facts about the salem witch trials facts about the salem witch trials

These spirits could inhabit any human or any creature. Local clergymen began speaking out against the witch hunt and tried to persuade officials to stop the trials. Dr Griggs was a relative through my grandmother. Did the Putnams purchase any of the land from those who were accused and killed? Secondary sources would be Charles Uphams book Salem Witchcraft which was published in 1867, Emerson Bakers book A Storm of Witchcraft which was published in 2014 and etc. In May, as the number of cases grew, Governor William Phips set up a special court, known as the Court of Oyer and Terminer (which translate to hear and determine) to hear the cases. Other victims include two dogs who were shot or killed after being suspected of witchcraft. 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. 1, pp. In addition to official court records there are also several books written by the ministers and other people involved in the trials: A Brief and True Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages Relating to Sundry Persons Afflicted by Witchcraft, at Salem Village: Which happened from the Nineteenth of March, to the Fifth of April, 1692 by Deodat Lawson circa 1692 The Wonders of the Invisible World: Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England by Cotton Mather circa 1692 More Wonders of the Invisible World by Robert Calef circa 1700 A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft by John Hale circa 1702. 5 Facts About the Salem Trials. Also i seems like a smarter thing to do at the moment if you had a rival with one of the families in town. Thats where spectral evidence comes in, and it played a significant role in the Salem trials. The trials only lasted three months, but they managed to leave a perpetual dark mark on the town's history. The first to be tried wasBridget Bishopof Salem who was found guilty and was hanged on June 10. Ultimately, eight women and two men were tried and found guilty of attending the gathering. Another five were executed exactly a month later on 19 August, four of whom were men. Well, most of the people accused lived in the part of Salem Village that was full of businesses and shops. When was this site last edited? The leading independent voice for aviation news and insight. 31. In pre-echoes of what would later occur in Salem, panic took hold of the local community, with accusations flying in all directions. When it came to religion, Salem Village was as devout as any other settlement in the area; one visitor observed that the residents of New England could neither drive a bargain, nor make a jest, without a text of Scripture at the end of it. Then they even do a greater injustice by not only torturing folks in prison but hanging 19 of them and then putting rocks on a 71 year old man until he died because he would not state he was guilty or innocent (some old English law if accused refused to make a plea). I find this to be very well put and want to read more. Presided over by Chief Justice William Stoughton, the court was made up of magistrates and jurors. Seemed like there was alot of hate towards one another just for being different. http://www.easybib.com/cite/view. Do you have a version number for this site? 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. The court didnt believe them, and found all three women guilty of practicing witchcraft. It is voluminous and comes in paperback and hardcover. 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. Good luck! In Germany alone, thousands of women died horrible deaths. Q&A: Were ducking stools ever used as punishment for crimes other than witchcraft during the Middle Ages. Patti Wigington is a pagan author, educator, and licensed clergy. See, the concept of fake news is nothing new. In 1813, the wooden structure of the jail was remodeled into a Victorian home and in 1956 the home was razed. Encyclopdia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them. propably in like 1-3 weeks away. As the trials and executions continued, colonists began to doubt that so many people could actually be guilty of this crime. A week later, the jury changed their minds and declared Nurse guilty. They took place in a number of cities in Massachusetts Bay Colony in the years 1692 and 1693, but primarily in the town of Salem. Proctors wife managed to escape execution because she was pregnant, but Proctor was hanged on August 19 along with five other people. Massachusetts State Archives. 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. Thanks so much! 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. Lets look at some important historical evidence that people often forget about the Salem witch trials. The proclamation suggested that there should be: observed a Day of Prayer with Fasting throughout the ProvinceSo that all Gods people may put away that which hath stirred Gods Holy jealousy against his land; that he wouldhelp us wherein we have done amiss to do so no more; and especially that whatever mistakes on either hand have fallen intoreferring to the late tragedy, raised among us by Satan and his instruments, through the awful judgement of God, he would humble us therefore and pardon all the errors and people that desire to love his name. Im doing the Salem witch trials for my A-Level coursework, does anyone know the full names of any historians that have spoken about this topic? The eight-point response, penned by Cotton Mather, advised prudence when it came to procedure, cautioning that hastiness shouldnt overwhelm lawfulness. At the center of the Salem witch trials were a core group of accusers, all girls and young women ranging in age from nine to 20, who screamed, writhed, barked and displayed other horrifying. 