1. The Salem Witch Trials
Salem, Massachusetts
1692 – 1693

3. The Puritans considered Indians to be devilish and barbaric
The Puritans considered Indians to be devilish and barbaric. They lived in constant fear of attack. This caused great fear among the citizens, some believe even hysteria.
Hysteria - behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear or panic

4. Key People Tituba: Indian slave from Barbados (Caribbean)
Reverend Samuel Parris: minister of Salem; daughter was
bewitched
Ann Putnam Jr.: the “leader” of the bewitched girls
Betty Parris: daughter of Rev Parris; one of the bewitched
Mary Warren: one of the bewitched girls
Abigail Williams: one of the bewitched girls

5. Rev. Samuel Parris minister in Salem during the trials
preached harsh sermons
his house was the center of the witch hunt

6. Tituba entertains Salem girls with supernatural tales of her native land.

7. the girls fall into trances
they can’t bear to hear the Lord’s name
they feel pricked by pins and stabbed by knives
doctors examine the girls and believe the devil is loose in Salem
As a young girl swoons under the influence of witchcraft as the pilgrims pray to cast out the evil spirits afflicting her.

8. A summons for witnesses
the girls accuse Tituba of bewitching them
Tibuba confesses to witchcraft and accuses others
(Summons for Witnesses)
A summons for witnesses

9. Accused witches were arrested and brought in for questioning

10. the afflicted girls cry out in court claiming to be pinched and harmed by unseen forces controlled by the accused witches
Spectral Evidence:
the belief that a witch can send his/her spirit out of their body to cause harm

12. Increase Mather a powerful minister
viewed witchcraft and supernatural happenings as God’s growing displeasure with New England
cautioned against using spectral evidence

13. Swimming a Witch
person was tossed into a body of water
if they floated they were guilty and if they sank they were innocent because water rejects evil
innocence seldom mattered because they usually drowned before being pulled to safety

14. Witch’s Mark:
believed witches had a mark left by the Devil
searched the body for these marks
often pierced them with needles to see if they bled

15. The Lord’s Prayer:
they believed witches could not recite the Our Father
often made suspected witches do this to prove they were innocent

16. (Hammer of the Witches)
The courts followed guidelines set forth in books such as the Malleus Maleficarum
(Hammer of the Witches)

17. called forth the court of Oyer & Terminer
Governor of the colony
called forth the court of Oyer & Terminer
(“To Hear & Determine”)

18. The Trial of George Jacobs

19. The Death Warrant of Rebecca Nurse and others issued by the court of Oyer and Terminer

20. No witches were burned in Salem.

21. Bridget Bishop she was an outcast in Salem
had been accused of witchcraft several times in the past
the first to be hanged

22. Bridget Bishop is hanged on an oak limb on Gallows Hill as onlookers jeer and condemn her

23. Condemned witches were excommunicated (kicked out of the church)
After being hanged, the bodies were disposed of in a shallow grave since they did not deserve a proper burial.

24. The Outcome 141 were arrested 19 were hanged
1 man was pressed to death
several died while in prison

25. Giles Corey , an accused witch, was pressed to death
Bridget Bishop George Burroughs Martha Carrier Martha Corey Mary Easty Sarah Good Elizabeth Howe George Jacobs, Sr. Susannah Martin
Rebecca Nurse Alice Parker Mary Parker John Proctor Ann Pudeator Wilmott Redd Margaret Scott Samuel Wardwell Sara Wildes John Willard
Nineteen accused witches were hanged on Gallows Hill
Pressing is when a board is placed on the victim’s chest; rocks are placed on the board until they talk
Giles Corey , an accused witch, was pressed to death

26. Samuel Sewall Deputy Governor of MA; judge during the trials
after the hysteria, he publicly acknowledged his shame and regret
he kept an annual day of fasting and prayer in memory of his sins

27. Judge Samuel Sewall delivers a public apology for his involvement in the trials.