Salem Witch trials

1. SALEM WITCH TRIALS
DANIEL SHIELDS

2. The Salem Witch trials in 1692-1693 is a dark time in American History.
Innocent people being put to death over something that was not fully
Understood. It was said to be a sickness not witchcraft that caused these
Colonist a reaction that would cost too many their lives. Even animals were put
To death over this. Religion was the main catalyst for the trials that caused mass
Hysteria.

3. The Salem Witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft
In colonial Massachusetts February 1662 and May 1663. The trials resulted in the execution of twenty people.

4. This is one Colonial America’s most notorious cases of mass hysteria and is often used in political rhetoric
As a reminder of what the dangers of isolationism and religious extremism.

5. Fanciful representation of the Salem witch trials, lithograph from 1892

6. A Haunted history clip from a documentary at History.com

7. The events which led to the Salem witch trials began when Parris' daughter Betty and her cousin,
Abigail Williams, accused Parris' slave Tituba of witchcraft. Parris beat Tituba until she confessed herself a
witch, and John Indian, her husband, began accusing others. The delusion spread, many were
apprehended, most of whom were imprisoned.

8. The deposition of Abigail Williams v. George Jacobs, Sr.

9. This 19th-century representation of "Tituba and the Children" by Alfred Fredericks, originally
appeared in A Popular History of the United States, Vol. 2, by William Cullen Bryant (1878)

10. Like Tituba, several accused “witches” confessed and named still others, and the trials soon began to
overwhelm the local justice system. In May 1692, the newly appointed governor of Massachusetts,
William Phips, ordered the establishment of a special Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) on
witchcraft cases
William Phips

11. the court handed down its first conviction, against Bridget Bishop, on June 2; she was hanged eight days
later on what would become known as Gallows Hill in Salem Town. Five more people were hanged that
July; five in August and eight more in September. In addition, seven other accused witches died in jail, while
the elderly Giles Corey (Martha’s husband) was pressed to death by stones after he refused to enter a plea
at his
Bridget Bishop

12. Giles Corey was pressed to death during the Salem witch trials in the 1690s

13. The parsonage in Salem Village, as photographed in the late 19th century

14. Belief in the supernatural and the devil believing to give some certain humans powers to harm
Others was in Europe as early as the 14th century. Then was spread to the colonies in New England.

15. Life was not easy at the time they were recovery from the British war with France,
A small pox epidemic, and fears from attack of Native Americans.

16. The present-day archaeological site of the Salem Village parsonage

17. The Salem Witch Trials Memorial Park in Salem

18. The three accused witches were brought before the magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne and questioned,
even as their accusers appeared in the courtroom in a grand display of
spasms, contortions, screaming and writhing. Though Good and Osborn denied their guilt, Tituba confessed. Likely
seeking to save herself from certain conviction by acting as an informer, she
claimed there were other witches acting alongside her in service of the devil against the Puritans. As hysteria spread
through the community and beyond into the rest of Massachusetts, a number
of others were accused, including Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse–both regarded as upstanding members of
church and community–and the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good.

20. Prior to the constitutional turmoil of the 1680s, Massachusetts government had been dominated by
Puritan secular leaders. Influenced by Calvinism, Puritans had opposed many of the traditions of the
Protestant Church of England, including use of the Book of Common Prayer, the use of priestly vestments
(cap and gown) during services, the use of the Holy Cross during baptism, and kneeling during the
sacrament, all of which they believed constituted poper. King Charles I was hostile to this point of view,
and Anglican church officials tried to repress these dissenting views during the 1620s and 1630s.
This resulted in some Puritans and other religious minorities seeking refuge in the Netherlands,
but ultimately many made a major migration to colonial North America.
King Charles I

21. Cotton Mather warned of the lack of actual evidence for these crimes. He
Was a respected minister at the time, dreams and visions were being taken
As evidence. He was later joined by his father the president of Harvard college
That it needs to be like any other crime, but it went largely unheard.
Cotton Mather

22. In January 1697, the Massachusetts General Court declared a day of fasting for the tragedy of the Salem
witch trials; the court later deemed the trials unlawful, and the leading justice Samuel Sewall publicly
apologized for his role in the process. The damage to the community lingered, however, even after
Massachusetts Colony passed legislation restoring the good names of the condemned and providing
financial restitution to their heirs in 1711. Indeed, the vivid and painful legacy of the Salem witch trials
endured well into the 20th century, when Arthur Miller dramatized the events of 1692 in his play
“The Crucible” (1953), using them as an allegory for the anti-Communist “witch hunts”
led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s.
Samuel Sewall

23. Religion was a big part of everyday life in the colony’s. So much so that it went too far
In killing people that were sick but because of what people thought was the “devil” hung as witches.

24. One reason why this is unique to America is because even today there really isn’t an answer
To why this even happen it was an isolated event that has so many unanswered questions.
Was it small pox? Or some other illness?

25. If I lived in the time of the Salem witch trials as a African American I would be scared.
The first one accused was the slave Tituba of teaching young girls black magic.
It seems the ones with little to no rights( woman and slaves) were the only ones punished.
Tituba

26. Today and from now on I believe religion will always play a part in law and rules in
Our society. Terrorist claim that their actions are for god and are just. And even today people use
Religion to scare and intimidate for their beliefs. As far as witchcraft goes today it is mostly just
Make-believe and in movies like The Witch that just came out. I will attach the trailer below
I hear it is quite good.

27. A few interesting things I learn is that even two dogs were killed during the trials.
They believed that dogs and other animals such as cats, mice, frogs were helping the witches do their bidding and
aiding In the devils work. Also some were accused because they had freckles or moles.
This was believed to be a place where evil spirits could be maintained.

28. When push came to shove, the Salem witch trials were less about witchcraft and more about the state of
Christianity. People were being sentenced to death because of heresy, which meant that they were
showing a outward denial of the demanded Christian beliefs of the time. It was a crime so heinous that
colonial law allowed all other laws to be superseded to deal with the threat. In modern terms, Salem
declared martial law to deal with religious heresy.

29. In conclusion the mass hysteria in Salem seemed to be tied to religion,
It has been said by historians really to be a sickness maybe found in their
Wheat or rye. This community was very religious and strict when it came
To rules of god. It was defiantly token to a whole new level when animals
Were even to blame and were killed along with 20 accused people. I don’t
Think faith is a bad thing at all, it can be wonderful if used in the right way but
As in many other cases in history it can go down a dark path.

30. Adams, G. (2009), The Specter of Salem: Remembering the Witch Trials in Nineteenth-Century America, University of Chicago Press
Sources
Lasky, Kathryn. Beyond the Burning Time. Point: New York, NY 1994
Robbins, Rossell Hope. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. Crown Publishers Inc
Rosenthal, Bernard. Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692. Cambridge University Press: New York. 1993.
Wilson, Lori Lee. The Salem Witch Trials. How History Is Invented series. Lerner: Minneapolis. 1997.
Hill, Frances. A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials. Doubleday: New York. 1995
A24 Studio, Director Robert Eggers “The Witch” 2016
History.com, “Haunted History”, 2013