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. 9 Men Also Died During The Trials This is like the only website i found most helpful on Salem Witch Trial. Now I know it is not only there that it existed. Porters never forgot about this n intermarried with many of the families afterwards. However, the subtlety of the ministers response was largely sidelined by the grand jury, who drew their energy from one particular concluding line from Mather: we cannot but humbly recommend unto the government, the speedy and vigorous prosecution of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious. In possession of such a mandate, the trials moved up a gear. 143159, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 02:44. im doing a huge assessment in my language arts class called national history day and i love how into detail this went! They left an 11-year-old son, John Jr . Often, in movies and television and books, the accusers in the Salem trials are portrayed as angsty teenage girls, but thats not completely true. Her initial verdict was, in fact, not guilty, but upon hearing the verdict the afflicted girls began to have fits in the courtroom. 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. Even when the court ordered further executions, Phips wisely issued pardons to those convicted. Dr. John Lienhard of the University of Houston writes in Rye, Ergot and Witches about Mary Matossians 1982 study which supports Caporaels findings. 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. Unfortunately, I do not have any information on her family tree but you might want to check out a genealogy site like ancestry.com to find out more. Here's how they got it done. 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. 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. Nige Tassell explains how hysteria in the village of Salem, Massachusets, gave rise to a horror that bedazzled the world Published: June 10, 2020 at 4:45 pm And insularity bred paranoia, as Schiff sharply explains. They basically played the trump card of the times. Has their been any further studies into the ergot theory besides the collage student in the early 70s? 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. I have all the other bibliographies from some other websites but I still need one from this one and I cant find it could you help me?? 10 Spine-Chilling & Captivating Facts About Salem, Massachusetts In February, Samuel Parris called for a doctor, who is believed to be Dr. William Griggs, to examine the girls. Everything we know now about the trials comes from just a handful of primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials. Alden was accused of witchcraft by a child during a trip to Salem while he was on his way home to Boston from Canada. Two days before the court convened, a Puritan minister from Boston named Cotton Mather wrote to one of the judges expressing his concern over the admissibility of such evidence. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. They were a means of crowd control that gave way to changes in power structures. Anja Grar is a writer, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Learn all about the origin, history, and significance of the Salem witch trials. Learn Religions. The girls were having a type of epileptic fit and would scream out . As sleet and snow heaped higher outside their door, Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail began to twitch and twist their bodies into strange shapes, speaking in words that made no sense. thanks, mike turner, The 1692 Salem Village map can now be purchased on zazzle: http://www.zazzle.com/salem_village_map_poster-228789587972988887?rf=238784808055391622. How should I cite this? Rebecca Beatrice Brooks is the author and publisher of the History of Massachusetts Blog. The best way to get people's attention is to start spreading sensational and fake news. Chapter 145 of the resolves of 1957, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Shortly after, Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon, Mary Warren and Elizabeth Booth all started to experience the same symptoms, which consisted of suffering fits, hiding under furniture, contorting in pain and experiencing fever. 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. As for why these victims were targeted in the first place, historians have noted that many of the accused were wealthy and held different religious beliefs than their accusers. Of those arrested, the majority were women (85%) and only a handful were men (15%). 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. Keeping to yourself and minding your own business seemed suspicious. 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. 2, no. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/facts-about-the-salem-trials-2562897. 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. Around the end of September, the use of spectral evidence was finally declared inadmissible, thus marking the beginning of the end of the Salem Witch Trials.