The following are some facts about the Salem Witch Trials: Even Sarah Goods four-year-old daughter Dorothy was arrested and interrogated by the magistrates. Thats where spectral evidence comes in, and it played a significant role in the Salem trials. Not many people fled Salem, only a handful did, because Salem was their home and had been for a long time. If you are looking for more info on the victims themselves, you can check out the article I wrote specifically about them titled The Salem Witch Trials Victims: Who Were They? Fresh witchcraft cases continued to come before the new Superior Court of Judicature that, while again presided over by William Stoughton, was ordered not to accept spectral evidence. This really helped me on my essay, thank you so much. Salem Witch Trials Top Facts | Go City During that time, 19 people were hanged and one person was pressed to death. (1977). Wiggin and Lunt, 1867.Crewe, Sabrina and Michael V. Uschan. An illustration shows a quiet street in the center of Salem, Massachusetts. 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. 135, p. 112, No. Its good to see that the court system has progressed. I really enjoy reading your blog! In 1813, the wooden structure of the jail was remodeled into a Victorian home and in 1956 the home was razed. The first case brought before the grand jury was that of Bridget Bishop, a woman around the age of 60 who faced a plethora of accusations: that she could pass through doors and windows without opening them; that she had made holes in the road suddenly open up, into which carts would fall before the holes would instantly disappear; that she had summoned a black pig with the body of a monkey and the feet of a cockerel. harvnb error: no target: CITEREFRobinson2001 (. This was a special type of court in English law established specifically to hear cases that are extraordinary and serious in nature. Lines going back to Salem and Colonial New England in general are usually well documented. Keeping to yourself and minding your own business seemed suspicious. I thought witchcraft only existed in Africa. Salem witch trials - The trials | Britannica 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. A Break With Charity: A Story About the Salem Witch Trials by Ann Rinaldi. Hoffer, Peter Charles. This illustration shows him speaking at Witches Hill, the site of his execution. Its a common myth that the Salem Witch Trials victims were burned at the stake. 12 Most Terrifying Facts About The Salem Witch Trials That You Never It will be very easy. Device reportedly admitted an act of bewitchment, as well as accusing another woman of undertaking similar practices. Women were not the only ones believed to be witchesmen and children were accused too. Its pretty hard to show any sort of concrete, tangible evidence that someone is in league with the Devil or fiddling around with spirits. Found Guilty and Executed:Bridget Bishop (June 10, 1692)Sarah Good (July 19, 1692)Elizabeth Howe (July 19, 1692)Susannah Martin (July 19, 1692)Rebecca Nurse (July 19, 1692)Sarah Wildes (July 19, 1692)George Burroughs (August 19, 1692)Martha Carrier (August 19, 1692)John Willard (August 19, 1692)George Jacobs, Sr (August 19, 1692)John Proctor (August 19, 1692)Alice Parker (September 22, 1692)Mary Parker (September 22, 1692)Ann Pudeator (September 22, 1692)Wilmot Redd (September 22, 1692)Margaret Scott (September 22, 1692)Samuel Wardwell (September 22, 1692)Martha Corey (September 22, 1692)Mary Easty (September 22, 1692), Refused to enter a plea and tortured to death:Giles Corey (September 19th, 1692), Found Guilty and Pardoned:Elizabeth ProctorAbigail Faulkner SrMary PostSarah WardwellElizabeth Johnson JrDorcas Hoar, Pled Guilty and Pardoned:Rebecca EamesAbigail HobbsMary Lacy SrMary Osgood, Died in Prison:Sarah OsburnRoger ToothakerAnn FosterLydia Dustin, Escaped from Prison:John Alden Jr.Edward Bishop Jr.Sarah BishopMary BradburyWilliam Barker Sr.Andrew CarrierKatherine CaryPhillip EnglishMary EnglishEdward Farrington, Never Indicted:Sarah BassettMary BlackBethiah Carter, JrBethiah Carter, SrSarah CloyceElizabeth HartWilliam HobbsThomas Farrer, SrWilliam ProctorSarah ProctorSusannah RootsAnn SearsTituba, Evaded Arrest:George Jacobs JrDaniel Andrews. Alden was accused of witchcraft by a child during a trip to Salem while he was on his way home to Boston from Canada. There are many theories that explain why the witch trials began in Medieval Europe. The punishment was hanging. They were a means of crowd control that gave way to changes in power structures. Ultimately, eight women and two men were tried and found guilty of attending the gathering. I edit the site in general pretty much every day. The girls were having a type of epileptic fit and would scream out . These spirits could inhabit any human or any creature. More significant were admissions of attending a witches meeting on Pendle Hill. 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. These were the last hangings of the Salem Witch Trials. 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. Native Americans and other religions represented threats by the Devil. Also, In 17th century Massachusetts, people often feared that the Devil was constantly trying to find ways to infiltrate and destroy Christians and their communities. I am totally shocked to be related in this way. While Puritanism in New England demanded rigidly defined behaviour (hymns were the only permissible music, while childrens toys were outlawed), the colonys geographical isolation increased the insularity of these communities. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. The first to be tried wasBridget Bishopof Salem who was found guilty and was hanged on June 10. