Links To Learn More

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/salem.htm

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/

Puritans Point Of View

Puritans believed in witches and their ability to harm others. They defined witchcraft as entering into a compact with the devil in exchange for certain powers to do evil. Thus, witchcraft was considered a sin because it denied God's superiority, and a crime because the witch could call up the Devil in his/her shape to perform cruel acts against others.

Primary Sources

 Alice Parker

 Ann Pudeator

 Bridget Bishop: "I am no witch. I am innocent. I know nothing of it."

 Elizabeth Howe: "If it was the last moment i was to live, God knows i am innocent."

 George Burroughs

 George Jacobs: "Because I am falsely accused. I never did it."

 Glies Corey: Pressed to death.

 John Proctor

 John Willard

 Margaret Scott

 Martha Carrier: ".....I am wronged. It is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits."

 Martha Corey: "Ye are all against me...."

Mary Easty: "If it be possible no more innocent blood shed... I am clear of this sin." 

 Mary Parker

 Recbecca Nurse: "Oh lord, help me! It is false. I am clear. For my life now lies in your hands...."

 Samuel Wardwell

 Sarah Good

 Sarah Wildes

 Susannah Martin: "I have no hand in witchcraft."

Wilmot Redd

Court Records

Beliefs Of Why It Started And Ended

Why It Started

Satan was acting in the world.

Satan recruits witches and wizards to work for him.

A person afflicted by witchcraft exhibits certain symptoms.

A time of troubles, making it seem likely that Satan was active- small pox, congregational strife in Salem Village, frontier wars with indians.

Stimulation of imaginations by Tituba.

Convulsive egotism, a disease caused by eating infected rye that can produce hallucinations, but unlikely.

Teenage boredom- no television, no CD's, and lots of of bible readings, strict and humorless Parris household.

Magistrates and judges receptive to accusations of witchcraft.

See as way to shift blame for their own wartime failures.

Admission of spectral evidence.

Confessing "Witches" adding credibility to earlier charges.

Old feuds (disputes within congregation, property disputes) between the accusers and the accused during  changes of witchcraft.

Why It Ended

Poulots grow when respected citizens are convicted and executed.

Rebecca Nurse (jury first acquits then told to reconsider)

George Burroughs (recites Lord's Prayer perfectly hanging)

Glies Corey (81 year old is pressed to death)

Accusations of witchcraft include powerful and well-connected.

Wife of Governor Phips.

Mary and Philip English (and others)

The educated elite of Boston Pressure Gov. Phips to exclude spectral evidence.

No body knows exactly why it started and ended but there are many beliefs.

The Trials

In March the group of girls turned in Martha Corey. Martha was different then the two other women, she was an upstanding member of the Puritan congregation. From March to Fall many people were charged, examined, tried and condemned to death. The many convicted were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging. In June was the first hanging of Bridget Bishop and continued through December. Through out this time 19 people were hanged, one person was pressed to death, and as many as 13 people may have died in prison. 140 people were accused of witchcraft, and 43 people were afflicted.

Dead Victims:

Hanged on June 10, Bridget Bishop

Hanged on July 19, Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth How, Sarah Wilds

Hanged on August 19, George Burroughs, John Proctor, John Willard, George Jacobs, Martha Carrier

Pressed to death September 19, Giles Corey

Hanged on September 22, Martha Corey, Mary Eastey, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeater, Margaret Scott, Wilmott Reed, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker

Died in prison, Sarah Osborne, Roger Toothaker, Lyndia Dustin, Ann Foster

The Beginning

In January 1692 a group of young girls began to show bizarre behavior. They were witnessing convulsive seizures and blasphemous screaming. Physicians called them in for an examination, but could find no natural cause of the disturbing behavior. They automatically assumed it was work of the Devil. Witches had now invaded Salem. In Febuary the people started praying and fasting in order to get rid of the Devil's influence. The group of girls were pressured into revealing who in the community controlled their behavior. They told them about 3 women and they were then examined. One, Tituba (a slave), confessed to seeing the devil who appeared to her "sometimes like a hog and sometimes like a great dog." Tituba was actually the first witch to confess in Salem. She made it obvious in the first place that she was a witch by showing strange fit and symptoms, and making witchcake (a mixture of rye and dog urine) After all of the accused they sent 20 "witches" into trials.

What Was The Salem Witch Trials?

The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts, in January 1692, that led to the execution of twenty people for allegedly practicing witchcraft.  People accused other people because they started to notice strange behaviors in them. After they were accused they were sent to trials and were guilty until proven innocent. Most were not able to prove themselves innocent. The many people guily died harsh deaths.