Ms Mades-Byrd said there were many misconceptions about the Salem witch trials and the truth had been lost in stories told over the centuries. For example, the infamous Putnam family had been one of the earliest settler dynasties to come to the Massachusetts Bay colony and establish themselves there. Over 150 people were arrested for allegedly using witchcraft to inflict harm on their fellow townspeople, resulting in the executions of 20 people and the prison deaths of five more. The girls were having a type of epileptic fit and would scream out . George Burroughs had been named the village minister in 1680, but many disapproved of his religious views, and he often wasnt paid his salary. The Salem witch trials of the late 17thcentury were a formative episode in Americas early history, and have remained at the forefront of the national consciousness ever since. Check out the top history lists on the internet all in one place. In 1702, the court declared the trials unlawful. While Miller maintained that he kept everything historically accurate, some have noted that he made changes to the real record for the sake of the play. John Proctors son was born in prison while his wife was imprisoned on witchcraft charges. Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? (Salem Witch Trials "History" published on November 4, 2011 and updated on October 5, 2021). Many citizens believed that they way witches will get you is by baking a cake. They began in 1692, a full 73 years before the start of the American Revolution and some 40 years before George Washington was even born. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? 20 wereexecuted (generally hanged) by the prosecutors, and five died while serving prison time. Today, witchcraftis recognized by the government as a protected and legitimate religion under the First Amendment. Which, yes, is a little ironic. They are fascinating as well as scary. Pressured by Parris to identify their tormentor, Betty and Abigail claimed to have been bewitched by Tituba and two other marginalized members of the community, neither of whom attended church regularly: Sarah Good, an irascible beggar, and Sarah Osborn (also spelled Osborne), an elderly bed-ridden woman who was scorned for her romantic involvement with an indentured servant. When the first accusations of witchcraft began in Salem Village, they initially targeted women. He was the first to suggest the girls may be under the evil influence of witchcraft. Another more disturbing theory proposed by researchers like behavioral psychologist Linnda Caporael suggests that Salem suffered from ergot poisoning. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. A period of less than a year caused such turmoil that Salem, Massachusetts, is still widely known for the trials. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. Courts relied on three kinds of evidence: 1) confession, 2) testimony of two eyewitnesses to acts of witchcraft, or 3) spectral evidence (when the afflicted girls were having their fits, they would interact with an unseen assailant - the apparition of the witch tormenting them). Kyle Climans has been a published writer since 2011. The feud was over the fact that Kazan had named communist sympathizers during his testimony to Congress. The phrase witch hunt, commonly used to refer to an unjustified or falsely conjured-up prosecution, is thought to originate as a reference to this time period in American history. Two of the casualties were babies. Fourteen women and six men were executed for witchcraft, and five others died in prison during the trials. In late May 1692, Sir William Phips, the first royal governor of Massachusetts established the criminal court to conduct the Salem witch trials. She went as far as to say that she did not even know what a witch was. During 1692, in the city of Salem, a little colony in Massachusetts, US, a horrifying trial started against several neighbors accused of witchcraft. For more than 300 years, the complex drama of the 1692 Salem witch trials and its themes of injustice and the frailties of human nature have captivated and fascinated the public imagination. When all was said and done, 25 people lost their lives because of the trials. 1 Majority Of Victims Were Girls Under Age 20 The Salem witch trials have been studied for centuries, and there is still no clear consensus on what exactly happened. The next time Giles wanted to attend, Martha objected and prevented him from going. Salem was . The litany of odd behaviour also mirrored that of the children of a Boston family who in 1688 were believed to have been bewitched, a description of which had been provided by Congregational minister Cotton Mather in his book Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1689) and which may have been known by the girls in Salem Village. Norman Rockwell, the famous painter and illustrator who created the cover illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post magazine for nearly five decades, was a descendant of Esther Dutch Elwell, accused of wickedly and feloniously sundry acts of witchcraft upon the body of Mrs. Mary Fiche.. Thought to have been built in about 1675, it was the residence of Judge Jonathan Corwin, who oversaw many of the witch trials in 1692. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_of_the_Salem_witch_trials. In mid-January 1692, Elizabeth Betty Parris, the 9-year-old daughter of the local Reverend Samuel Parris, and Abigail Williams, the reverends 11-year-old niece, became the first to be diagnosed with being afflicted by witchcraft. The Salem witch trials are a defining example of intolerance and injustice in American history. No one was burned at the stake in the Salem witch trials. Just when did the Salem witch trials take place in the timeline of American history? The Salem witchcraft trials, which began in May of 1692 after months of rumors of Satanic influence, still grip the American imagination more than 300 years later. While there was no need to provide evidence for accusing someone of witchcraftjust pointing fingers was enoughspectral evidence was often used during the trials. 