1. The Salem Witch Trials
By:Eileen Ma 7A1 ID4

2. Let me tell you the story of the Salem Witch Trials. 

3. Once upon a time, in the year of 1692, the Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts…

4. The Salem Witch Trials…
a time of wrongful death when many people of importance were hanged.
In 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, Betty and Abigail Williams began having seizures, screaming nonsense, and going into trances.
People had no explanation for this behavior. This started accusations of witchcraft.
Eventually, these strange behaviors happened to more people.

5. The accused people had trials during which they had to confess about working with the Devil.
Then, the town had to decide whether or not there was enough proof to hang them.
(Yay! They died! )

6. However, many people were wrongly accused.
(They weren’t really witches—or a least people thought so.)
(*ahem*ALL)
Overall, I’ll say, these people were VERY uneducated…
Basically, a great number of people died because they were thought to be witches.

7. Let’s meet the Salem Witches!
YAY!!
(Hmm. I wonder if they have flying brooms…or WANDS! AWESOME!) 

8. That sucks. I was looking forward to that. Wait…
No.
No brooms or wands…
That sucks. I was looking forward to that. Wait…
Witches are FAKE?!
(Harry Potter isn’t real EITHER?!)
T^T So sad…

9. In January of 1692, a group of girls began showing odd behavior.
They began seeing things and screaming but the doctor could not find anything physically wrong with them.
(No, that is an understatement.)

10. The town people begged them to reveal who was controlling them but they did not budge.
(They believed that an adult would be controlling of the children since children could not make plots by themselves.)
Afraid, they fasted, prayed, and did everything they could to keep the Devil away.

11. Eventually, the girls accused Tituba, a slave, and 2 others commoners named Sarah but the 2 Sarah’s denied committing witchcraft.
Tituba, however, confessed that the Devil had appeared to her “sometimes as a hog and sometimes like a great dog.”
In March 1962, the group of girls even accused honorable people in the Puritan congregation, one of whom was Martha Corey.
(Goodbye Martha! )
No. That would be sad…
Salem Witch

12. Many people were shocked at this
Many people were shocked at this. This made them think that anyone could be working for the Devil, even the most respected people in Salem.
Martha was thrown into jail to await for her trial. The people of Salem attended her trial. She was then asked to confess working for the Devil.
(But of course an honorable woman like her would tell the truth at all times.)
(I feel bad for her. Her husband Giles was pressed under stones to death not long before.)

13. She denied ever committing witchcraft or even contacting the Devil
She denied ever committing witchcraft or even contacting the Devil. She was thrown in jail again as the people of the town decided what to do with her. Still, she was asked to confess her partnership with the Devil.

14. Then…

15. The respected Goodwife Corey died.
SHE WAS HANGED
The respected Goodwife Corey died.

16. Just like many others who were accused of witchcraft…
*sigh* Someone put a stop to all this nonsense. Just please!

17. Shame on you! But good job, Phillips, you saved many more lives.
The Salem Witch Trials did not end until the May of Governor Phillips released all the “witches” from jail. (About time! But you still killed about 25 and accused
about 200 people)
Shame on you! But good job, Phillips, you saved many more lives.

18. And they lived happily ever after.
The End!

19. Now, what really happened?
There are many theories about what made the “witches” act oddly.

20. Some people say that the “witches” experienced “convulsive ergotism”
Some people say that the “witches” experienced “convulsive ergotism”. This is when you ingest ergot (a fungi) and experience symptoms like those that the “witches” experienced.
This is believed because the people of Salem regularly ate rye, a type of wheat that was harvested during the time of year when it was warm and damp for ergot to develop into rye.
Others say that it was because of a combination of stress, asthma, guilt, boredom, child abuse, epilepsy, and delusional psychosis. No one really knows what the cause is. These are only theories—and to think this tiny “sickness” caused so many deaths…

21. And…DONE! 

22. URLs:
public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/witch.htm

23. URLs (cont.)
The Salem Witchcraft Trials By: Karen Zeinert