Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials play a major role in the history of the late 1600’s. The people and their actions involved have changed the face of Salem today. The term witchcraft is defined as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Puritan town of Salem was home to most of these trials. There were two types of people in Salem; the ones who wanted to leave and the ones who did not. Reverend Parris was the preacher at the Puritan church, he has a nine-year-old daughter named Betty, and a twelve-year-old niece named Abigail Williams. Since they lived so far away from Salem Town, there wasn't much for them to do for recreational purposes. …show more content…
They were brought to the village meeting house to be questioned. The “circle girls” has been stationed in the meeting house before the three women were let in. In the group of girls only one wasn't present, Betty Parris. As the judge asked the girls if Sarah Good has done this to them, they fell on the floor screaming as they were being tormented, they did the same when it was Sarah Osborne. Finally, Tituba was brought in, the girls “torment’ had worsen. Tituba had confessed to signing the devil's book. During the trials, Nineteen accused witches were hung at Gallows Hill, June 10th: Bridget Bishop was the first executed for witchcraft. July 19th: Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe and Sarah Wildes. August 19th: George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, John Willard, George Jacobs, Sr., John Procter. September 22nd: Martha Corey, Mary Eastey, Ann Pudeator, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, Wilmott Redd, Margaret Scott, Samuel Wardwell. One accused witch/wizard was pressed to death on September 19th when he failed to plead guilty or non guilty, Giles Corey. Other accused witches that died in prison: Sarah Osborne, Roger Toothaker, Lyndia Dustin and, Ann Foster. As many as 13 others may have died. To determine if one was a witch they had test including, swimming test, prayer test, touch test, witch cakes, pricking and scratching test and many
The month of August five more were hanged, and then in September eight were hanged(Blumberg). Giles corey was pressed to death with stones for not telling the court about other people being witches(Blumberg). People started to accused people of being a witch as a tool of vengeance(Blumberg). And someone accused two dogs of being witches(Blumberg). It lasted from June until September seven died in jail thirteen women and five men were killed(Blumberg). There was twenty killed and 100s jailed for witchcraft(Blumberg). It finally end in 1693, and the court finally ruled the court hearing during the witch trials were
The Salem Witch Trials started in 1692 when a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by the Devil, Which was essentially being a witch. The punishment of being a witch was death. After the girls trials were done they were all hung at the Salem gallows. After That 150 women and children were accused. But in the end only 18 people were killed by the state of Massachusetts.
The trials took place between February 1692 - may 1693. On January 20, 1692, in Salem Village, which is now known as Danvers Massachusetts. the Reverend Samuel Parris daughter, Elizabeth, and his niece, Abigail Williams, began showing odd behavior,
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of events in Salem, Massachusetts from January 1692 lasting until May 1693, where 150 people were accused of, and 19 were hung for supposedly practicing witchcraft. The accusations sparked from a young group of girls who were believed to have experiences of intense twitching of their limbs and uncontrollable sickness as a result of being fcursed by a witch in the village. After the first accusation is made against Sarah Good, the village of Salem established a court system specialized in managing witchcraft trials. (History.com) Tests were performed on the accused men, women and children ranging from pricking the “witch” with a needle to see if they bleed, throwing the “witch” in the lake to see if he/she
Although Tituba and the other women were accused first, they were not the first to be executed. Bridget Bishop was the first to be hanged (Wallenfeldt). Bishop was the first execution of the witch trials; however, this was not the first time she was accused. Twelve years earlier she was accused but found innocent. Salem had few ways of executing people for the trials. Three ways of execution hanging, death in prison, and pressing (Lewis). Those were the three ways of executions 19 men and women were hung, one was pressed to death by heavy stones,and many more died in prison.Throughout the witch trials, there were four dates specifically for the executions. There were four hanging dates for the executions.( The 1692). There were four total dates of execution starting with June 10, July 19, August 19, and ending with September 22.Throughout all four dates, nineteen women and one man were killed.