20 wereexecuted (generally hanged) by the prosecutors, and five died while serving prison time. Tituba ultimately survived the saga and was not hanged. Other proof was the touch test, where if a witch who cursed someone touched the cursed person in the midst of a fit, theit fit would stop. Between February 1692 and May 1693, colonial Massachusetts was the scene of a mass hysteria sparked by false accusations from several young girls. The 1942 romantic comedy filmI Married a Witch, starring Veronica Lake and Frederic March, told the story of two witches from Salem placing a revenge curse on the descendants of their accuser. Nineteen were executed by hanging. It was actually the local doctor, likely William Griggs, who first diagnosed the girls as having been bewitched when he couldnt find anything medically wrong with them to explain the strange behavior. Even more interesting, the summer of 1692 was a dry one, and coincided with the apparent end of the bewitchments. This is the event that Salem is most known for, in only three months' time 19 innocent people, 14 women and 5 men, were hanged, and one man was pressed to death. Witch trials had actually been a fairly common phenomenon in Europe during that period. The late comedian Lucille Ball is a descendant of Rachel Vinson, who was acquitted in the witch trials. When he stopped being paid altogether, he left Salem. According to her death warrant, through her witchcraft, Bishop had caused bodily harm to five women, including Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Elizabeth Hubbard. What is the legacy of the Salem witch trials? Gallows Hill was discovered on a rocky outcropping now located, very unfittingly, near a Walgreens in Salem. There have been many other instances of this kind of phenomenon sincemost recently in an outbreak of alleged evil clown sightings across the continent and beyond in 2016. Giles had actually been accused and found guilty of murdering one of his farm hands years earlier, but was let off with just a fine! The collective delusion of witchcraft took more than a year to loosen its grip on Salem and its surrounding towns. This database contains information on more than 200 individuals formally accused and put on trial for witchcraft in New England between 1647 and 1697, including those accused in the Salem witch trials. After her second husband died, Bishopwho had been married three timeswas accused of bewitching him to death, though she was later acquitted due to a lack of evidence. This evidence was later banned bythe courts, leading to a sharp drop in accusations. So if you are a witch, no need to worry about this ever happening again! Spectral evidence refers to the description of harm committed by the specters of the accused, described by those who were bewitched [PDF]. At the end of the 17th century, after years of mostly resisting witch hunts and witch trial prosecutions, Puritans in New England suddenly found themselves facing a conspiracy of witches in a war against Satan and his minions. The Salem Witch Trials (1692) Cartoon - YouTube (2:10) https://youtu.be/jJJLy5_DlqY Its time for a Halloween special! She crafted a tale detailing how the devil had come to her and asked her to do his bidding. When it was all over, 141 suspects, both men and women, were tried as witches. Millers famous play about the Salem witch trials is called The Cruciblebut what is a crucible anyway? It was actually the local doctor, likely William Griggs, who first diagnosed the girls as having been bewitched when he couldnt find anything medically wrong with them to explain the strange behavior. On March 23, 1692, a warrant was issued for the arrest of four-year-old Dorothy Good of Salem Village on "suspition of acts of Witchcraft.". When you think of the Salem witch trials, you probably think of a bunch of confused villagers who didnt know any better, but there is so much more to the story. The Salem Witch Trials Victims: Who Were They? History of Massachusetts Blog, August 19, 2015. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-witch-trials-victims/. However, after the dogs death, the local Minister reasoned that if the devil had possessed the dog, it would not have been so easily killed with a bullet. According to her testimony, she had seen four women and a man, including Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good, asking her to hurt the children. Many read Miller's play as a criticism of McCarthyism, the Red Scare, and intolerance. Parriss orthodox Puritan theology and preaching also divided the congregation, a split that became demonstrably visible when he routinely insisted that nonmembers of the congregation leave before communion was celebrated. The number of trials and executions varied according to time and place, but it is generally believed that some 110,000 persons in total were tried for witchcraft and between 40,000 to 60,000 were executed. Salem Witch Trials: 25 DISTURBING Facts About The Salem Witch Trials | Salem Witch Trial Full Documentary The Geographic Channel | Samuel Parris | Dorothy Good | Familiar | Giles Corey | Salem Witch Trials - Events, Facts & Victims - HISTORY | George Corwin | Haunted Salem - Where Are the Most Haunted Sites? You . Little is known about Tituba besides her role in the witch trials. They accused several women in their town of being witches. It seems