"5 Facts About the Salem Trials." The preacher sad they could not kill the devil by shooting the dog but did anyway. While sympathy, and certainly empathy, are always good things to have, its also important that we dont let emotions color the facts. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. The Salem Witch Trials - History All Top Ten Lists History and Events Top 10 Dark Truths About the Salem Witch Trials We have all had to acknowledge the Salem Witch Trials, at one poimt or another, in this place called USA.To put it simply, the Salem Witch Trials were essentially the American equivalent to the Dark Ages, although the United States was not yet a proper sovreign nation, at the time. Although the witch hunt started in Salem Village, it quickly spread to the neighboring towns, including Amesbury, Andover, Salisbury, Topsfield, Ipswich and Gloucester, and numerous residents of those towns were brought to Salem and put on trial. The day of prayer and fasting was held on January 15, 1698, and was known as the Day of Official Humiliation. I think they where viewed in an horrible way, because the people who where accused where not really witches. The Story of the Salem Witch Trials is a history of that event. Robbins, Rossell Hope. Also i seems like a smarter thing to do at the moment if you had a rival with one of the families in town. In early July, Sarah Good and her four co-accused were tried and found guilty of bewitchment, making that journey to the gallows on that wooden cart a few days later. There were all kinds of tests to determine whether a woman was a witch. 10. Thanks so much! The two communities were three hours apart, by foot, which was the most common method of transportation at the time. A lot was changing in colonial America at the time. Mather saw the war against Satan as being just as important as the war against the French and the local Native American tribes. Even Sarah Goods four-year-old daughter Dorothy was arrested and interrogated by the magistrates. An allegory of the intolerant McCarthyism discolouring the nation at the time Miller would himself be called before the Committee on Un-American Activities three years later the parallels were undeniable. To complicate matters further, within Salem Village itself, there were two separate social groups. 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. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraftthe devil's magic and 20 were executed . Thanks so much for this! When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Around the end of September, the use of spectral evidence was finally declared inadmissible, thus marking the beginning of the end of the Salem Witch Trials. In short, Spanos and Gottlieb believe that the ergotism theory is off-base for several reasons. A large proportion of the case against Bishop also focused on her lifestyle, especially her rumoured promiscuity and un-Puritan ways. The clergy later held a meeting, on August 1, to discuss the trials but were not able to help Proctor before his execution. 136, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. It was divided into two distinct and very different socioeconomic parts. "Reproducing Witchcraft: Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live". The punishment was hanging. By the way, thank you so much for this wonderful website; its really thorough and cool. Another interesting fact about the witch trials is not everyone in Salem actually believed in witchcraft or supported the trials. This belief in the power of the accused to use their invisible shapes or spectres to torture their victims had sealed the fates of those tried by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Having initially set up the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Governor William Phips having returned from fighting in King Philips War in Maine voiced concerns about what danger some of [his] innocent subjects might be exposed to and dissolved the court, in the process pardoning those remaining in custody. History of the Salem Witch Trials Went to the library to look for my family history but came across my friends families name. This site helped a lot for me to understand the history of Salem. Massachusetts State Archives. A. As chief justice, Stoughton believed that spectral evidence presented to the court that is, evidence gathered from dreams and visions would form a central plank of the prosecutions. The Salem Witch Trials were one of the best documented trials of colonial times. Hopkins crusade was at its most virulent between 1644 and 1646. 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! 