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The History of Salem… In 1692, 19 innocent men and women were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. An old man was pressed to death under heavy rocks for refusing to stand trial. Five others died in jail as they awaited trial, including an infant. More than 150 were arrested and jailed before finally being pardoned. Even two dogs were executed. None of the executed confessed to witchcraft. Such a confession would have surely spared their lives (as it did for many of the accused), but, they believed, condemned their souls.
How did a village get caught up in such madness? Twenty-four innocent victims lost their lives in the Salem witchcraft hysteria. How did the community of Salem let this tragedy happen? Was it simply fear and superstition, or were there other factors at work? Was it fraud, boredom, sexual repression, dietary deficiency, mass hysteria? Or, could a simple fungus, as some have proposed, have been to blame?
Diagnosis? Witchcraft! It began when a small girl, the daughter of the local pastor, fell sick in 1692. Her “fitts”—convulsions, contortions, and outbursts of gibberish—baffled everyone. Other girls soon manifested the same symptoms. Their doctor could suggest but one cause: Witchcraft.
A Passage from the New Testament “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” – 1 Peter 5:8 Zealously obedient to this admonishment from the apostle Peter, the Puritans of New England scoured their souls—and those of their neighbors—for even the faintest stains. These stern, godly folk were ready to stare down that roaring lion till Judgment Day saw him vanquished.
The “fitts” that defied explanation The lion roared in February 1692. Betty Parris’s “fitts” defied all explanation. So did those of Abigail Williams and the girls’ friend Ann Putnam. Doctors and ministers watched in horror as the girls contorted themselves, cowered under chairs, and shouted nonsense. The girls’ agonies “could not possibly be Dissembled,” declared the Reverend Cotton Mather, a religious leader in Massachusetts and author of a book about witchcraft.
The accusations began Lacking a natural explanation, the Puritans turned to the supernatural—the girls were bewitched. Prodded by Reverend Parris and others, they named their tormentors: a disheveled beggar named Sarah Good, the elderly Sarah Osburn, and Tituba , the Parris family’s slave from Barbados.
At first, Tituba suggested other causes for the girls’ sickness …
But then, she “confessed” While both Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn insisted upon their innocence, Tituba, her recollection refreshed by Parris’s beating, confessed—and then some. “The devil came to me and bid me serve him,” she reported in March 1692. Villagers sat spellbound as Tituba spoke of black dogs, red cats, yellow birds, and a white-haired man who bade her sign the devil’s book. There were several undiscovered witches, she said, and they yearned to destroy the Puritans.
More arrests followed … Finding witches became a crusade—not only for Salem but all Massachusetts. Before long the crusade turned into a convulsion, and the witch-hunters ultimately proved far more deadly than their prey.
The Youngest “Witch” Four-year-old Dorcas Good, daughter of Sarah Good, became the first child to be accused of witchcraft when three of the girls complained they were bitten by the “specter” of Dorcas. The child was arrested, kept in jail for eight months, watched her mother get carried off to the gallows, and “would cry her heart out and go insane.”
Rebecca Nurse More of Salem’s citizens started to question the proceedings when the pious, kind-hearted Rebecca Nurse was brought in chains to the courtroom.
Giles Corey insisted on his and his wife Martha’s innocence He refused to confess or to stand for trial … so, he was “pressed” to death with stones. However, because he endured this endured this torture, his son could keep his land. Three days later, his wife and seven others were hanged.
Abigail Williams, one of the accusers, alleged that Elizabeth Proctor was using voodoo against her …
After this, Elizabeth Proctor and her husband, John, were also arrested
What constituted “evidence”? • Use of traditional English “white” magic (witch cake) • Use of voodoo, fortune telling or crystal balls • “Touch” Test (used on person having a “fit” to see if the accused is person causing affliction) • Use of “Poppits,” or books of palmistry and horoscopes • Pots of ointments in house • Spectral Evidence (based on dreams, visions, and spirits) • Confessions of the Accused • Testimony of a person who confessed to being a witch identifying others as witches • Existence of so called “witch’s teat” on the body
Reverend John Hale Casting doubt on the fairness of the trials, Reverend John Hale said, “It cannot be imagined that in a place of so much knowledge, so many in so small compass of land should abominably leap into the Devil’s lap at once.”
William Stoughton However, William Stoughton, lieutenant governor and chief magistrate of the special witchcraft tribunal, named “the Court of Oyer and Terminer,” pushed on with the trials.
The Trial of George Burroughs Even Salem’s former pastor, George Burroughs, was accused of witchcraft and condemned. When he was able to recite the Lord’s Prayer at his hanging, many in the audience questioned his guilt, for a witch was not supposed to be able to recite this prayer.
As stated in Robert Calef’s account of the execution of George Burroughs: “Mr. Burroughs was carried in a cart with others, through the streets of Salem, to execution. When he was upon the ladder, he made a speech for the clearing of his innocency, with such solemn and serious expressions as were to the admiration of all present. His prayer (which he concluded by repeating the Lord’s Prayer) was so well worded, and uttered with such composedness as such fervency of spirit, as was very affecting, and drew tears from many, so that if seemed to some that the spectators would hinder the execution. The accusers said the black man stood and dictated to him….
“As soon as he was turned off, Mr. Cotton Mather, being mounted upon a horse, addressed himself to the people, partly to declare that he (Mr. Burroughs) was no ordained minister, partly to possess the people of his guilt, saying that the devil often had been transformed into the angel of light… When he [Mr. Burroughs] was cut down, he was dragged by a halter to a hole, or grave, between the rocks, about two feet deep; his shirt and breeches being pulled off, and an old pair of trousers of one executed put on his lower parts: he was so put in, together with Willard and Carrier, that one of his hands, and his chin, and a foot of one of them, was left uncovered.”
In total, 19 people were sent to Gallows Hill outside of Salem to be hanged
There were four rounds of executions: 14 women and 5 men were hanged
Execution of Mrs. Ann Hibbins Each of the four rounds of executions deepened the dismay of many of the New Englanders who watched the witchcraft hysteria run its course.
Increase Mather On October 3, 1692, the Reverend Increase Mather, president of Harvard College, denounced the use of so-called spectral evidence. “It were better,” Mather admonished his fellow ministers (including his son Cotton), “that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned.”
Governor William Phips Finally, Massachusetts Governor William Phips, whose own wife at one point was accused, put an end to the trials and pardoned those still in jail.
Years later, accuser Ann Putnam apologized – she was the only one to do so
Memorial to Rebecca Nurse “O Christian Martyr Who for Truth could die When all about thee Owned the hideous lie! The world, redeemed from superstition’s sway, Is breathing freer for thy sake today.” - John Greenleaf Whittier, inscription of monument