that a shocking number of accusations were made by members of the Putnam family. If a dog was fed a cake made with rye and the urine of an afflicted person, and it displayed the same symptoms as the victim, it indicated the presence of witchcraft. The Salem witch trials are considered one of Americas most noteworthy cases of mass hysteria. Arthur Miller, the famous playwright who authored Death of a Salesman, responded to the McCarthy hysteria by writing The Crucible, a play about the Salem witch trials, as a metaphor for what the country was going through in the 1950s. In three days of vivid testimony, she described encounters with Satans animal familiars and with a tall, dark man from Boston who had called upon her to sign the devils book, in which she saw the names of Good and Osborn along with those of seven others that she could not read. Tituba initially denied the claim that she was a witch, but notoriously later decided to confess that it was true and accused two other women as well in the process. History. The grave of Martha Corey, the wife of Giles Corey . Sir William Phips. Famous Trials. The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between early 1692 and mid-1693. Even during the trials, there were many who objected to the whole procedure, even within the religious Puritan community. The witchcraft trials even targeted animals. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life. Tituba: The Slave of Salem. History of Massachusetts Blog, January 2, 2013. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/tituba-the-slave-of-salem/. She stayed out for long hours, had people in her home late at night, and hosted drinking and gambling parties frequently. Arthur Millers play The Crucible played a large role in popularizing many of the details of the Salem witch trials and dramatizing facts that he uncovered in historical records. They argue that the trialscreated a taboo in America against mixing religion and government, and George Lincoln Burr called it, the rock on which the theocracy shattered. There is also no question that the incident remains a constant reminder in our collective minds about the importance of due process in a legal system, and the dangers of premature overreaction and irrational hysteria. Making distraction rewarding since 2017. By May 1693 everyone in custody under conviction or suspicion of witchcraft had been pardoned by Phips. Ann Putnam, for example, used spectral evidence to accuse Rebecca Nurse,said, I saw the Apperishtion of [Rebecca Nurse] and she did immediatly afflect me. Such evidence was also used against Bridget Bishop, with many men claiming she had visited them in spectral form in the middle of the night. Of them, thirty were found guilty, and nineteen of whom were executed. The Salem witch trials were also the subject of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, written in the 1950s. Those people lived in quite a horrific time. We've compiled over 4375 history facts in one place, just for you. Jeff Wallenfeldt, manager of Geography and History, has worked as an editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica since 1992. There was a social divide between the leading families as well as a split between factions that were for and against the villages new pastor, Samuel Parris. Some of the attitudes in the Salem witch trials are still seen today. One of the most notorious periods of American history, the Salem witch trials of 1692 resulted in the execution by hanging of fourteen women and five men who were accused of being witches during a period of mass hysteria. Historys most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. So if witchcraft wasnt really happening in Salem, what actually caused those girls to have the fits? Here's what we know about the original witch hunt: 1. After weeks of informal hearings, Sir William Phips, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, interceded to add some formality to the proceedings. 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. Family History Proves Bewitching to Descendants of Salem Witches : Colonial America: Three Presidents, Clara Barton, Walt Disney, Joan Kennedy and One Unborn Child Are among Those Whose Ancestors Were Accused of Consorting with the Devil 300 Years Ago. Los Angeles Times. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. It was carried out as such by Sheriff George Corwin. Some scholars believe that they were of African heritage, while others think that they may have been of Caribbean Native American heritage.). Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating. Although Massachusetts has given up its fight against witchcraft, there are still places in the world where witchcraft is legitimately feared by the public, sometimes even leading to real modern day witch hunts. So if you celebrate Christmas and live in Massachusetts today, be happy you were born when you were! Top 10 Events In History Scarier Than The Salem Witch Trials Subscribe To Most Amazing Top 10: http://bit.ly/2Ibyk6iMost Recent Videos: https://www.youtube.c. They began in 1692, a full 73 years before the start of the American Revolution and some 40 years before George Washington was even born. Witch trials had actually been a fairly common phenomenon in Europe during that period. Apparently they felt that giving gifts took away from ones ability to focus on serious religious thought, and they did not like the pagan origins of some aspects of the holiday. In Salem Massachusetts in 1692 the Salem Witch Trials took place. There have been many other instances of this kind of phenomenon sincemost recently in an outbreak of alleged evil clown sightings across the continent and beyond in 2016. Directed by Guy Ferland. Statistical