Massachusetts was like the early state of Israel. The initial article took me a few days to write and then I have been slowly adding to it and expanding it over the years. By entering your details, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. The best way to get people's attention is to start spreading sensational and fake news. Im going to put a note at the bottom of the article that says when it was last updated to make it easier for anyone doing reports and assignments. That same month, four more women were accused and arrested:Rebecca NurseMartha CoreyDorothy GoodRachel Clinton (from Ipswich). Do not lay more stress on pure spectral evidence than it will bear, he cautioned. Chapter 145 of the resolves of 1957, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 618619. this helped me sooo much. I sincerely cant thank you enough! The Salem witch trials marked a seven-month period of mass hysteria in 1692 Colonial America. Random House, 1956Fowler, Samuel Page. Spanos and Gottlieb argue. These sources include official court records as well as several books, diaries and letters written by the various people involved in the trials. 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. Luckily ann putnum jr lived to apologize. English law at the time dictated that anyone who refused to enter a plea could be tortured in an attempt to force a plea out of them. On March 1st, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn were arrested and examined. Boyer, P., & Nissenbaum, S. Upon hearing about the Parris girls behavior, much of the Puritan community agreed that the duo had been victims of witchcraft. 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. Patti Wigington is a pagan author, educator, and licensed clergy. Nige Tassell is a freelance journalist specialising in history, This content first appeared in the January 2016 issue of BBC History Revealed, Save up to 49% AND your choice of gift card worth 10* when you subscribe BBC History Magazine or BBC History Revealed PLUS! Porters never forgot about this n intermarried with many of the families afterwards. 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. As in complaints upon witchcrafts, there may be matters of inquiry which do not amount unto matters of presumption, and there may be matters of presumption which yet may not be matters of conviction, so it is necessary, that all proceedings thereabout be managed with an exceeding tenderness towards those that may be complained of, especially if they have been persons formerly of an unblemished reputation. The Salem Witch Trials were not a positive section of American history but have been used as a learning tool for the United States. A total of 19 accused witches were hanged at Proctors Ledge, near Gallows Hill, during the witch trials. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. The people had been so determined upon hunting out and destroying witches that they had neglected everything else. Some of the suggested theories are: conversion disorder, epilepsy, ergot poisoning, Encephalitis, Lyme disease, unusually cold weather, factionalism, socio-economic hardships, family rivalries and fraud. The three women were thrown in jail to await trial for practicing witchcraft. harvnb error: no target: CITEREFRobinson2001 (. I dont know what compromise youre referring to. 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. Among those detained in March 1692 were Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse, upstanding members of the local churches in Salem Village and Salem Town respectively. Being burned at the stake was an occasionally used method of execution in Europe, when one was convicted of witchcraft, but was generally reserved for those who refused to repent of their sins. I am the author and publisher of this blog. Some say it's because temperatures dropped significantly, there was famine and people needed a scapegoat. "The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History". Salem witch trials. I find the Salem Witch trails to be the most interesting event in the colonization of whats now US. The parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and more modem examples ofwitch huntinglike the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, are remarkable. Kisses and xoxo I need to cite this for my reference sheet. 121, p. 108. Maybe it's the influence of pop culture or maybe it's because it's theatrical, but a lot of people assume that witches were burned at the stake. They were part of a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe in the 14th century. The political instability and threat to their religion created a feeling of uneasiness and discontent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. 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. Every March, people in the United States celebrate the achievements and history of women as part of Womens History Month. This really helped me on my essay, thank you so much. i need it for my bibliography, do you have any websites that could help me to find the secondary source? Seemed like there was alot of hate towards one another just for being different. Get 6 issues for 19.99 and receive a 10 gift card* PLUS free access to HistoryExtra.com, Save 70% on the shop price when you subscribe today - Get 13 issues for just $49.99 + FREE access to HistoryExtra.com. This series of prosecutions and hangings of those accused of practicing witchcraft provoked a major backlash, and the event still haunts us today. Although the infamous persecution of witches . Tituba was known to have played fortune-telling games, which were strictly forbidden by the Puritans. Her son Richard is one of my 8th great grandfathers and I keep waiting for a DNA match to pop up with one of his other descendants. According to Plouffe, Jr., the trials were the largest of . The charter was revoked because the colonists had violated several of the charters rules, which included basing laws on religious beliefs and discriminating against Anglicans. The Salem Witch Trials were one of the best documented trials of colonial times. Tried and found guilty within the course of a single day, Bishop was hanged a week later on 10 June, the first execution of the trials. Unauthorized use is prohibited. 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. In November of 1991, Salem town officials announced plans for a Salem Witch Trials Memorial in Salem. Shortly after, two of the girls named the women they believed were bewitching them. Hope that helps with your bibliography. Twenty people were put to death in Salem for the crime of witchcraft. Montague Summer. They were a means of crowd control that gave way to changes in power structures. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Other diagnoses have focused more on the mental wellbeing of the Salem girls. The others were either found guilty but pardoned, found not guilty, were never indicted or simply evaded arrest or escaped from jail. The doctors diagnosis? They screamed, made unearthly sounds, suffered convulsions and violently threw objects, and themselves, around their homes. When Salem Villages new pastor,Reverend Samuel Parris, came to town, he denounced the secular behavior of the innkeepers and blacksmiths and others. To complicate matters further, within Salem Village itself, there were two separate social groups. How were the 2 dogs killed during the salem witch trials? The new court was presided over by William Stoughton, Thomas Danforth, John Richards, Waitstill Winthrop and Samuel Sewall. Corey was accused of witchcraft in April during his wifes examination. thanks, primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials, View all posts by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, http://www.zazzle.com/salem_village_map_poster-228789587972988887?rf=238784808055391622, https://historyofmassachusetts.org/best-books-about-salem-witch-trials/. It will be very easy. The witchcraft hysteria in Salem first began in January of 1692 when a group of young girls, who later came to be known as the afflicted girls, fell ill after playing a fortune-telling game and began behaving strangely. During that time, 19 people were hanged and one person was pressed to death. I just found this out. Presumptions whereupon persons may be committed, and, much more, convictions whereupon persons may be condemned as guilty of witchcrafts, ought certainly to be more considerable than barely the accused person's being represented by a specter unto the afflicted; inasmuch as it is an undoubted and notorious thing, that a demon may, by God's permission, appear, even to ill purposes, in the shape of an innocent, yea, and a virtuous man. As years passed, apologies were offered and restitution was made to the victims families. In additionone man was pressed to death; several others died in prison, and the lives of many were irrevocably changed. Then after said the dog died so it must have been innocent. The two communities were three hours apart, by foot, which was the most common method of transportation at the time. Another interesting fact about the witch trials is not everyone in Salem actually believed in witchcraft or supported the trials. The number of accusations and arrests began to decline in June but still continued and soon the local jails held more than 200 accused witches. Although spectral evidence, evidence based on dreams and visions, wasnt the only evidence used in court during the Salem Witch Trails, it was the most common evidence and the easiest evidence for accusers to fake. 1 Most of the accused were women but men were accusedand executedtoo. 82 (Boston: Wright and Potter, 1902), pp. Titubas confession was the trigger that sparked the mass hysteria and the hunt for more witches in Salem. The torture consisted of laying the prisoner on the ground, naked, with a board placed on top of him. Not many people fled Salem, only a handful did, because Salem was their home and had been for a long time. Its a common myth that the Salem Witch Trials victims were burned at the stake. Now I know it is not only there that it existed. Some say it's because temperatures dropped significantly, there was famine and people needed a scapegoat. During her trial, Bishop repeatedly defended herself, stating I am innocent, I know nothing of it, I have done no witchcraft . Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, Copyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. No one was burned at the stake in Salem, but nineteen people were hanged, and one was pressed to death under heavy stones. While Salem has, in the English-speaking world at least, become the byword for witch-hunts, a very similar episode occurred in Lancashire in 1612, some 80 years before the panic in New England the case of the Pendle Hill witches. 135, p. 112, No. The history (both good and bad) is something we should all know about. Salem was . In short, Spanos and Gottlieb believe that the ergotism theory is off-base for several reasons. Planting, cultivating, the care of houses, barns, roads, fences, were all forgotten. Local clergymen began speaking out against the witch hunt and tried to persuade officials to stop the trials. "Examination and Evidence of Some Accused Witches in Salem, 1692. Bridget Bishop - The First to Die in Salem Witch Trials, 8 Famous Witches From Mythology and Folklore, Salem, Massachusetts, and the famous trial in 1692, witchcraft was not seen as a religion at all. The trials are believed to have been the reason why the US constitution recognizes witchcraft as a legal religion. To identify witches, authorities used the "touching test", in which victims of witchcraft would become calm upon touching the culprit. The Examination of Bridget Bishop, April 19, 1692. We cannot but, with all thankfulness, acknowledge the success which the merciful God has given unto the sedulous and assiduous endeavours of our honourable rulers, to detect the abominable witchcrafts which have been committed in the country, humbly praying, that the discovery of those mysterious and mischievous wickednesses may be perfected. A lot was changing in colonial America at the time. Which brings us to. Since some families of the victims did not want their family member listed, not every victim was named. What is the legacy of the Salem witch trials? im doing a huge assessment in my language arts class called national history day and i love how into detail this went! In an insular society like Salem, where anyone straying from the norm was immediately criticised or condemned, accusations of witchcraft were a method of self-defence, of keeping the more undesirable elements of the local community at arms length, if not removing them completely. Also i seems like a smarter thing to do at the moment if you had a rival with one of the families in town. Rebecca is a freelance journalist and history lover who got her start in journalism working for small-town newspapers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire after she graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a B.A. At the same time, the accused would be denied legal representation. Second, everyone got their food from the same place, so symptoms would have occurred in every household, not just a select few. They were during the Colonial times. Add in the numerous films and television series that reference Salem, and things get even more distorted. Children were also accused of witchcraft. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Thank you for the kind comments. It was viewed as a sin against God, the church, and the Crown, and thus was treated as a crime. Many modern theories suggest the girls were suffering from epilepsy, boredom, child abuse, mental illness or even a disease brought on by eating rye infected with fungus. For years, Salem Village tried to separate itself politically from Salem Town. 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. Some (incredibly mean) people devoted their time to making a science out of witchcraft. 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. Smithsonia, 8 Sept. 2013. The European witch trials took place in the 15th century. Corey still refused to offer a plea and paid with his life. 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. Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2005Upham, Charles Wentworth. Bridget Bishop was convicted at the end of her trial and sentenced to death. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Where did theses trials take place were there anymore places then Massachusetts Bay. An Account of the Life, Character, & C., of the Rev. Her initial verdict was, in fact, not guilty, but upon hearing the verdict the afflicted girls began to have fits in the courtroom. A 1976 study, printed in the journal Science, attributed the girls hysterical and possibly hallucinogenic behaviour to the ingestion of rye bread made with grain infected with ergot of rye. If people were to run away from it, theyll only be hunted down and thats worst then sitting in court. The exact cause of the Salem Witch Trials is unknown but they were probably a number of causes. I have countless ancestors out of Massachusetts Bay Colony and one of my grandmothers was Martha Carrier. I find the history interesting and would like to find more information on this matter. By the end of the trials in 1693, 24 people had died, some in jail but most by hanging. All rights reserved, National Geographic book Witches! When asked who it was that had afflicted them, they named Good a homeless woman who had fallen destitute after denying the inheritance of her wealthy fathers estate as one of the three culprits. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. Alden was accused of witchcraft by a child during a trip to Salem while he was on his way home to Boston from Canada. (Eds.). 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. The Salem witch trials began because a group of girls claimed they were possessed by the devil. I needed this a lot but was having trouble with it. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. I mean the whole cause was a wheat bacteria/fungi called ergot. I wonder how many people ran away from 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. The primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials offer a wealth of information on these infamous trials. Nor can we esteem alterations made in the sufferers, by a look or touch of the accused, to be an infallible evidence of guilt, but frequently liable to be abused by the Devil's legerdemains. This was the name that was given to the evil spirits that were supposedly floating around the witches while they practiced their dark arts. Corey, a woman who, in her own words, had made a profession of Christ and rejoiced to go and hear the word of God, had drawn the attention of the prosecutors by offering the opinion that the accusers were just poor, distracted children. I edit the site in general pretty much every day. The eight-point response, penned by Cotton Mather, advised prudence when it came to procedure, cautioning that hastiness shouldnt overwhelm lawfulness. propably in like 1-3 weeks away. Farms were mortgaged or sold, first to pay prison fees, then to pay taxes; frequently they were abandoned. Hopkins crusade was at its most virulent between 1644 and 1646. No one cared about minorities or "loners" anyway. While the Salem of today is a thriving metropolitan area, in 1692 it was a remote settlement on the edge of the frontier. Thirteen womenand five men from all stations of life followed her to the gallows onthree successive hanging daysbefore the court was disbanded by Governor William Phipps in October of that year. She was hanged on June 10, 1692 at a place now called Proctors Ledge, which is a small hill near Gallows Hill, making her the first official victim of the witch trials. The Trials Salem had become a hotbed for accusations of witchcraft. Hysteria was from little girls facin threat of death by torture. How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials, Order in the Court: 10 Trials of the Century, https://www.britannica.com/facts/Salem-witch-trials. The other most notorious case of witchcraft in England came during the British Civil Wars when Matthew Hopkins the son of a Puritan clergyman and the self-styled Witch Finder General scoured East Anglia in search those suspected of making covenants with the Devil. A secondary source would be a book, journal or article written long after the event by someone who didnt experience it first hand. 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. Abigail Williams: The Mysterious Afflicted Girl. In Germany alone, thousands of women died horrible deaths. The day of prayer and fasting was held on January 15, 1698, and was known as the Day of Official Humiliation. Its good to see that the court system has progressed. Good and Osbourne insisted they were innocent. The Salem witch trials were a series of prosecutions in which over 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft. Hemmed in by the ocean to the east and by an untamed wilderness to the west, settlers were completely disconnected from both the mother country on the other side of the Atlantic and the remainder of the American continent. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraftthe devil's magic and 20 were executed . Those who lived nearer to Salem Town engaged in commerce and were seen as a bit more worldly. This series of prosecutions and hangings of those accused of practicing witchcraft provoked a major backlash, and the event still haunts us today. Many of the accusers were adults and more than a few of them were people who had themselves been accused. Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. Some of these women were actually witches, though they were entirely innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted.
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