25 disturbing facts about the salem witch trials 25 disturbing facts about the salem witch trials

Instead, in 1692, hanging was the preferred form of punishment. To identify witches, authorities used the "touching test", in which victims of witchcraft would become calm upon touching the culprit. 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. Of the 20 people executed during the trials, six of them were men: Giles Corey, George Burroughs, George Jacobs Sr., John Proctor, John Willard, and Samuel Wardwell Sr. John Proctor was the first man accused of witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials Victims: Who Were They? History of Massachusetts Blog, August 19, 2015. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-witch-trials-victims/. When the first accusations of witchcraft began in Salem Village, they initially targeted women. 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 addition to the twenty people convicted and executed for witchcraft, two dogs were also accused of and executed for the same crime. From 1671 to 1687, he served on the Counsel of Assistants, a judicial and rule-making body for the colony. 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 witchtrials Episodes Fireside Phantoms Podcast Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. Descendants of the Salem community have made constant efforts to clear the names of those ancestors and relatives who were falsely accused and convicted back in the 1690s, with some being officially recognized as innocent by the Massachusetts government as recently as the beginning of the 21st-century. Ergot causes hallucinations, convulsive fits, and sometimes death, and LSD derives from the substance. Given the subsequent spread of the strange behaviour to other girls and young women in the community and the timing of its display, however, those physiological and psychological explanations are not very convincing. The witch trials were held in Salem, Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. One man was pressed to death under heavy stones, the only such state-sanctioned execution of its kind. She added a hog, a great black dog, a red rat, a black rat, and a yellow bird, among other animals, to her storys cast. These 10 lesser-known facts about the . An important minister in Boston named Increase Mather was one of these objectors, stating that It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than that one innocent person should be condemned.. Sarah Good also gave birth to a daughter, Mercy, while in custody. 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. However, witch trials are not a thing of the past. Good was imprisoned from March 24, 1692, to December 10, 1692. History of the Salem Witch Trials 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. Nineteen were hanged, and one-elderly Giles Corey-pressed to death. Dont feel too embarrassed if you happen to be from Massachusetts, you guys were not the first to do something like this. Now that Tituba had confirmed that satanic work was afootand that there were other witches aroundthere was no stopping until they were all found. 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. In addition, one man was pressed to death by giant stones for refusing to even plea innocent. Did you know this unbelievable witch trial fact: dogs were also major targets of the trials? She was an enslaved woman believed to have been from Central America, captured as a child from Barbados, and brought to Massachusetts in 1680 by Reverend Parris. To save his wife, the governor stepped in to stop the trials and disband the court of Oyer and Terminer. Corrections? As the weeks passed, many of the accused proved to be enemies of the Putnams, and Putnam family members and in-laws would end up being the accusers in dozens of cases. Witches were considered to be followers of Satan who had traded their souls for his assistance. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. Salem Witch Trials - Events, Facts & Victims - HISTORY It was shut down on October 29, 1692. One of the most popular points of view was that if you were against the trials, then you were, in fact, an advocate for the witches. Colonial America for Kids: Salem Witch Trials - Ducksters The feud was over the fact that Kazan had named communist sympathizers during his testimony to Congress. Even during the trials, there were many who objected to the whole procedure, even within the religious Puritan community. Seven more died in jail. The Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible By Arthur Miller She stayed out for long hours, had people in her home late at night, and hosted drinking and gambling parties frequently. Another more disturbing theory proposed by researchers like behavioral psychologist Linnda Caporael suggests that Salem suffered from ergot poisoning. (Salem Witch Trials "History" published on November 4, 2011 and updated on October 5, 2021). In Salem Massachusetts in 1692 the Salem Witch Trials took place. History. Tituba was not the only one who thought animals were capable of engaging in the devils work. The process of identifying witches began with suspicions or rumours. The Crucible Act One: An Overture Flashcards | Quizlet Rebecca Beatrice Brooks Post author October 25, 2017 at 3:28 pm. Proof at the Salem Witch Trials - American Bar Association Many possible answers have been proposed, but one likely explanation is that they were suffering from some kind of natural medical afflictions. 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). It is easy to feel like we've long known everything there is to know about it. Credit where credit is due! However, no one ever embodied the concept of a witch as previously described. This obviously meant that you must also be a witch. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. In January 1692 Bettys and Abigails increasingly strange behaviour (described by at least one historian as juvenile deliquency) came to include fits. Another famous incident from the trials was the case of John Proctor. What historians do know is that Abigail Williams was born on July 12, 1680. When all was said and done, 25 people lost their lives because of the trials. Those people lived in quite a horrific time. Ann Putnam testified that Good tried to choke and bite her, a claim that Mary Walcott corroborated. By May 1693 everyone in custody under conviction or suspicion of witchcraft had been pardoned by Phips. Perhaps some training in the law would have constrained Stoughtons more extreme actions. Thanks for your time! Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? 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. 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. Gallows Hill was discovered on a rocky outcropping now located, very unfittingly, near a Walgreens in Salem. 