The Salem Witch Trials

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The Salem Witch Trials
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The Salem Witch Trials
Belief in witches was almost universal at this
time
Less than 50 years before Salem crisis, several
hundred people were executed in England or
witchcraft, 90 of them women.
In the colonies, witch trials took place in
almost exclusively in Massachusetts and
Connecticut. Even there, the trials were
generally isolated incidents. More people were
charged and executed for witchcraft during the
Salem crisis than over the rest of American
history.
The typical witch was a woman, frequently
middle-aged with few or no children and a
reputation as a difficult personality. Some were
poor outsiders, but as the crisis developed in
Salem many of the accused were outside of the
expected mold and powerful.
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Salem Witch Trials

• Began winter of 1691-92

• Adolescent girls convinced Tituba, a 25-year-old
  slave from Barbados, to conduct a ceremony to
  help them determine who their future husbands
  would be

• The shape an egg white assumed in a caldron of
  boiling water would show the mans occupation

• The girls panicked when they thought they saw the
  shape of a coffin

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The Salem Witch Trials
Not long before the incident, some of the girls
began peculiarly. Cotton Mather, an influential
Puritan minister in Boston, had published a
widely read description of demon possession. The
chances that these girls had been exposed to it
are good.
Whether the symptoms were psychosomatic or
intentional, the girls were soon the center of
attention. In this culture, adolescent girls
were the least powerful people in the community.
They were often fostered out to learn domestic
skills and obedience. Six of eight girls
involved did not live with their own families.
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The Accusers
Accusers

• Betty Parris
• 9 years old
• Mother was an invalid
• Tituba was the Parris slave
• Daughter of embattled village minister, Samuel
  Parris
• May have identified her fathers enemies with
  the forces of Satan
• Sent away and signs of possession stopped

• Abigail Williams
• 11 year old cousin of Betty Parris
• Orphan, living with the Parris family
• Remained in Salem and continued to see witches

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The Accusers

• Ann Putnam
• 12-year-old
• Daughter of Thomas and Ann
• Family had been powerful in Salem, but their
  fortunes had ebbed
• Became the leader of the girls when the
  accusation began
• Mother also accused people of witchcraft

Many scholars believe that the Putnams actually
took control of the accusations and deliberately
directed them toward their enemies.
Eventually 8 members of this family would accuse
46 different people of witchcraft.
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The Accusations

• Witches were believed to often work through
  mediums or familiars
• This tactic left the accused with no defense. If
  they were accused of an act of witchcraft, their
  absence from the scene was no defense. After
  all, a witch could dispatch a medium from any
  place to do her bidding

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The First Tituba, Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good

• Tituba
• 25-year-old slave of the Putnams from Barbados
• Imprisoned and kept in leg irons to keep her
  from flying away
• Joined in the accusations to protect herself
• Gave the authorities the type of information
  they needed to keep going

• Sarah Osborne
• Sickly, middle-aged woman who had been involved
  in a legal battle with the Putnams
• Accused by Tituba and Abigail Williams of using
  a medium to threaten the Parris children
• Died before being tried

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The Accused

• Sarah Good
• a beggar, who often cursed the people she
  petitioned for food and money
• Husband accused her of being an awful wife
• Dorcas, 4-year-old daughter, also accused and
  kept in leg irons with her mother. Released
  after 9 months, but remained mentally disturbed
  for life.

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The Later Accused

• Martha Cory
• Respectable, but out-spoken woman who let it be
  known she thought accusations were hogwash
• Accused by Ann, Jr. of using a medium to choke
  her
• Ann claimed to see a yellow bird (another medium)
  nursing between Marthas fingers
• Ann, Sr. claimed to suffering at the hands of
  Martha accompanied by Rebecca Nurse.

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The Latter Accused

• Rebecca Nurse
• 71 year-old whose family had opposed the
• Putnams in a number of local battles
• Main accuser was Ann, Sr.
• Sick in bed when arrested
• Sisters, Sarah Cloyce and Mary Easty also charged
• One of the girls who was accusing Rebecca of
  pinching her was shown to be using a pin to
  inflict the pain on herself, Rebecca was found
  not guilty
• When the girls fell into fits, the judge asked
  the jury to reconsider. They returned with a
  verdict of guilty.
• Reprieved by governor, girls again became ill,
  and reprieved is retracted
• Hanged with 4 other women in first mass execution
  in American history

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The Others

• The girls began naming more and more powerful
  members of the community, including a number of
  men.

• Geroge Burroughsformer minister in Salem,
  hanged as the witches ringleader
• Giles Corey80-year-old husband of Martha
• Only person in American history punished by being
  pressed to death
• George Jacobs--fiesty 80-year-old accused by a
  servant
• Elizabeth Proctorwife of prominent man in
  Salem ran the family tavern
• John Proctoraccused and hanged

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The End of the Matter

• The accused could save their lives by confessing
  witchcraft.

More that 20 people chose to insist on their
innocence and face death
Many people were uncomfortable with executing
based on visions seen only by the accusers.
In January 1693, a year after the witch-hunt
began the governor of Massachusetts forbade
imprisonment or trial for witchcraft.