The Examination of Sarah Good Salem Court Documents, 1692

Focus Lesson Transcript Bias Loaded language Loaded questions

Transcript A written record of information communicated orally such as a: Speech Interview Legal testimony

Bias A prejudice or mental leaning toward or against some topic, issue or person. Writers reveal their biases by using loaded language—Words with strong emotional associations. Interrogators can reveal their biases by asking loaded questions—Questions that make unwarranted presumptions or that force a certain answer.

Sarah Good

Sarah Sarah was accused by a group of adolescent girls of bewitching them to suffer symptoms of convulsive fits, hallucinations, loss of appetite, and temporary loss of hearing. This is the court record from Sarah’s hearing on March 1, 1692. Good was then jailed, tried in court, found guilty and hanged on July 19th.

The Irony of the Trials After 19 men and women were found guilty and hanged for witchcraft, Puritan leaders began to doubt the accusers and their evidence. Over the next 20 years, most of the falsely accused were pardoned and awarded financial compensation.