Analysis of the Accused. Salem Witch Trials . In fact, there was fear in Europe that an entire group of evil witches were consciously attacking Europeans in order to destroy Christendom. After months of trials, the governor finally decided to put an end to the trials with the last trials being held in May of 1693. The town of Andover in northeastern Massachusetts, not Salem Village, had the highest number of accused (42 accused in Andover versus 26 accused in Salem Village).However, it was Salem Village where the witch trials were taken to such drastic lengths. In the midst of all this religious and political controversy, there was also a major racial incident. In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village became ill. William Griggs, the village doctor, was called in when they failed to improve. Abigail Williams and Betty Parris, the two girls at the very center of the trials, made sure to use every trick in the book to accuse others in the town, leading to people not only being tested, but also pressed to death! Rather, as Salem archivist and historian Richard Trask observes, they also included "second-hand rumors" and "fits of fancy." See Richard B. Trask, Legal Procedures Used During the Salem Witch Trials and a Brief History of the Published Versions of the Records, in Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt (Bernard Rosenthal ed., 2009). Accessed May 6, 2021. https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/philip-and-mary-english-home-site-of/. One of the people who perished in prison was only an infant. Here are 42 wicked facts about the Salem witch trials. In these records you can find the year the accused stood trial, first and last name, town or village where the trial took place, and the outcome of the trial. Initially, Tituba also claimed to be blameless, but after being repeatedly badgered (and undoubtedly fearful owing to her vulnerable status as a slave), she told the magistrates what they apparently wanted to hearthat she had been visited by the devil and made a deal with him. When all was said and done, 25 people lost their lives because of the trials. The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: An Account. Famous Trials. From 1671 to 1687, he served on the Counsel of Assistants, a judicial and rule-making body for the colony. One was pressed to death by heavy stones. Massachusetts formally apologized for the witch trials in 1957something that Chief Magistrate William Stoughton never did. Log in or try Ancestry 14 days free to start finding the survivors, the outspoken, or the ones who did things differently in your family tree. Some three-fourths of those European witch hunts took place in western Germany, the Low Countries, France, northern Italy, and Switzerland. Due to its association with the supernatural and the haunted, Salem is now a popular destination for Halloween festivities, which run throughout the month of October. It is not known why Abigail was living with the Parris family but many historians assume her parents . The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local. One of the turning points in ending public support and enthusiasm for the trials was the conviction and execution of one of the towns former minsters, George Burroughs, who publicly recited the Lords Prayer at the gallows, which was believed to be impossible for witches to do. Witches were considered to be followers of Satan who had traded their souls for his assistance. People thought that witches used demons to do magic. Spooky stories abound at the Witch House in Salem, Massachusetts. Thomas Maule, a Quaker who found himself at odds with the Puritan community at times, was beaten and imprisoned for speaking out against the trials, despite the fact that he himself believed in witches. The hunts were efforts to identify witches rather than pursuits of individuals who were already thought to be witches. In October 1692, a girl in Andover accused a neighbors dog of trying to bewitch her. There were complex political, religious, and racial issues under the crisis. In 1692, when the Salem witch trials began, the United States Constitution did not yet exist. Which, yes, is a little ironic. All Rights Reserved. From Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to Hocus Pocus, Arthur Miller to American Horror Story, American pop culture is saturated in retellings of this horrifying episode in colonial history. Here are three notable facts about the Salem witch trials: About 42-50 people died being accused of witchcraft over the course of 300 years. Unlike the stereotype surrounding witchcraft that indicates that it is primarily done by women, the people of Salem did not discriminate on the basis of gender. Other girls and young women began experiencing fits, among them Ann Putnam, Jr.; her mother; her cousin, Mary Walcott; and the Putnamss servant, Mercy Lewis. Maybe theres another reason that people still find themselves intrigued with the Salem witchcraft trials, besides the possibility of sorcery or the specter of mass delusions convulsing into violence. During the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft. The Salem witch trials have gripped American imaginations ever since they occurred in 1692. They had seizures, hid under chairs, talked in gibberish, and ran fevers. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/salem-witch-trial-descendants/. Twenty of those people were executed, most by hanging. There is little doubt that some individuals did worship the devil and attempt to practice sorcery with harmful intent. The trials came to an abrupt halt when the Governors wife was accused of witchcraft, causing him to immediately order an end to the trials. Nineteen were hanged, and one-elderly Giles Corey-pressed to death. In January 1692, two little girls living in Salem began acting strangely. