Salem witch trials
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Random blog day boo yah. As you should know Fridays is random blog day were we talk anything and everything and pretty much run with it. Today's blog is on The Salem Witch Trials.
The Salem Witch Trials are a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft that occurred in Colonial Massachusetts between February of 1692 and May of 1693, More than 200 people were accused, resulting in 30 people being found guilty, with 19 being executed (14 were women and 5 were men) by hanging. 5 died in prison whilst one man by the name of Giles Corey died under torture having refused to enter a plea. The trials began after a few local women were accused of witchcraft by four children, 9 year old Betty Paris, 11 year old Abigail Williams, 12 year old Ann Putnam Jr and 17 year old Elizabeth Hubbard. Their accusations were centred around the concept of “affliction” and causing physical and mental harm to the children through witchcraft.
Salem village (which is current day Danvers, Massachusetts), was known for having a factitious population and having various disputes both internally and with Salem Town (which is current day Salem). The disputes varied from Property Lines and Church Privileges to grazing rights and neighbours considering the population quarrelsome. In 1672, the villagers successfully voted for the hiring of their own minister, however, the first two ministers James Bayley (1673-1679) and George Burroughs (1680-1683) left of their own choice due to failure of payment. Burroughs subsequently was arrested and hung as a witch in August of 1692. Samuel Paris became minister after Deodat Lawson left after four years (1684-1688), Paris increased the divisions of the village by delaying the jobs acceptance, He was unable to settle disputes and by deliberately seeking out what he called “Iniquitous behaviour” in his congregation, and making those in general good standing suffer through public penance for small infractions, he increased the tension within the village significantly. Its been suggested that in this charged atmosphere that serious conflicts might have been inevitable.
Whilst Witch trials had been fading from use across much of Europe by the mid 17th century, they had continued in colonial US and on the fringes of Europe itself. With the earliest recorded witch trials in the colonies being in 1647 and focused on Alse Young of Hartford Connecticut, the
Connecticut witch trials continued until 1663. The events of 1692-1693 in Salem had become a brief outburst of Hysteria, whilst the practice was already waning.
Up to 75% of the accusations were thrown at women, Despite the puritan belief that men and woman were equal in the eyes of god, they weren't in the eyes of the devil and were more prone to becoming witches due to their “Week and Vulnerable bodies”. Several factors might have explained why Women were more likely to admit guilt over Witchcraft than men were. Those who often confessed were reintegrated into society, with some women possibly confessing in order to spare their own lives. Quarrels with neighbours often caused the allegations of witchcraft, one such example was that of Abigail Faulkner who had been accused in 1692, Faulkner admitted shed been angry at her neighbours and the devil might have taken her over wished harm on them in response. Out of all the accusations, women who didn't conform to society of the time, usually those unmarried or childless were often targeted.
The initial accusations, as made by 9 year old Betty Paris, 11 year old Abigail Williams, 12 year old Ann Putnam Jr and 17 year old Elizabeth Hubbard. Who started having fits described as “Beyond the power of epileptic fits or natural disease to effect” by John Hale the minister of Beverly a nearby town. The girls acted strangely, throwing things, creating strange sounds and contorting into strange shapes. These were reported by Deodat Lawson Salem Village's former minister. The first accused were Sarah Good, Sarah Osbourne and Tituba. Sarah good was a destitute woman no doubt accused due to her reputation, Sarah Osbourne had been accused due to rarely attending church and following her own interests and Tituba due in part to being an enslaved woman from the west indies and having enticed the children with stories from Malleus Maleficium. All three women were interrogated for several days then jailed.
by March, Martha Corey, Dorothy Good and Rebecca Nurse from Salem Village, and Rachel Clinton from nearby Ipswich were also accused. Though the accusations against Rebecca's nurse and Martha Corey -who had expressed scepticism on the girls credibility- deeply troubled the community, it meant even those thought loyal to the church and god could be witches. Dorothy God was a child of mere 4 years old whose answers condemned her mother Sarah Good. Rachel's accusations were separate to those of the original girls. Physical examinations were included in the initial examinations. It was usually strange markings like moles or unusual birth marks that could be tied to witchcraft, as it assumed the devil would drink blood from said places.
