Salem Witch Trials of the 1690’s

Events that lead to the Salem Witch Trials Why people were accused for using witchcraft. ~ Family Feuds ~ Religion ~ Economics ~ People just fear others

Illness cause by witchcraft In February 1692 a girl and her three friend became ill. Fever Pain They would burst in yells They symptoms were baffling there parents and doctor After there first shot failed to make there pain and fever go away. The doctor think the girls symptoms may have something to do with witchcraft. Back then when doctor can’t find out what is wrong with someone they would say it has something to do with witchcraft.

Salem Witch House The house was built in 1642. They used this house to question the 185 accused witches.

Prosecutors John Hathorne Became local minister of Salem Was then appointed judge in the Salem He was appointed to be an impartial judge but he became more like a prosecutor and his opening questions always presumed guilt over innocence Pressured the accused to admit to practicing witchcraft but to revel the names of others who might also be witches This led to accelerated accusations Samuel Sewall Was a judge in the Witch Trials Was the only judge to apologize ( public ) for convicting innocent people

Executed Accused Ann Dolliver Phillip English Abigail Faulkner Bridget bishop Rev. George Burroughs Giles Cory Martha Cory Mary Easty Sarah Good Elizabeth How George Jacobs Sr. Susannah Martin Rebecca Nurse Alice Parker Marry Parker John Proctor Sr. Margaret Scott Ect. Ann Dolliver Phillip English Abigail Faulkner Marry Ireson Margaret Jacobs Gloucester Women John Alden various children

“Afflicted” Girls The Afflicted girls were the children in the village who they believed were being affected by witches and who accused others of being witches. Sarah Bibber Elizabeth Booth Sarah Churchill Elisabeth Hubbard Mercy Lewis Elizabeth Parris Ann Putnam Jr. Abigail Williams

The Outcomes of The Trials -It started off as people really truly believing others were Witches, but ended in name calling and revenge and fear of others, there was no reliable evidence if any.

Reasons for the Decline There were many reasons the trials ended in Salem. Respected Priests were saying that innocent people were getting accused, and not receiving fair trials. People started realizing that the people accusing others had Unreliable evidence.

Conti. The Witch trials were ended because people became aware that the trials were unfair for the accused, and plus the evidence against the accused wasn’t really logical or there wasn’t any evidence at all.

From The Historian’s Perspective Historians today interpret the events of the Salem Witch Trials as illogical happenings that stemmed from ignorance. From the perspective of historians, societies in those times were even more ignorant than they are today, and the ignorance is what led to the death of so many innocent Salem people.

Giles Corey The Man Who Was Pressed To Death Arrested on April 18, 1692. Sheriff George Corwin led him into a pit on September 17th for refusal to plead innocent or guilty of witchery. Boards were placed on his chest, and 6 men, one by one, placed heavy rocks on his chest and stomach. The process of dying took many excruciating days. On the day of his death, he said: “I curse you Corwin, and all of Salem!” before passing away.

Other Famous witch hunts Before & after Witch trial of 1640's Essex- The English courts did not use the torture as a method in hunting witches. The only case in which alleged torture was used was in the 1645 trial in Essex. The judges would order the guards to not let the accused fall asleep. 2. In 1584 Reginald Scot published The Discovery of Witch Craft in which he argued that witchcraft existed only in fantasy, and that the witch trials were unchristian and full of injustices. 3. The Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661-1662- Scotland held one of the largest witch hunts in European history, in which an estimated 600 people were accused of witchcraft or ritually summoning the devil. 4. Last Witch trial in Turnhout 1950- The last witch trial was initiaited by Martha Minnen, her abutters Victor and Maria Deckx ripped up Mrs. Minnen's back and called her witch in the village of Witgoor in the Kempen region of Flanders. They told Judge Boon, that behavior of Mrs. Minnen smacked strongly of witchcraft, because she prioritized the noncomformity style of life. Martha Minnen warded 50 cats and gave one very special gift for the one neighborly kid: nest full of the sparrows.

Estimated Executions of Witch Hunts: Country Recorded Estimated America 36 35-37 Austria ?? 1,500-3,000 Belgium ?? 250 Bohemia ?? 1,000-2,000 Channel Islands 66 66-80 Denmark ?? 1,000 England 228 300-1,000 Estonia 65 100 Finland 115 115 France 775 5,000-6,000 Germany 8,188 17,324-26,000 Hungary 449 800 Iceland 22 22 Ireland 4 4-10 Italy 95 800 Luxembourg 358 355-358 Netherlands 203 203-238 Norway 280 350 Silesia(modern day Poland) ??? 1,000-5,000 Portugal 7 7 Russia 10 10 Scotland 599 1,100-2,000 Spain 6 40-50 Sweden ?? 200-250 Switzerland 1,039 4,000-5,000 Grand Total: 12,545 35,184-63,850

Bibliography John Hathorne. Web. 5 Oct. 2009. <http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_BHAT.HTM>. Salem Witch Trials Important Persons. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Web. 5 Oct. 2009. <http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxon-salem/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=salem/texts/names.xml&style=salem/xsl/dynaxml.xsl&group.num=G04&mbio.num=mb14&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes>. www.salemwitchtrials.com/salemwitchcraft.html. Web. 2 Oct. 2009. <http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/salemwitchcraft.html>.   Possible causes of the Salem witch hunts. Web. 5 Oct. 2009. <http://www.essortment.com/all/salemwitchhunt_rulb.htm>. Salem Witch Trials. Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson,, Dec. 05. Web. 5 Oct. 2009. <http://www.42explore2.com/salemwitch.htm>. Novel ny. Web. 5 Oct. 2009. <http://find.galegroup.com/gps/retrieve.do?contentSet=EBKS&qrySerId=&inPS=true&tabID=T001&prodId=IPS&searchId=R1&retrieveFormat=PDF¤tPosition=1&userGroupName=nysl_nc_mass&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&sort=Relevance&docId=CX3401803694&callistoContentSet=SCRB&workId=dah_07_03684-p.pdf~dah_07_03685-p.pdf>.  Salem Witch Trials FAQ's. Web. 5 Oct. 2009. <http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/faqs.html>.

Bib. Continued The Decline and End of Witch Hunts in Europe. Lee Yeonhwa. Web. 5 Oct. \2009. <http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sp/0910/yeonhwa/yeonhwa1.html>. Bede's library The decline of the Witch Trials. James Hannam, 10 Apr. 2003. Web. 5 Oct. 2009. <http://www.bede.org.uk/decline.htm>. 42Explore. Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, Dec. 2005. Web. 5 Oct. 2009. <http://www.42explore2.com/salemwitch.htm>. NovelNY. Gale Cengage Learning. Web. 7 Oct. 2009. <http://http://find.galegroup.com/menu/commonmenu.do?userGroupName=nysl_nc_mass>. Witch Trials in Early Modern Europe." Witch Trials in Early Modern Europe. Web. 6 Oct. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_trials_in_Early_Modern_Europe>. Historian’s Perspective: http://www.ushistorysite.com/salem_witch_trials.php Giles Corey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_Corey This page was last modified on 5 October 2009 at 21:22 Witch Picture: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/d/dowdenb/graphics/witch.gif