9 Things You Might Not Know About the Salem Witch Trials Additionally, he is an accomplished scriptwriter, having written the successful AA Meeting series for the stage and the award-winning film Depth of Pyaar. During the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft. Between February 1692 and May 1693 in current day Massachusetts, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft. The next time Giles wanted to attend, Martha objected and prevented him from going. 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. When Millers The Crucible was produced, it was in the aftermath of his feud with Elia Kazan, the man who had directed his two earlier hit plays All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. The punishment for witchcraft was death. 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. 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. Today, witchcraftis recognized by the government as a protected and legitimate religion under the First Amendment. 20 wereexecuted (generally hanged) by the prosecutors, and five died while serving prison time. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. Witchcraft was considered a crime against the church and the state. What Were The Results Of The Salem Witch Trials Of 1692 A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials - Smithsonian Magazine Because he refused to comply with the court, he was given the sentence of being pressed to death. In May of 1693, Phips released from prison all remaining accused or convicted witches. The village itself had a noticeable social divide that was exacerbated by a rivalry between its two leading familiesthe well-heeled Porters, who had strong connections with Salem Towns wealthy merchants, and the Putnams, who sought greater autonomy for the village and were the standard-bearers for the less-prosperous farm families. Life, woman, life is Gods most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it.Arthur Miller, in The Crucible. Tackling the same twisted subject as Stacy Schiff's much-lauded book The Witches: Salem, 1692, this Sibert Honor book for young readers features unique scratchboard illustrations, chilling primary source material, and powerful narrative to tell the true tale.In the little colonial town of Salem Village, Massachusetts, two girls began to twitch, mumble, and contort their bodies into strange shapes. Some of the families now only remembered for their connection to the trials had actually been important and well-known people before that. By late February 1692, when traditional medicines and prayers failed to cure the girls, the reverend called upon a local doctor, William Griggs. SALEM WITCH TRIALS CHRONOLOGY. Here are 42 wicked facts about the Salem witch trials. One was pressed to death by heavy stones. 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. History Of Salem, MA | Salem Historical Timeline The infant died shortly after her birth, likely due to malnutrition. That May release included Elizabeth Proctor, who had been found guilty of witchcraft in August of the previous year and sentenced to death,but had her execution postponed due to pregnancy. Fourteen women and six men were executed for witchcraft, and five others died in prison during the trials. Husbands hiding things from wives, mothers from children, and generation from generation. 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.". What Were The Salem Witch Trials? Explore The Facts And History 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. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://famous-trials.com/salem/2078-sal-acct. After some young girls of the village (two of them relatives of Parris) started demonstrating strange behaviours and fits, they were urged to identify the person who had bewitched them. Check out the top history lists on the internet all in one place. In addition to the twenty people convicted and executed for witchcraft, two dogs were also accused of and executed for the same crime. They are fascinating as well as scary. Salem Witch Trial Research Paper .docx - 1 Gabriela 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. The story goes that Corey and her husband, Giles, sat in on the trials early on, causing Martha to express scepticism about the legitimacy of the proceedings. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. They found it by following clues in an accused witchs writings and through guesses on where prisoners would be transported. The Salem witch trials are considered one of Americas most noteworthy cases of mass hysteria. 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. 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. No, it doesnt sound that romantic or comic to me either. Salem Witch Trials Facts for Kids The magistrates then had not only a confession but also what they accepted as evidence of the presence of more witches in the community, and hysteria mounted. Let those stories inspire you to start your family history research today. The death warrant, signed on June 8, 1692, ordered for her death to take place by hanging on Friday, June 10, 1692, between 8 a.m. and noon. It seems that a shocking number of accusations were made by members of the Putnam family. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from Life to Compact Cars and Trucks to A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius. Well get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics youre interested in. There were complex political, religious, and racial issues under the crisis. What is the legacy of the Salem witch trials? His vocal support for his wifewho was also accused of witchcraftand claims that the accusers were lying were among the possible reasons why suspicion fell on him as well. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. Spooky stories abound at the Witch House in Salem, Massachusetts. 8. Mid-February- After a month of fasting, prayer, and home remedies, Betty and Abigail have not improved. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Phips. Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. Besides their descendants, the accused witches of Salem leave another legacy: a rich and fascinating history for us to explore today. This often led to panicked citizens pointing out their innocent neighbors, adding to the rising toll of victims. The Multitude of Salem Witch Trials Descendants. New England Historical Society. Before she was hanged for witchcraft, Sarah Good gave birth to a daughter, Mercy Good, while detained. Unlike the others who were hanged, this unfortunate fellow was crushed to death by stones. Making distraction rewarding since 2017. When all was said and done, 25 people lost their lives because of the trials. The Salem Witch Trials According to the Historical Records Having an angry witch killing your children made sense. In October 1692, a girl in Andover accused a neighbors dog of trying to bewitch her. 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. They were eventually assumed to be possessed. 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. