You’re a WITCH!!!!!!

On January 20, 1692, the daughter and niece (Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams), became ill. Their behavior, which included seizures, screaming, and trances, was very strange. Besides these two girls other girls also started exhibiting the same strange behavior. This is when everyone started to worry. Doctors could find no medical reason for these symptoms. Well they had to blame it on something, so what did the Puritans say was the cause?

This is when everyone started pointing fingers. Over the next year, many were arrested and put to trial. The first three “witches” to be arrested were the Parris’ Caribbean slave (Tituba), Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn were elderly women with a poor reputation. More and more people died, over a dozen were hanged, yet they were all innocent.

The trials weren’t always fair and many decisions were made based on intangible evidence. Many forms of torture were used to get the “witches” to confess. All of this finally ended soon after the last hanging in September when the governor ordered that no one else can be convicted due to the intangible evidence.

The 19 people that were executed:  Bridget Bishop: June 10 th  Sarah Good: June 19 th  Elizabeth Howe: June 19 th  Susannah Martin: June 19 th  Sarah Wildes: June 19 th  George Burroughs: August 19 th  Martha Carrier: August 19 th  George Jacobs: August 19 th  John Proctor: August 19 th  John Willard: August 19 th  Giles Cory(pressed to death): September 19 th  Martha Cory: September 22 nd  Mary Easty: September 22 nd  Alice Parker: September 22 nd  Mary Parker: September 22 nd  Ann Pudeator: September 22 nd  Margaret Scott: September 22 nd  Wilmont Redd: September 22 nd  Samuel Wardwell: September 22nd

As well as those 19 people a dog was also hanged because he was believed to be a transformed witch. The four people that died in jail while waiting to go to trial:  Sarah Obsurn: May 10, 1692  Roger Toothaker: June 16, 1692  Ann Foster: December 3, 1692  Lydia Dustin: March 10, 1693

Danvers, a town in Salem, was where a majority of the trials and hangings occurred. Gallows Hill was the place where the hangings took place. At a certain point, there were 150 “witches” in custody. In less than a year, 19 people had been hung, an eighty year old man was pressed to death because he refused to a trial, and 4 others died in jail. Tituba was the only one who confessed to being a witch. She claimed that Satan visited her on a number of occasions in the form of a dog or pig. Most of the people that were accused of being a witch had less money and. Their behavior was also disturbing in the community. Many also had criminal records. However, some were faithful to the church. I’m guilty, I’m a witch!

See if you’ll be named a witch or worse, hanged:

The Salem witch Trials by Michael Burgan /salemwitchtrials/ /salemwitchtrials/ PQv8/SSdjvvuyk0I/AAAAAAAACtg/suVNcMEEoZw/s320/Sal em%2Bwitch%2Btrial.jpg PQv8/SSdjvvuyk0I/AAAAAAAACtg/suVNcMEEoZw/s320/Sal em%2Bwitch%2Btrial.jpg rris.jpg rris.jpg