The Massachused: The Salem Witch Trials

In 1692 the Salem Witch Trials happened in Salem, Massachusettes. The trials were to prosecute people who were accused of witch craft. Some of the people were hung and many others were arrested. The trials went from 1692 and 1693.

Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, 20 people were put to death in Salem Massachusetts for witchcraft. Neighbors turned on neighbors, women turned on women. Nobody was necessarily safe from being accused of witchcraft. During the time of the 1600s many English immigrants arrived in New England, a number of them being Puritans. They came to New England to practice Christianity in ways they felt were pure. To help guide the Puritans through life, they read the bible. Whatever the bible said, they believed and one subject was about the Devil. One of the tricks the Devil used, was to enter a normal person’s body and turn that person into a witch. A witch could cause terrible damage. Of course, the Puritans believed it, so every bad act they saw, they often accused the person of being a witch. What

In the year of 1692, Salem Village, Massachusetts went through an event known as the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. This odd occurrence all started whenever 2 young village girls encountered a West Indian Slave woman to learn about thier futures. One of the girls claimed to see a coffin by looking into a glass with egg white in it. In the months following this incident, one of the girls father, Reverend Samuel Parris reported the girls suspicious behavior. He reported that they had been crawling in holes, under chairs and stools, and mumbling ridiculous phrases. Reverend Parris later found out about these girls meeting with the indian woman and professed that the girls were not sick, but rather possessed. This “possession” spread rapidly and the witch hunt began.

The Puritan Salem Witchcraft Trials were cases brought to the county court of trials in 1692 during which accusations of witchcraft were made against both men and women in three towns in Massachusetts. After bringing 100-200 people in for trial, it was brought to the conclusion that 19 men and women were in the

The Salem Witch Trials were a set of hearings and prosecutions in Salem, Massachusetts that were nothing short of horrific and involved many people accused of witchcraft. The trials that took place were seen as moral in the eyes of the leaders in Salem but as we know today, they were most certainly immoral. Innocent women were hanged, drowned, and even an innocent man was pressed to death. The unforgettable events of the Salem Witch Trials began in 1692, when several young girls accused numerous women of the town of witchcraft. There were fears about religious extremists as many critics perceived witchcraft as being counterproductive.

In the 1680’s and 1690’s there was mass hysteria in New England over supposed witchcraft. The most famous outbreak was in Salem, Massachusetts, hence the name Salem Witch Trials. In Salem, there were young girls who started acting strangely, and they leveled accusations of witchcraft against some of the West Indian servants who were immersed in voodoo tradition. Most of the accusations were against women, and soon the accusations started to shift to the substantial and prominent women. Neighbors accused other neighbors, husbands accused their wives, etc. and it kept going on for a while. There was this nature of evil and the trials didn’t end until nineteen Salem residents were put to death in 1692, more importantly before the girls

The Salem witch trails were in an age of superstition. There were great tensions with the fact that some individuals were changing religions, or they were leaving to gain different religious opinions. Although the Massachusetts colony was under a lot of stress and tension that did not give them the right to hang or burn individuals because they were witches. Now, some of the members of this colony that participated in the Salem witch trial might have had a psychological and issues, but that still did not give them the right to hang innocent people.

The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The hysteria caused 19 documented hangings at or around Gallows Hill. People were being accused of witchcraft and put to death for it, even without spectral evidence. When the “afflicted girls” accused their first suspects, one made a surprisingly terrifying confession that shook fear into the Puritans to an extreme extent. The Puritans feared the devil more than (modernly) seen as necessary. To have people in their own towns, possibly their neighbor, family member, or friend working for the devil was frightening. Witches, they were the gateway for satan to get into this new world they Puritans had just built. They lived their lives as thinking the devil was always plotting

The Salem Witch Trials started when a group of girls suddenly began to act odd, or somewhat strangely. According to History.com, when the doctor diagnosed the girls as bewitched, the girls accused a slave, by name of Tituba, and two other women of bewitching them. The entirety of Salem began to worry and that is when the accusations of many women being “witches” started. Although many women have been accused, there were also a few men and even two dogs that were accused of being witches! Many accused witches were outspoken women. The community mostly attacked women who were vulnerable or even considered morally weaker. Realistically, they feared women’s independence and even women themselves, so the colony and its leaders felt the need to attack

The Puritans during the witch hunt believed that women were unholy by nature and felt that women should be “sweet” and responsible, and if you didn’t act as such they would accuse you of being a witch. They lived under harsh rules and brought the same intolerance they had from fleeing England to escape to Massachusetts Bay Colony. Majority of the accusations of being a witch were women but not all. An Indian woman named Tituba that was purchased from the Barbados by Samuel Parris was being a witch. She had very good knowledge of the supernatural and they began to suspect her of being accused for witchcraft or

The Salem Witch Trials began during the spring of 1692 after a group of young girls in Salem Village, MA, said they were being possessed by the devil and accused local women of witchcraft. With chaos running around the village, the special court began taking on cases. Bridget Bishop, the first convicted witch, was hung that June month. Many people of the Salem community had major consequences including death and harrassment. Belief that the devil could give certain humans, or witches, power to harm others in return for their loyalty emerged throughout europe as early as the 14th century. All of this chaos and phenomenon led to a pointing fingers game of who is guilty. Chaos also brought up the question of why it happened, malice, spite, or

The conflict of the trials continued for months with no compromise in sight. The people of Salem needed to find more witches, so they used spectral evidence. If someone had a dream or vision of a certain person it was enough, and that person was accused as a witch (Fasting; Mather 74 80). Many people started to oppose these trials, and didn’t believe in spectral evidence, people opposed the witch trials, but they would say nothing because they may be the next one accused (Latson; Brooks). No one wanted to be accused, so they would do things to convince people that they were not witches. For example, people would put on a show at the trials of the witches (Kinchlow). Afflicted girls would have fits, and people would scream and yell at the accused. The trials were very strange, the judge and jury would act strange just like the people of Salem. The jury consisted of 12 men who decided the fate of the “witches” (Magoon 56; Roach 16). The judges were very lenient toward the people and didn’t really care what the accused had to say, if they listened to the accused they themselves may be accused. Five judges would hear the

the accused behalves were frequently in turn accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch Trials

In 1692, the Salem Witch Trials were held in Salem Village. Local officials interrogated women over their affiliation with witchcraft. Most of

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 trials began after a group of young girls in Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several other locals of witchcraft. After this broke out a special court convened in Salem to “hear and determine” (Mather 328)