She was hanged June 10, 1692. Following Bishop, over the next few months other women, men, and some children had to go to, what was called, the Salem Gallows hill to be hanged for witchcraft. John Proctor and Samuel Wardell are two men that were hanged during this tragic event. Proctor was hanged August 19, 1692 and Wardell was hanged September 22,
This event took place in the household of Parris, where a woman name Tituba, an Indian slave, headed the rituals. Another reason causes this event to occur was belief in the supernatural and specifically in the devil’s practice of giving certain humans or witches the ability to harm other community people in return for their loyalty (Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive). When Tituba and other witches began to practice these devil rituals, girls who had been involved, even including the Master Parris’ daughter and niece, started becoming sick. In other words, their condition didn’t seem normal and they were twitching, crying, making odd noises and huddling in corners (Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive). Due to the bad condition of girls, families had a fear to loss their daughter that made them to called the doctors in, the doctors treated the girls for many illnesses but nothing helped (Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive).
The background of the trials began during spring, of 1692, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams started to display strange behavior, the first wave of paranoia that spread throughout the town. Both related to the ordained minister, Samuel Parris. After they showed these weird habits other girls in Salem started to display
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of trials in which twenty-four people were killed after being accused of practicing witchcraft. These trials were caused by different social climates of the area including the very strong lack of a governor, the split between Salem Village and Salem Town, and the strict puritan lifestyle during the time period. Tituba, the black slave, was a foreigner from Barbados. Her role in society was to take care of Mr. Parris’s family. Tituba’s situation contributed to her role in the witch trials because Mr. Parris promised her freedom if she confessed guilty. Tituba also realized that with her false confession of being a witch also helped keep her life, therefore she accused other people in the village
The Salem Witch Trials, also know as the Salem Witchcraft Trials were legal proceedings which took place of course in the Salem Village of Massachusetts. These trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in the village, claimed to be possessed by the devil accusing several local women of practicing the craft. Victims were prosecuted and executed for reputedly practicing witchcraft, when little to no evidence of the act itself existed. This historical period resulted in twenty people, mostly women, being hung for black magic conspiracies. Neighbors accused neighbors; even church members accused other church members of witchcraft. Others were accused, but fled the area before they could be arrested. During this time
Although most of the cases for the Salem Witch Trials were fake, they could've easily been prank that went too far, or grudges against neighbors. Despite all of the rumors, there is one accusation that will never be dropped. An Indian slave, Tituba. Tituba was the first to be accused of witchcraft in Salem Village. She was brought before a court and confessed under pressure the names of two other “witches”, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. The framed women were accused of bewitching two young girls: Elizabeth Parris, age 9, and Abigail
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. These resulted in 20 executions and 2 of them were kids. The first victims were a group of young girls that people said were possessed by the devil, that is the first people that were killed in this era.
“And now Nineteen persons having been hang 'd, and one prest to death, and Eight more condemned, in all Twenty and Eight, of which above a third part were Members of some of the Churches of N. England, and more than half of them of a good Conversation in general, and not one clear 'd; about Fifty having confest themselves to be Witches, of which not one Executed; above an Hundred and Fifty in Prison, and Two Hundred more accused; the Special Commision of Oyer and Terminer comes to a period.”("The Salem Witch Trials, 1692." )
This started the hysterical beginning of the Salem Witch trials, which resulted in many women, men, and children being accused of practicing witchcraft. Out of the one hundred fifty people accused in Salem, twenty of them were executed as witches, while others rotted away and died in jail. The people of Salem did not discriminate who they executed or who they sent to jail so the result was a diverse range of citizens being accused.
Throughout history, there have been many cases of discriminatory accusations of people, including the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were a string of trials, hearings and prosecutions of many people accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts between the dates of February 1692 and May 1693. The trials ended up leading to the execution of twenty people, men and women, but mainly women. The Salem Witch Trials that took place about three hundred years ago affected the lives of everyday civilians during that time in ways such as politically, religiously, economically, fearfully, mentally, and sometimes in other various other ways.