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/facts-about-the-salem-trials-2562897. I need to cite this for my reference sheet. The Salem witch trials began because a group of girls claimed they were possessed by the devil. On that day, Judge Samuel Sewall attended prayer services at Bostons South Church and asked Reverend Samuel Willard to read a public apology that Sewall had written, which states: Samuel Sewall, sensible of the reiterated strokes of God upon himself and family; and being sensible, that as to the guilt contracted upon the opening of the late Commission of Oyer and Terminer at Salem (to which the order of this day relates) he is, upon many accounts, more concerned than any that he knows of, desires to take the blame and shame of it, asking pardon of men, and especially desiring prayers that God, who has an unlimited authority, would pardon that sin and all other his sins; personal and relative: And according to his infinite benignity and sovereignty, not visit the sin of him, or of any other, upon himself or any of his, nor upon the land: But that he would powerfully defend him against all temptations to sin, for the future; and vouchsafe him the efficacious, saving conduct of his word and spirit.. I need to do a bibliography, and I have this page on it. We know not whether some remarkable affronts given to the Devils by our disbelieving those testimonies whose whole force and strength is from them alone, may not put a period unto the progress of the dreadful calamity begun upon us, in the accusations of so many persons, whereof some, we hope, are yet clear from the great transgression laid unto their charge. Was there some sort of compromise at the end? Often, that conversation shifts over towardsSalem, Massachusetts, and the famous trial in 1692that resulted in twenty executions. Text adapted from the National Geographic book Witches! I find the Salem Witch trails to be the most interesting event in the colonization of whats now US. Smithsonia, 8 Sept. 2013. 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. These women were Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn and a slave named Tituba who worked for Reverend Samuel Parris. A prolific pamphleteer railing against the spread of witchcraft (or molestations from the invisible world), Mather was nonetheless keen for due diligence to occur inside the courtroom. Related: 10 Scary Churches From Around The World That Will Creep You Out. and good job rebbeca! Explore 17th-century Salem in the museum's 13 stage sets that bring the witch trials to life. He is recorded to have recited a prayer uttered with such composedness from many, so that it seemed to some that the spectators would hinder the execution. If the accused was indicted, they were not allowed a lawyer and they had to decide to plead guilty or not guilty with no legal counsel to guide them. In January of 2016, the site where the Salem Witch Trials hangings took place was officially identified as Proctors Ledge, which is a small wooded area in between Proctor Street and Pope Street in Salem. It makes me sad sometimes writing about it. I mean the whole cause was a wheat bacteria/fungi called ergot. I was wondering if there was a written document or agreement signed that ended the trials. Indeed, as Stacy Schiff explains in The Witches, her history of the witch trials, It would have been difficult to find more than a few souls to whom the supernatural was not eminently real, part and parcel of the culture, as was the devil himself. I think that maybe they thought they were bewitched. A witness testifies against an accused witch during one of the many witchcraft trials of the 1690s. One of them was shot but I dont know how the other one died. 31. In 2017, on the 325th anniversary of the Salem Witch Trials, the newly built Proctors Ledge Memorial was unveiled at the base of the ledge on Pope Street. No way to fight its power. Porters never forgot about this n intermarried with many of the families afterwards. One of them, George Burroughs, protested his innocence as the noose was readied. 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. Hi RebeccaI saw that you have a lot of knowledge about Mary EastyI was told this year at a funeral that I am a direct decendent of hersI live in Salem and My Grandfather was name William Esteydo you by any chance have any history of the family tree? Great post, this helped a lot with my Witch Trials report for history class! This court consisted of eight judges. HI there! And, of course, theres the theory that it was all down to good old fashioned spite. One freezing day in January of 1692, something strange happened inside the Parris household of Salem Village, Massachusetts. Lienhard says, In recent years, though, the ergot theory has been questioned. Spanos and Gottlieb argue. Seemed like there was alot of hate towards one another just for being different. The Salem witch trials, which resulted in several deaths in 1692 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, have never been adequately explained. Glanvill, Joseph. Salem Witchcraft and Cotton Mather. Here's how they got it done. Montague Summer. In Germany alone, thousands of women died horrible deaths. Local clergymen began speaking out against the witch hunt and tried to persuade officials to stop the trials. Encyclopdia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them. My fathers family have lived in this area for centuries. Every March, people in the United States celebrate the achievements and history of women as part of Womens History Month. [State v. Dustin, 122 N.H. 544, 551 (N.H. On October 29, Phips dismissed the Court of Oyer and Terminer. They hanged the poor souls instead. His grandfather is a Putnam. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. The torture consisted of laying the prisoner on the ground, naked, with a board placed on top of him. While sympathy, and certainly empathy, are always good things to have, its also important that we dont let emotions color the facts. The Salem Witch Trials: Real Facts That Will Haunt You 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. Now I know it is not only there that it existed. 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. 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. 6 The Role Of Religion In Witch Trials On May 27, 1692, after weeks of informal hearings accompanied by imprisonments, Sir William Phips (also spelled Phipps), the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, interceded and ordered the convening of an official Court of Oyer ("to hear") and Terminer ("to decide") in Salem Town. The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between early 1692 and mid-1693. Before we get into the interesting facts about Salem and the Witch Trials, let's do a brief history of the Salem Witch Trials.