facts about the salem witch trials

Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating. The first of the girls to start experiencing symptoms was Betty Parris, followed by Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., Mary Walcott and Mercy Lewis. 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. The Salem witch trials were a series of prosecutions in which over 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft. 126. I need to make a bibliography for my English report. By now, seven months on from the arrest of Sarah Good, the hysteria was decelerating. Which brings us to. Chapter 145 of the resolves of 1957, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 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. Salem was . He was later exonerated. What was this witchery actually about and how did it all start? 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. If people were to run away from it, theyll only be hunted down and thats worst then sitting in court. There is actually a compilation of all of the primary sources on the Salem Witch Trials. Found Guilty and Executed:Bridget Bishop (June 10, 1692)Sarah Good (July 19, 1692)Elizabeth Howe (July 19, 1692)Susannah Martin (July 19, 1692)Rebecca Nurse (July 19, 1692)Sarah Wildes (July 19, 1692)George Burroughs (August 19, 1692)Martha Carrier (August 19, 1692)John Willard (August 19, 1692)George Jacobs, Sr (August 19, 1692)John Proctor (August 19, 1692)Alice Parker (September 22, 1692)Mary Parker (September 22, 1692)Ann Pudeator (September 22, 1692)Wilmot Redd (September 22, 1692)Margaret Scott (September 22, 1692)Samuel Wardwell (September 22, 1692)Martha Corey (September 22, 1692)Mary Easty (September 22, 1692), Refused to enter a plea and tortured to death:Giles Corey (September 19th, 1692), Found Guilty and Pardoned:Elizabeth ProctorAbigail Faulkner SrMary PostSarah WardwellElizabeth Johnson JrDorcas Hoar, Pled Guilty and Pardoned:Rebecca EamesAbigail HobbsMary Lacy SrMary Osgood, Died in Prison:Sarah OsburnRoger ToothakerAnn FosterLydia Dustin, Escaped from Prison:John Alden Jr.Edward Bishop Jr.Sarah BishopMary BradburyWilliam Barker Sr.Andrew CarrierKatherine CaryPhillip EnglishMary EnglishEdward Farrington, Never Indicted:Sarah BassettMary BlackBethiah Carter, JrBethiah Carter, SrSarah CloyceElizabeth HartWilliam HobbsThomas Farrer, SrWilliam ProctorSarah ProctorSusannah RootsAnn SearsTituba, Evaded Arrest:George Jacobs JrDaniel Andrews. Twenty people were put to death in Salem for the crime of witchcraft. According to the official Salem website, the trials were shorter than most people believe, but they were still deadly. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom were executed by hanging (14 women and five men). They should've told the US it was all fake once they came to their senses, but they didn't. While the Salem of today is a thriving metropolitan area, in 1692 it was a remote settlement on the edge of the frontier. The theory first came to prominence in the 1970s, when Linnda R. Caporael wrote Ergotism: The Satan Loosed in Salem? On July 23, John Proctor wrote to the clergy in Boston. I think they where viewed in an horrible way, because the people who where accused where not really witches. Glanvill, Joseph. These women were Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn and a slave named Tituba who worked for Reverend Samuel Parris. I hope ill get the chance to read it some day! It makes me sad sometimes writing about it. There the accused were questioned by a judge in front of a jury, which decided whether or not to indict the accused on charges of witchcraft. 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 Story of the Salem Witch Trials is a history of that event. The Salem Witch Trials. The first to be tried wasBridget Bishopof Salem who was found guilty and was hanged on June 10. The Salem Village hangings were the last executions of accused witches in the United States. I find the Salem Witch trails to be the most interesting event in the colonization of whats now US. I am looking forward to the challenge of uncovering a multitude of analysis on this matter. This article was last updated on Nov 22, 2015. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. 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). With a 1562 act now permitting the death penalty for acts of witchcraft, they were hanged. 9, 17181718, Chap. Before we get into the interesting facts about Salem and the Witch Trials, let's do a brief history of the Salem Witch Trials. On December 17, 1697, Governor Stoughton issued a proclamation in hopes of making amends with God. 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. OMG! They feared many innocent people were being executed. Dramatic historic events such as witch trials didn't just come out of nowhere. 5 Facts About the Salem Trials. It all began in 1692 and 1693 when Salem in the United States . 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. This series of prosecutions and hangings of those accused of practicing witchcraft provoked a major backlash, and the event still haunts us today. I know that the accusers, at least some of them were aligned with the Putnam family who was known to have land disputes with several of the villagers. I find the history interesting and would like to find more information on this matter. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. A. Another five were executed exactly a month later on 19 August, four of whom were men. Here's how they got it done. In Salem, they actually didn't do any burning at all. i would like to know more about the salem witch trials. thank you for the bibliography it helps a lot! Id really like to see period sources for your assertion here. Is this a homework question? Add in the numerous films and television series that reference Salem, and things get even more distorted. I dont know what compromise youre referring to. When asked who had done this to them, Betty and Abigail blamed three townswomen, including Tituba, a Native American slave who worked in the Parris household. This belief in the power of the accused to use their invisible shapes or spectres to torture their victims had sealed the fates of those tried by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. They were part of a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe in the 14th century. Hi Maria, I dont have a version number for this site. Salem Witch Trials: The Hysteria Spreads Salem Witch Trials: Conclusion and Legacy The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem. What source other than A Story of Witchcraft would you recommend to look up more information about the trials? For years, Salem Village tried to separate itself politically from Salem Town. Hi Julanii, I am the writer and publisher of this article. The Salem Witch Trials: Facts & History. The Salem Witch Trials: Facts & History. To identify witches, authorities used the "touching test", in which victims of witchcraft would become calm upon touching the culprit. Here are 10 facts about the witch trials that will surely send chills down your spine. The Salem Witch Trials officially began in February of 1692, when the afflicted girls accused the first three victims, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, of witchcraft and ended in May of 1693, when the remaining victims were released from jail. It went all the way back to the Salem Witch trials. The exact cause of the Salem Witch Trials is unknown but they were probably a number of causes. The trials only lasted three months, but they managed to leave a perpetual dark mark on the town's history. No one was burned at the stake in the Salem witch trials. The Story of the Salem Witch Trials - Bryan F. Le Beau 2016-05-23 Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, nineteen people were hanged for practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. In April, more women were accused, as well as a number of men:Sarah CloyceElizabeth ProctorJohn ProctorGiles CoreyAbigail HobbsDeliverance HobbsWilliam HobbsMary WarrenBridget BishopSarah WildesNehemiah Abbott Jr.Mary EastyEdward BishopSarah BishopMary EnglishPhillip EnglishReverend George BurroughsLydia DustinSusannah MartinDorcas HoarSarah Morey. Second, everyone got their food from the same place, so symptoms would have occurred in every household, not just a select few. During the trial, Tituba confessed to having seen the devil and also stated that there was a coven, or group, of witches in the Salem Village area. It means that even though supernatural evidence might seem sketchy to us in this day and age, for people like Cotton Mather and the rest of Salem, it was perfectly acceptable in cases of necessity. Both, like Good, were viewed as outcasts by the local community; Tituba for her race and Osborne for the shedding of any religious beliefs she might once have held. The Puritan way of life was strict, and even small differences in behavior made people suspicious. Local clergymen began speaking out against the witch hunt and tried to persuade officials to stop the trials. It helped me very much on my history day project!! And insularity bred paranoia, as Schiff sharply explains. Thank you for making this blog post! Crown Publishers Inc., 1959. As if the lonely and misunderstood didn't have a hard enough life on its own, they seemed the most suspicious to the crowds. It has so many details that I need. He knew the clergy did not fully approve of the witch hunts. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem. "Maleus Maleficarum Part I.". 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. And particularly, as I was a chief instrument of accusing of Goodwife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, and to be humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families; for which cause I desire to lie in the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those unto whom I have given just cause of sorrow and offence, whose relations were taken away or accused.. Often, in movies and television and books, the accusers in the Salem trials are portrayed as angsty teenage girls, but thats not completely true. I am the author and publisher of this blog. Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating. Since some of the law enforcement involved in the Salem Witch Trials were being sued by some of the surviving victims, the bill also stated: no sheriff, constable, goaler or other officer shall be liable to any prosecution in the law for anything they then legally did in the execution of their respective offices.. Unlike some of the more notorious cases in Europe and England, such as that of the Pendle witch trial, there was no one among Salems accused who was known as a local witch or healer, with one exception. In seventeenth-century New England, pretty much everyone was practicing some form of Christianity. I wonder how many people ran away from The Salem Witch Trials. Most of the accusers were Puritans who lived on the farms. In addition to this constant sense of fear, Salem residents were also under a great deal of stress during this period due to a number of factors. A newer, more anti-religious charter replaced the original one in 1691 and also combined the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony and several other colonies into one. His diagnosis of bewitchment put into motion the forces that would ultimately result in the hanging deaths of 19 men and women. After Bishops execution and the courts endorsement of the indictments against Rebecca Nurse and John Willard, a local constable who, doubting the allegations, refused to bring the accused to court the grand jury adjourned for almost three weeks. While sympathy, and certainly empathy, are always good things to have, its also important that we dont let emotions color the facts. I thought witchcraft only existed in Africa. 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. The day of prayer and fasting was held on January 15, 1698, and was known as the Day of Official Humiliation. As a travel enthusiast, she makes sure she visits at least two new destinations each year and loves to share her knowledge with the readers of TheTravel. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Proctors entire family was accused, including all of his children, his pregnant wife Elizabeth, and sister-in-law. 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? "5 Facts About the Salem Trials." The afflicted state of our poor neighbours, that are now suffering by molestations from the invisible world, we apprehend so deplorable, that we think their condition calls for the utmost help of all persons in their several capacities. That same month, four more women were accused and arrested:Rebecca NurseMartha CoreyDorothy GoodRachel Clinton (from Ipswich). Im using this for my History project. Children were also accused of witchcraft. harvnb error: no target: CITEREFRobinson2001 (. an A on my report i mean >< This really helped with my homework on the salem witch trials cause soon we are going to do an essay on this very soon. I want to use this for my bibliograohy, Same but I cant find it. Letters of Governor Phips to the Home Government, 16921693, "Woman condemned in Salem witch trials on verge of pardon 328 years later", "Indictment of Sarah Good for Afflicting Sarah Vibber", "Indictment of Abigail Hobbs for Covenanting", "The Devil's Specter: Spectral Evidence and the Salem Witchcraft Crisis", Narratives of the Witchcraft Trials, p. 342, "Role of skin lesions in the Salem witchcraft trials", "329 years later, last Salem 'witch' who wasn't is pardoned", Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection, Salem Massachusetts Salem Witch Trials The Stones: July 10 and July 19, 1692, Salem Village Witchcraft Victims' Memorial, etext.virginia.edu, Chapter 122 of the Acts of 2001, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Actual Site Of Salem Witch Hangings Discovered", "The Real Salem Witch Hanging Site Was Located", Salem Witchcraft Trials: The Perception Of Women In History, Literature And Culture, Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, SalemWitchTrials.com Essays, biographies of the accused and afflicted, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salem_witch_trials&oldid=1142737002. Get ready to pull out your history books as we bring you the most DISTURBING facts about the Salem Witch Trials. Are there any other theories as to what may have caused the girls strange behavior? This court consisted of eight judges. Salem Witch Trials of 1692 In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village became ill. William Griggs, the village doctor, was called in when they failed to improve. Oh well, live n learn, Its sad when you can pick out names of your relatives in every list. I am as innocent as the child unborn. His death was gruesome and cruel and strengthened the growing opposition to the Salem Witch Trials. How should I cite this? Her initial verdict was, in fact, not guilty, but upon hearing the verdict the afflicted girls began to have fits in the courtroom. Bridget Bishop was convicted at the end of her trial and sentenced to death. Now that spectral evidence was not allowed, most of the remaining prisoners were found not guilty or released due to a lack of real evidence. The eight-point response, penned by Cotton Mather, advised prudence when it came to procedure, cautioning that hastiness shouldnt overwhelm lawfulness. Soon, prisons were filled with more than 150 men and women from towns surrounding Salem; their names had been cried out by tormented young girls as the cause of their pain. My fathers family have lived in this area for centuries. 143159, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 02:44.

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