In Massachusetts there
was a small town known as Salem. This town consisted of English people who were
puritans. They had a great deal of faith in their religion and centered their
lives on it. According to Douglas O. Linder
the author of the website “Salem Witch Trials”, this group of puritans had a
“strong belief that Satan is acting in the world”. This was supported by the diseases, natural
disasters, and other negative things that occurred in the world. The Salem Witch Trials caused hysteria in a small town becuase of the actions of a few girls, mixed with religious beliefs.
Reverend Samuel Parris’s
daughter Betty and her cousin Abigail would often listen to fascinating tales about
voodoo and magic told by a slave named Tituba, in order to provide a
distraction from stressful family situations. They decided to invite several of
their friends over to listen to the forbidden tales. In 1692 the girls suddenly
had strange, unexplainable symptoms come over them. They would randomly scream,
mumble nonsense, contort their bodies, and have convulsions. The doctor could
not explain what brought about such strange behaviors. Therefore, the puritans turned to the supernatural
for answers. The only reasonable answer to the puritans was that the girls had
been bewitched. The girls named people
responsible for their bewitchment and they were three women who were misfits in
the town.
This chain of events
started what would become famously known as the Salem witch trials. “Most of
the accused witches were older women, and virtually all of them were well known
to their accusers” (Roark 108). There were some children and men that were also
occasionally accused. They would be accused of sending their specter after a
person and harming them such as chocking, pinching, or controlling their
bodies. Anybody could accuse someone of
being a witch and that person would then be arrested and taken in for an
interrogation by a magistrate and were given the chance to tell their testimony.
Sometimes people would be accused of being a witch because they offended a
certain person. The reverends daughter would accuse people that were against
her family. After being examined by the magistrate they decided whether the
accused is guilty or not, if found guilty they are placed in jail to wait for
the trial. Then the trail is held by the grand jury and this is where witnesses
are heard. The next trial is held by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. The
verdict from this court is the deciding factor. Most of the accused were found
guilty and sentenced to death by hanging (Linder). However, if the people
accused of being a witch confessed to being a witch then their life was spared
and they were kept in jail. The court would keep them alive in order to testify
against other accused people. Additionally if the person accused was pregnant
they were left alone.
The
Salem witch trials ended when Governor Phips’ own wife was accused of being a
witch. He replaced the current court with a superior court and ordered them to excluded
spectral evidence and use only clear evidence. This decreased the number of
convicted significantly. The town’s people were also starting to doubt that all
the people accused were actually witches. Phips eventually released all the
accused from jail. According to the
website National Geographic, “Salem’s time to kill…claimed 25 lives”. “Nineteen
convicted witches were hanged, and more than 150 accused witches crammed the
jails before the trials were called off…” (Roark 106). The other 5 people died while in jail which
also included an infant and one was “pressed under heavy stones until his death”
because he refused to give a plea at his trial (Linder). It was later revealed
that every person that was accused of being a witch was actually innocent.
All in all the Salem
Witch Trials was a very tragic event that turned a town upside down. It turned
friends and neighbors against one another during a time when they were most
needed. Anyone could be accused of being a witch or associating with a witch
and their life would be over. It’s interesting that most of the evidence that
produced a final judgment was simple the words from either the people in town
or witches themselves.
Bibliography:
Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson,
Patricia Cline Cohen, Sarah Stage, and Susan M. Hartman. The American
Promise. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. Print.
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