Many know the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 to be an extremely tragic and devastating event. In Salem, where the Puritans lived by strict morals and beliefs, the mass hysteria of a young group of girls acting strange conducted the start of the trials and accusations. Two young girls named Abigail and Williams and Elizabeth (Betty) Parris were said to have been bewitched after strange, violent, and uncontrollable behavior. Shortly after this, many other young girls had started to have the same behaviors.
Woman and young girls, even men, were accused of being witches or practicing some form of witchcraft. Many of the people accused were innocent and still tortured until they were hanged. This resulted in accusations out of jealousy and fear from the other people of Salem. Since there were accusers who only did this out of their own personal emotions and opinions, people feared each other. The trials had an enormous impact on everybody who lived in Salem since people had feared for their own lives. Over 200 people were accused, some falsely, and 20 of them were killed.
Tituba was actually an Indian woman, Professor Linder writes she was “originally from an Arawak village in South America, where she was captured as a child, taken to Barbados as a captive, and sold into slavery” to Reverend Samuel Parris (qtd. from Biographies of Key Figures in the Salem Witch Trials: Tituba). Tituba started to help around the Parris household at a young age. Once Reverend Parris had moved to Boston in 1680, Tituba and another slave named John had joined him. John and Tituba got married in 1689, when the Parris family had already moved into Salem.
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In Linder’s Biographies of Key Figures: Tituba, he writes “Parris’ daughter, Betty began having strange fits and symptoms, she participated in the preparation of a ‘witchcake’ (a mixture of rye and Betty’s urine, cooked and fed to a dog, in the belief that the dog would then reveal the identity of Betty’s afflictor). Parris was enraged when he found out about the cake, and shortly thereafter the afflicted girls named Tituba as a witch.” Tituba was one of the first to confess to practicing witchcraft and she had done it to avoid further punishment and was put in jail.
There were many causes which influenced the witch trials but one of the main fears the people of Salem has was that the Devil was trying to destroy the Christian people and their community. In the History of Massachusetts Blog: The Salem Witch Trials Victims: Who Were They? written by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, she states that “the Puritans were very hostile towards colonists who didn’t follow the strict religious and societal rules in the colony”.
In January of 1692, after the group of girls were said to be bewitched by a local doctor, they accused Tituba and 2 other woman named Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne of bewitching them. During March of 1692, according to the Chronology of Events Relating to the Salem Witch Trials written by Professor Douglas O. Linder, Tituba had confessed to practicing witchcraft and said Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne were her “co-conspirators”. Another factor that had a major impact on everyone being accused was the Putnam family, known for trying to blame their neighbors for all the disturbance that was going on in Salem.
According to the History of Massachusetts Blog: History of the Salem Witch Trials written by Brooks as well, they had even accused other colonists that they disliked or that they wanted revenge against. This proceeded to be the cause of unjust accusations, Brooks stated that “it is not surprising that many of the accused itches were outspoken women”. According to The Societal History of Crime and Punishment in America, “A number of historians have speculated as to why the witch hunts occurred and why certain people were singled out. These proposed reasons have included personal vendettas, fear of strong women, and economic competition. Regardless, the Salem Witch Trials are a memorial and a warning to what hysteria, religious intolerance, and ignorance can cause in the criminal justice system.”
February of 1692 marks the date that Dr. Griggs diagnoses witchcraft as a cause of strange behavior of the “afflicted girls”, as Professor Douglas O. Linder states in Chronology of Events Relating to the Salem Witch Trials. Since Tituba confesses and says Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne are also involved, hey are sentenced to death in March of 1692. During this time a member of the Putnam family, Ann Putnam Jr. shows signs of “affliction by witchcraft”, Linder states. This leads to the accusation of many women such as Elizabeth Proctor.
When her husband, John Proctor, refuses to have his wife examined he is the first male accused of witchcraft and is put into jail. Later on, in June of 1692 the first woman to be tried and convicted of witchcraft goes by the name of Bridget Bishop, she is sentenced to death. A couple of days after her conviction, she is hanged at Gallows Hill. During July 1692, Linder states that Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Good, and Sarah Wildes are hanged at Gallows Hill.
In 1680, Bridget Bishop was already previously cleared for witchcraft. She was married 3 times, according to Linder’s Biographies of Key Figures: Bridget Bishop, and her 3rd and last husband, after the first two passed, was Edward Bishop. Bridget was known for being the most accused out of all “witches” in Salem. Linder says that “many of her accusations were markedly vehement and vicious” and it was mostly because of “her flamboyant lifestyle and exotic manner of dress” (qtd. from Biographies of Key Figures in the Salem Witch Trials: Bridget Bishop).
Professor Linder wrote that she dressed with ‘a black cap, and a black hat, and a red paragon bodice bordered and looped with different colors”. This showy costume she wore was used as evidence of witchcraft against Bishop during the trials, which is an example of special evidence. This was later prohibited by the new governor. In April of 1692 was the month that the warrant for her arrest was issued. At her hanging, Linder stated that “she showed no remorse and professed her innocence”. In June 1692, she was hanged in Gallows Hill by the Sheriff, George Corwin. Her death caused much controversy.
One month later, John and Elizabeth Proctor are sentenced to hang but Elizabeth does not get hanged because she’s pregnant. John Proctor on the other hand, is hanged with George Jacobs Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs and John Willard. Linder discusses how Douglas Hoar “escapes execution by confessing”, but “Martha Cory, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Willmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker are hanged” all in September 1692.
Within a month, the new governor prohibits arrests and releases all the accused witches. Governor Phipps also orders that spectral evidence is not allowed to be used in trials and for accusing anyone. As discussed beforehand, many of the people accused were accused solely because of the vengeance from others which made their accusation bigoted. Many of the convicted people were released in January off 1693 because there convictions “were based on spectral evidence” Linder writes in his Chronology.
The trials did have great significance, even years later, when the courts ordered a day of fasting and soul-searching in January of 1697. Samuel Sewall, a judge during the trials, even apologizes and admits “error and guilt” for the trials, according to Linder’s Chronology. Joseph Green replies Samuel Parris as minister in Salem. A public apology was received by Ann Putnam Jr. in 1706, she was one of the main accusers. The colony declares a pass on he legislative bill that has restored the rights and the good names of everyone accused during the unlawful trials of 1692.