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. Lynch, Patrick. This series of prosecutions and hangings of those accused of practicing witchcraft provoked a major backlash, and the event still haunts us today. Salem witch trials, (June 1692-May 1693), in American history, a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted "witches" to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts). One of the people. Upon interrogation, the girls named Tituba (an Indian woman enslaved by the Parris family), Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne as witches. Despite being known as the Salem witch trials, some of the trials actually took place in Ipswich and Andover in addition to Salem itself. Although most of the accused witches were women, some men were also accused. In addition, one man was pressed to death by giant stones for refusing to even plea innocent. The Salem Witch Trials, 1692 17th Century Pocahontas Saves John Smith, 1608 Aboard the Mayflower, 1620 The First Thanksgiving, 1621 The Price of Adultery in Puritan Massachusetts, 1641 Living Among the Mohawks, 1644 The Execution of Charles I, 1649 The Great Fire of London, 1666 Inside the Court of Louis XIV, 1671 New York City, 1679 Witchcraft was considered a crime against the church and the state. List of People of the Salem Witch Trials. Wikipedia. Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter. Although Giles was a wealthy farmer and Martha was a prominent church member, both of them had pasts they werent exactly advertising to the public. So if you celebrate Christmas and live in Massachusetts today, be happy you were born when you were! The effects of the Salem Village witch trials were devastating: 141 people imprisoned, 19 people executed, and two more died from other causes directly related to the investigations.1 The Salem witch trials would account for a quarter of all people executed for the crime of witchcraft in the history of New England,2 and would furthermore prove For instance, after being accused of witchcraft, Philip and Mary English were held for trial in a Boston jail. His wife, Elizabeth, had been accused of witchcraft and John tried to step in to defend her. One exception was Giles Corey, who refused to stand for trialhe believed the court had already decided his fate, and he didn't want his property to be confiscated upon his verdict of being found guilty. The Salem witch trials are considered one of Americas most noteworthy cases of mass hysteria. She was taken into custody the next day and jailed with her mother, Sarah, who had been accused of the same capital crime three weeks earlier. Another reason why it sucked that these trials took place before the Bill of Rights existed? Unfortunately for Bishop, that allegation of witchcraft would not be her last. One of the most famous victims of the trials was a prominent woman in the local community named Martha Corey. This period of witch trials later came to be known as the Salem witch trials, named after the town of Salem and Salem Village (present-day Danvers). Before she was hanged for witchcraft, Sarah Good gave birth to a daughter, Mercy Good, while detained. Despite their obvious Christian commitment, the early American Puritans actually banned Christmas in the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1659, deeming it a sacrilege. Significantly, those that they began identifying as other witches were no longer just outsiders and outcasts but rather upstanding members of the community, beginning with Rebecca Nurse, a mature woman of some prominence. Sarah Good also gave birth to a daughter, Mercy, while in custody. Tituba initially denied the claim that she was a witch, but notoriously later decided to confess that it was true and accused two other women as well in the process. In fact, there was fear in Europe that an entire group of evil witches were consciously attacking Europeans in order to destroy Christendom. Arthur Miller, the famous playwright who authored Death of a Salesman, responded to the McCarthy hysteria by writing The Crucible, a play about the Salem witch trials, as a metaphor for what the country was going through in the 1950s. Because of the similarity in time period, location, and story, people often mix up the Puritans with the Pilgrims, the group of Dutch settlers who created what we now know as the holiday of Thanksgiving. Facts Did You Know? In 1689, through the influence of the Putnams, Samuel Parris, a merchant from Boston by way of Barbados, became the pastor of the villages Congregational church. The 1692 Salem witch trials are a big blot on American history. Dont feel too embarrassed if you happen to be from Massachusetts, you guys were not the first to do something like this. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. After that, the next thirty-three witchcraft trials resulted in acquittals. The Salem witch trials of the late 17th century were a formative episode in America's early history, and have remained at the forefront of the national consciousness ever since. Well, many workers and service providers will, Being a nurse isnt easy or ordinarybut these nurses had more difficult, and more bizarre,, Sometimes, you hear a story so wild that you heave a sigh of relief when, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex was the darling of Elizabeths old ageuntil he wasnt., Lets face it: Some people are just rude. Bishop was known to rebel against the puritanical values of that time. Witches have been the origin of many myths and legends. Around the same time, in Salem Village, village girls accused a man of tormenting a different dog with his evil spirit.