1. Methods of Torture and Superstitions During the Salem Witch Trials

2. Methods of Torture Water boarding Strappado Squassation
Red hot pincers
Burning Iron Chair
Hanging
Burning at the Stake
Death upon the rack
Beheading
Drawing and Quartering
The Wheel
Garrotting Chair
The Boots
Vat of lime

3. Waterboarding
Water by the jugfuls were funnelled into the victim’s swelling body as he or she was stretched between iron rings secured to the wall and the floor.

4. Strappado
Prisoner’s wrists were bound to a rope, which was placed on a pulley.
Man on other side of rope would pull prisoner off the ground and drop him from a certain height s so that his shoulders and arms dislocated

5. Squassation
This torture is similar to strappado except that the rope is suddenly released and then checked before the prisoner’s feet touched the floor.
It was also done to dislocate limbs and it sometimes caused death.

6. Red Hot Pincers/Burning Iron Chair
Pincers made of metal and set in fire- used to burn and tear flesh
Iron Chair- The prisoner was bound to an iron chair with a hole in its seat; then a fire was lit beneath the chair.

7. Hanging
Considered ideal punishment because it was not gory as beheading was and it was cheap (a skilled executioner was not needed)
Death after time of hanging usually occurs about 20 minutes later

8. Burning at the Stake
Preferred because it did not shed the victim’s blood and it insured that the condemned did not have a body to carry on the next life.
Some would be hanged then have their dead bodies be burnt at the stake, yet most would be burnt alive.

9. Death Upon the Rack
Prisoner would be tied to the rack and would be elongated gradually for days
Every joint in the body would be dislocated
Loud popping heard during a very painful process
Inquisitor would apply more tortures to prisoner while he is being stretched out

10. Beheading It is effective and humane if it is conducted properly
Can be very gruesome and may require several blows to several the head if not conducted properly be a skilled headsman- very gory because blood from the aorta and veins spurt out
Prisoner dies from shock and loss of blood pressure, and due to the fact that the head is severed

11. Drawing and Quartering
The most commonly used form of drawing and quartering included tying four horses to the prisoner in his extremities (hands, feet) and send the horses galloping off in different directions
Resulted in complete quartering of the body
People gathered to watch the drawing and quartering as a form of entertainment and such

12. Picture is too Graphic to Place on this PowerPoint
The Wheel
Prisoner would be tied to the edge of a wheel or a rock
Prisoner would then be rolled down a hill, usually over beds of spikes and such, so that the body was totally mutilated by the time the wheel reached the bottom
Considered a popular form of punishment that was enjoyed by viewers and spectators passing by.
Picture is too Graphic to Place on this PowerPoint

13. Garroting Chair
Prisoner’s head was locked into a cuff while a sharp point was screwed in slowly into the back of prisoner’s neck

14. The Boots/ Vats of Lime
The suspect’s legs were enclosed in a wooden “boot” and then wedges were driven down through the top. This technique smashed the legs.
Stubborn prisoners were thrown into vats of scaulding lime and scrubbed with wire brushes

15. Magical Self Protection
Drive a nail into the witch’s footprint in a dusty road; this act will cause a similar wound in the foot itself.
Tear a witch’s forehead above the brow until the blood runs, and this act will neutralize her spell.
Nail a horseshoe above the front door.
Attach a “hag-stone” (a holed stone) to the keys of the barns to protect farm animals from bewitchment.

16. Magical Self Protection
Hide a pair of scissors or knife under the doormat.
Place long glass tubes with colored pebbles up the chimney.
S-shaped wall-ties were thought to guard a house from storms.
Pain a hex (anti-witch symbol) on barn doors.

17. Superstitions Knocking on Wood Throwing Salt over the Shoulder
Yawning and Sneezing
Brides veil/church bell
Broken mirrors
7, 9, 40, 13