Salem+Witch+Trials

The Salem Witch Trials took place during the 1600’s which were a series of trials. Many had accused people of committing acts of witchcraft. As a result, many were convicted and imprisoned, as well as executed. They were executed in different ways. Some were hung, some forced off of a cliff, and some were burned at the steak. These trials had many social, financial, and religious origins which had made the people believe in such acts. It all started in Salem Village in 1692, Betty Parris, age 9, and her cousin Abigail Williams, age 11, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris, began to have fits. The girls screamed, threw things about the room, uttered strange sounds, crawled under furniture and twisted themselves into strange, abnormal figures. The girls complained of being pinched and pricked with pins.They would have unexplainable seizures, fits, and trances that shocked and startled their whole community. They went to different physicians, and still no one was able to explain what was going on with them. A majority of the residents of Salem Village came to the conclusion that Satan had something to do with this, and the souls of witches had entered their community: they were bewitched.

The Salem Witch Trials were a number of hearings that took place during the late 1600s. Many people were persecuted, because of the belief that they had commited acts of witchcraft in Massachusetts. Between February 1692 and May 1693, over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned, with even more accused who were not formally pursued by the authorities. The hearings in 1692 were conducted in Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover and Salem Town, Massachusetts. The trials in 1692 were all held in Salem Town by the Court of Oyer and Terminer, with the Superior Court of Judicature hearing cases in 1693 in the individual county court seats: Salem Town, Ipswich, Boston, and Charlestown. People were being accused of whichcraft left and right.The two courts convicted thirty people of the capital felony of witchcraft, twenty of whom (fourteen women, six men) were executed -- nineteen by hanging and one by being pressed to death. One way that the people thought that they could find a witch was to have a cake test. When a dog would eat the cake given, the witch nearby would feel nothing but pain. This was due to invisible particles she sent to afflict the girls urine. This suspicion was by "Doctrine of Effuvia" There were two trials that were the ones to take action about this, they were called the court of Terminer and Oyer. From 1692-1693, over 150 people were imprisoned, and the rest of the people, including women and children, were executed. With the exception of Giles Corey, who was crushed to death for not pleading guilty, those who were sentenced to death, were hanged. The first three people accused and arrested for allegedly afflicting Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, 12-year-old Ann Putnam, Jr., and Elizabeth Hubbard were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, as a slave of a different ethnicity than the Puritans, was an obvious target for accusations. Sarah Good, a poverty-worn, easily-angered woman, often muttered under her breath as she walked away from failed attempts of obtaining food or shelter from neighbors and people interpreted her muttering as curses. Sarah Osburne, an irritable old woman, was already marked for marrying her indentured servant. All of these women fit the description of the "usual suspects," since nobody would likely stand up for them; neither Osburne nor Good attended church, which made them especially vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft. The hangings usually took place at Gallows Hill. Spectral evidence, the Devil's Mark, and the water test were some forms of evidence that were used to identify whether one was a witch. Spectral evidence was a witness' claim that the accused person's specter or shape was tormenting him or her. The Devil's Mark was said to appear on the accused person's body. It was described as a small red circle that was usually found somewhere near the genitals, which would not bleed when pricked by a pin. In a water test, the accused person's right hand was tied to their left foot and their left hand was tied to their right foot. They were thrown into a body of water and if they floated, they were automatically identified as a witch. Why? Well, many people at the time believed that the water was so pure, it would not accept a witch, but instead reject her up to the surface. If the suspect had sunk, she was proven innocent. Unfortunately, many of them had drowned before they could be rescued. The first people to be accused where Betty Parris, Abigail Williams and Ann. Ann was only twelve years old. They where very easy targets since they didn't attend church. So no one would likely deffend them. They where all sent to jail. Finally the Francis Dane cases led to the opposition towards the Salem Witch Trails. Francis Dane was a minister who accused the General Court for assassinating and jailing individuals without real evidence. The last witchcrafts took place in October 1692, around the time that Increase Mather had stated that although he supported the witch trails, he opposed the procedures that we being used since it gave sketchy results. He said that he had rather let ten witches escape than have an innocent person die. Finally in May 1963, everyone in jail accused of witch trails was released. In addition, the Massachusetts House of Representatives banned the law which allowed spectral evidence to be completed. In December of 1711,The Governor of Massachusetts authorized monetary compensation to the 22 people in the 1709 petition.He gave the families of the accused and convicted 578 pounds 12 shillings to share/split amongst themselves, and most of the accounts were settled within a year. An additional 150 pounds was given to the Proctor family for John and Elizabeth, so the Proctor family recieved more mone than the other families of the accused.