Several more residents were accused all through April, including Sarah Cloyce (Rebecca Nurse's sister), Elizabeth Proctor Nee Bassett as well as her husband John Proctor though his arrest was due to hos objections. Others included Abigail Hobbs and her stepmother Deliverance, Bridget Bishop and Mary Warren,. These four women named others who were promptly arrested, by April 30th Nehemiah Abbott Jr was released after accusers agreed he wasn't one of the Spector's afflicting them. Mary Eastley was freed a few days after her initial arrest but rearrested when accusers reconsidered. Throughout the start of may accusations continued, however people started to evade arrest. By May 10th Sarah Osbourne one of the original three accused had died in jail whilst all proceedings had been investigative by the 27th of May 1692 a special court of Oyer and Terminer for Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex counties was ordered by William Phips, mainly so those arrested could be prosecuted. Warrants for 36 more people were issued with examinations continuing to take place in Salem Village and when the court convened at the end of May the total number of people in custody was 62.
The Court of Oyer and Terminer was convened on June 2nd 1692 in Salem Town with Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton as Chief Magistrate. Bridget Bishop was brought in first and due to wearing black and odd “Costumes” and having an “Immoral” lifestyle she was sent to trial the same day and convicted, by June 10th Bishop had been executed by hanging. From the end of June through July several grand juries endorsed indictments against several women; Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Proctor, john Proctor, Martha Carrier, Sarah Wildes and Dorcas Hoar. However Sarah Good, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Wildes and Rebecca Nurse went to trial where they were found guilty. On July 19th 1692 all five women were hung. In August, George Burroughs, Mary Eastly, Martha Corey and George Jacobs Sr were indicted and trialled. Having been found guilty they joined Martha Carrier, John Willard and John Proctor in being executed on August 19th 1692, Elizabeth Proctor was given a stay of execution due to being pregnant.
In September of 1692, 18 more people were indicted by grand juries, though on September 19th Giles Corey still refusing to plead at trial was killed via Peine Forte et Dure, a form of torture where a subject is crushed under an ever heavier pile of stones, in the attempt to make them plea. Four pleaded guilty and 11 others were tied and found guilty.
By the end of May 1693, after several months of various Grand juries, trials and executions. What would become known as The Salem Witch Trials came to an end. The first indication that public calls for justice (Which had been happening throughout) hadn't stopped was in 1695 when a noted quacker by the name of Thomas Maule public-ally criticized the handling of the trials in his book called Truth Held Forth and Maintained (chapter 29). He was arrested for a year before his trial where he was found not guilty. From 1700 onwards various petitions were filed with demands that the Massachusetts government formally reverse the convictions. Those found guilty by trial were considered dead in the eyes of the law and those not executed with convictions on the books were vulnerable to further accusations. By 1709 when the general court received another request it took action and by May of 1709 22 people and people of relatives who had been convicted of witchcraft once again filed a petition with the government in which a reversal of attainder and compensation for financial losses was added.
On February 14th 1703 Martha Corey was welcomed back into the church in Salem Village after church members spent two months of consideration to reverse her excommunication. On August 25th 1706 when Ann Putnam Jr, one of the more active accusers joined the village church she publicly asked for forgiveness, stating she hadn't acted out of malice but had been deluded by Satan into denouncing innocent people mentioning Rebecca Nurse in particular conversation, she was given full membership. By October 17th 1711 the general court passed a bill reversing the judgement made against the 22 people listed in the 1709 petition. By December of the same year monetary compensation was divided amongst the survivors and their relatives. By 1712 the excommunications of Rebecca Nurse Giles Corey were reversed.
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