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. Full List, Photo Credits, and Sources: https://list25.com/25-disturbing-facts-about-the-salem-witch-trialsSUBSCRIBE - http://bit.ly/2uwq6BJCheck out our store: https://teespring.com/stores/list25-swagFollow us on: List25 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/list25List25 Instagram: https://instagram.com/list25/List25 Twitter - https://twitter.com/list25 List25 Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/list25/See more Top 25 lists on our website:http://list25.comThe Salem witch trials were BRUTAL, but did you know that a big reason for the craziness surrounding the town was the Salem smallpox outbreak shortly before? Spectral evidence refers to the description of harm committed by the specters of the accused, described by those who were bewitched [PDF]. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://salemwitchtrials.com/accusedstats.html. The collective delusion of witchcraft took more than a year to loosen its grip on Salem and its surrounding towns. One of the people. Millers famous play about the Salem witch trials is called The Cruciblebut what is a crucible anyway? The Salem Witch Trials: Real Facts That Will Haunt You The community, beleaguered with hardships already, then overreacted. Just when did the Salem witch trials take place in the timeline of American history? One of the most famous victims of the trials was a prominent woman in the local community named Martha Corey. What gave witches away were body marks, such as scars and moles. Some have suggested that the man who was truly responsible for initiating the witch trial debacle was Reverend Samuel Parris, the father and uncle of the afflicted girls. 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. "Examination of a witch" by Tompkins Harrison Matteson (1853) This resulted in him being accused as well, and in the end it was he who was executed while Elizabeth was instead sentenced to prison so that her unborn baby would not have to die. Salem Witch Trials | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature The Largest Collection Of History Facts On The Internet - List25 Salem witch trials Facts | Britannica 1032 Words | 5 Pages. The haphazard fashion in which the Salem witch trials were conducted contributed to changes in U.S. court procedures, including rights to legal representation and cross-examination of accusers as well as the presumption that one is innocent until proven guilty. Two of the casualties were babies. 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). The Salem witch trials and executions came about as the result of a combination of church politics, family feuds, and hysterical children, all of which unfolded in a vacuum of political authority. Some of the attitudes in the Salem witch trials are still seen today. Kyle Climans has been a published writer since 2011. Several episodes of the original Bewitched TV series were actually filmed on location in Salem. The colony passed a bill in 1711 restoring the rights and good names of those accused and granted 600 restitution to their heirs. Even some members of his congregation at the time wanted to see him dismissed from his pew in response to his aggressive prosecuting role in the episode. 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. 25 DISTURBING Facts About The Salem Witch Trials 429,208 views Sep 12, 2018 6.3K Dislike Share Save List 25 2.51M subscribers Get ready to pull out your history books as we bring you the most. Both Good and Osborn protested their own innocence, though Good accused Osborn. Nige Tassell explains how hysteria in the village of Salem, Massachusets, gave rise to a horror that bedazzled the world Published: June 10, 2020 at 4:45 pm Subs offer George Burroughs, the Puritan minister, had nine children before being hanged. From petty paybacks to insane acts of karma, these bitter people somehow found the most ingenious ways. Move over Montagues and Capulets: You might not be the most vengeful families out there. Another reason why it sucked that these trials took place before the Bill of Rights existed? Soon after, other girls including Anne Putnam, Jr., 12, and Elizabeth Hubbard, 17, also started showing similar symptoms. Updates? There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. Today, witchcraftis recognized by the government as a protected and legitimate religion under the First Amendment. Lynch, Patrick. New England Witchcraft Trials: It Wasn't Just Salem 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. Much of the evidence brought agains the witches, at least at first, was called spectral evidence, where people testified to seeing an apparition of the accused trying to inflict harm on them. The most terrifying part, perhaps, was that anyone could be accused of engaging in witchcraft, and there was little they could do to defend themselves. In 1702, the court declared the trials unlawful. SALEM WITCH TRIALS CHRONOLOGY - Salem Witch Museum Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Not even ministers could escape. His diagnosis of bewitchment put into motion the forces that would ultimately result in the hanging deaths of 19 men and women. Many parallels have been drawn between the events of Salem and the tactics used by the government during the Red Scare of the 1950s, in which Senator Joseph McCarthy very harshly interrogated and went after anyone suspected of being a communist sympathizer. In fact, there was fear in Europe that an entire group of evil witches were consciously attacking Europeans in order to destroy Christendom. 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. 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. Which, yes, is a little ironic. Philip and Mary English Home, Site Of. Salem Witch Museum. As she did when she was accused of bewitching her second husband, Bishop once again claimed innocence during her trial. How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials, Order in the Court: 10 Trials of the Century, https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials, Bill of Rights Institute - The Salem Witch Trials, World History Encyclopedia - Salem Witch Trials, Salem Witch Trials - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Salem witch trials - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). The episode is heavily ingrained in American history and perpetuated through pop culture, but the souls lost and persecuted during that time aren't just present in our literature, media, and popular culture. Copyright 2023 by Factinate.com. 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.. Catherine of Aragon was King Henry VIIIs first wife and longest-lasting Queen of England. Witch hunts For those who are unaware, Salem is located in Massachusetts, which, as you might remember from history class, was New Englands first established colony dating back to the arrival of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620. At the time of the Salem Witch Trials, Abigail was living with her uncle, Reverend Samuel Parris, his daughter Betty Parris and Parris' slaves Tituba and John Indian.