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. Id really like to see period sources for your assertion here. After Nurses execution on July 19th, the residents of Salem started to seriously question the validity of the trials. I could use this for classroom use. She is the author of Daily Spellbook for the Good Witch, Wicca Practical Magic and The Daily Spell Journal. Very interesting article; Im glad I came across it! I love this site! I think in some forms that witches still exist in hidden arenas. Some say it's because temperatures dropped significantly, there was famine and people needed a scapegoat. thank u. There were many critics of the witch hunt, such as a local farmer John Proctor, who scoffed at the idea of witchcraft in Salem and called the young girls scam artists. Other factors included a recent small pox epidemic in the colony, growing rivalries between families within the colony, a constant threat of attack from nearby Native-American tribes, and a recent influx of refugees trying to escape King Williams war with France in Canada and New York. These sources include official court records as well as several books, diaries and letters written by the various people involved in the trials. A Brief History of The Salem Witch Trials.Brief History Of The Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials took place between 1692 & 1693, in colonial Massachusetts. If they drowned, they were considered innocent. Since the witch trials ended, the colony also began to suffer many misfortunes such as droughts, crop failures, smallpox outbreaks and Native-American attacks and many began to wonder if God was punishing them for their mistake. Note: it is expensive. 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. At the time, Salem Village was a small New England town populated mostly by Puritans, or religious individuals with a belief in the devil. The story is about Susannah English, daughter of accused witches Phillip and Mary English and friend of Ann Putnam, Jr. They basically played the trump card of the times. What were the witch trials in Salem actually about and how did it all start? In 1813, the wooden structure of the jail was remodeled into a Victorian home and in 1956 the home was razed. The Superior Court of Judicature, formed to replace the witchcraft court, did not allow spectral evidence. Meanwhile, those who lived further away clung to their rigid Puritan values. The best way to get people's attention is to start spreading sensational and fake news. Web. Salem Village was populated mostly by poor farmers, and Salem Town was a prosperous port full of middle-class and wealthy merchants. The two communities were three hours apart, by foot, which was the most common method of transportation at the time. What was this witchery actually about and how did it all start? 5 Facts About the Real Salem Witch Hunt - History Salem Witchcraft and Cotton Mather. We've rounded up some interesting facts about Salem so you can enjoy it from home this season. They should've told the US it was all fake once they came to their senses, but they didn't. Boyer, P., & Nissenbaum, S. 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. Nobecause certainly there are some Christians who dobut theres no historical evidence that anyone was really working any kind of magic in Salem. This site is not a part of the Smithsonian website. The hysteria gripping Salem a settlement resonating with the incessant sound of accusation and counteraccusation showed that no-one was exempt from suspicion. All would await trial for a crime punishable by death in17th-century New England the practice of witchcraft. When Nurse was first arrested, many members of the community signed a petition asking for her release. How did this conflict impact the trials? History of the Salem Witch Trials. History of Massachusetts Blog, 18 Aug. 2011, historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials. Wigington, Patti. His grandfather is a Putnam. Although the afflicted girls were the main accusers during the trials, many historians believe the girls parents, particularly Thomas Putnam and Reverend Samuel Parris, were egging the girls on and encouraging them to accuse specific people in the community that they didnt like in an act of revenge. Salem witch trials. Just as true today as it was a few centuries ago, fearmongering really accelerated the accusations. 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. One freezing day in January of 1692, something strange happened inside the Parris household of Salem Village, Massachusetts. 31. One person was pressed to death, and over 150 others were jailed, where still others died. The three women were thrown in jail to await trial for practicing witchcraft. This was the name that was given to the evil spirits that were supposedly floating around the witches while they practiced their dark arts. 1982)]. After my greaty great uncle Israel Porter formed political group to gather support against putnums, putnums responded by accusing supporters n friends of Porter Family of witchcraft (esp their daughters). However, the subtlety of the ministers response was largely sidelined by the grand jury, who drew their energy from one particular concluding line from Mather: we cannot but humbly recommend unto the government, the speedy and vigorous prosecution of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious. In possession of such a mandate, the trials moved up a gear. this helped a lot on my social studies project. The state amended the 1957 apology on the exact date i was born. The Untold Story of the Salem Witch Trials Welcome back to Unfolding History!While the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 are often remembered as a dark period of. A Reply. In June, Nathaniel Saltonstall resigned and was replaced by Jonathan Corwin.