebecca Eames, Mary Post, Mary Lacey, Mary Bradbury and Dorcas Hoar. Anja Grar is a writer, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Giles Corey, the husband of Martha Corey, refused to enter a plea and was subjected to a particularly gruesome form of torture where the accused is crushed under heavy stones until they either respond or die a tactic known as peine forte et dure, (until he either answered or died). The trials only lasted three months, but they managed to leave a perpetual dark mark on the town's history. Glanvill, Joseph. "5 Facts About the Salem Trials." Wrong. Knowing that if he was convicted his large estate would be confiscated and wouldnt be passed down to his children, Corey brought his trial to a halt by refusing to enter a plea. A Reply. Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating. A witness testifies against an accused witch during one of the many witchcraft trials of the 1690s. Hi Sara, the last hangings of the Salem Witch Trials took place on September 22 and they include six women: Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Margaret Scott, Wilmot Redd and Mary Parker. Sarah Wildes was my 8th great grandmother. A large proportion of the case against Bishop also focused on her lifestyle, especially her rumoured promiscuity and un-Puritan ways. Estimates suggest that over 200 women were executed during this period as a direct result of the investigations of Hopkins and his associates. Proctor told them about the torture inflicted on the accused and asked that the trials be moved to Boston where he felt he would get a fair trial. Add in the numerous films and television series that reference Salem, and things get even more distorted. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. By the end of May, more than 60 people were in custody; the vast majority were women, but a handful of men were also detained. Witch hunts Native Americans and other religions represented threats by the Devil. These three women were social outcasts and easy targets for the accusation of witchcraft. On October 29, Phips dismissed the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Finally, many of the symptoms described by witnesses stopped and began again based on external circumstances, and that simply doesnt happen with physiological illness. As if the class and religious differences werent bad enough, Salem was in an area that was under regular attack from Native American tribes. On March 1st, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn were arrested and examined. Here are some of our favorite Salem attractions: Salem Witch Museum Your first stop should be the Salem Witch Museum. Explore 17th-century Salem in the museum's 13 stage sets that bring the witch trials to life. By May 1693 . No one was burned at the stake in Salem, but nineteen people were hanged, and one was pressed to death under heavy stones. The other most notorious case of witchcraft in England came during the British Civil Wars when Matthew Hopkins the son of a Puritan clergyman and the self-styled Witch Finder General scoured East Anglia in search those suspected of making covenants with the Devil. Hemmed in by the ocean to the east and by an untamed wilderness to the west, settlers were completely disconnected from both the mother country on the other side of the Atlantic and the remainder of the American continent. One of the greatest tragedies of the Salem Witch Trials was the concept of the familiars. An elderly woman accused of witchcraft is taken to the courthouse by an officer of the law. The Puritan way of life was strict, and even small differences in behavior made people suspicious. The hysterical behaviour was an unconscious outlet for rebellion, a release valve for the pressure that the threat of eternal damnation put them under. When Nurse was first arrested, many members of the community signed a petition asking for her release. The three women were thrown in jail to await trial for practicing witchcraft. The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem. Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. The theory first came to prominence in the 1970s, when Linnda R. Caporael wrote Ergotism: The Satan Loosed in Salem? Theres always a lot of discussion in the Pagan community about theso-called Burning Times, which is the term used to describe the witch hunts of early modern Europe. The first witch trial occurred because the daughter (Betty Parris) and niece (Abigail Williams) of the local Salem Reverend had become violently ill. During her trial, Bishop repeatedly defended herself, stating I am innocent, I know nothing of it, I have done no witchcraft . Good had been among the first local women to be arrested, after several young girls from the village had experienced mysterious afflictions the previous February. If the accused was indicted, they were not allowed a lawyer and they had to decide to plead guilty or not guilty with no legal counsel to guide them. I really enjoy reading your blog! Since the witch trials ended, the colony also began to suffer many misfortunes such as droughts, crop failures, smallpox outbreaks and Native-American attacks and many began to wonder if God was punishing them for their mistake. There were the ordinary stresses of 17th-century life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It will be very easy. Proctors wife managed to escape execution because she was pregnant, but Proctor was hanged on August 19 along with five other people. This series of prosecutions and hangings of those accused of practicing witchcraft provoked a major backlash, and the event still haunts us today. When a young Lancastrian woman called Alison Device asked for a pin from a travelling peddler but was denied, the peddler apparently became immediately paralysed down his left side. 1. Here's how they got it done. Mather saw the war against Satan as being just as important as the war against the French and the local Native American tribes. King William's War (war in the America colonies against the French) ended with many people having to be relocated so there were many strangers moving into town. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/facts-about-the-salem-trials-2562897. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. The new court released those awaiting trial and pardoned those awaiting execution. How many people (male and female) were killed in the Trials? In mid-January 1692, Elizabeth "Betty" Parris, the 9-year-old daughter of the local Reverend Samuel Parris, and. They hanged the poor souls instead. Web. The ages of the accused ranged from 12 to 72 years old, with the average age being 41. They accused other townspeople of torturing them, and a few of the so-called witches on trial even named others as witches. There were all kinds of tests to determine whether a woman was a witch. (2021, September 9). They were part of a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe in the 14th century. Twenty people were put to death in Salem for the crime of witchcraft. Let me know if you are related to story too. Massachusetts was an outpost of Gods chosen people in a hostile wilderness in the 17th century. According to the official Salem website, the trials were shorter than most people believe, but they were still deadly. When the first accusations of witchcraft began in Salem Village, they initially targeted women. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks is the author and publisher of the History of Massachusetts Blog. Her apology states: I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell my fathers family in the year about 92; that I, then being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood; though what was said or done by me against any person I can truly and uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for I had no such thing against one of them; but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded by Satan. The Salem witch trials began because a group of girls claimed they were possessed by the devil. Nineteen were hanged, and oneelderly Giles Coreypressed to death. Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating. As chief justice, Stoughton believed that spectral evidence presented to the court that is, evidence gathered from dreams and visions would form a central plank of the prosecutions. Massachusetts Archives, Vol. His death was gruesome and cruel and strengthened the growing opposition to the Salem Witch Trials. It's also important to remember that there is no evidence, other than spectral evidence and coerced confessions, that any of the accused actually did practice witchcraft. Some say it's because temperatures dropped significantly, there was famine and people needed a scapegoat. harvnb error: no target: CITEREFRobinson2001 (. Although I just found it, it has helped me with what I needed on my Salem Witch Trials report for History. The Examination of Sarah Good, March 1, 1692. Ergot contains lysergic acid, a precursor for synthesis of LSD; certainly the visions of shape-shifting devils reported by the afflicted might be consistent with the experiences of an acid trip.

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