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The late comedian Lucille Ball is a descendant of Rachel Vinson, who was acquitted in the witch trials. Maybe theres another reason that people still find themselves intrigued with the Salem witchcraft trials, besides the possibility of sorcery or the specter of mass delusions convulsing into violence. The Salem Witch Trials begin. Husbands hiding things from wives, mothers from children, and generation from generation. One of the most famous victims of the trials was a prominent woman in the local community named Martha Corey. Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIIIs rejected queenbut few people know her even darker history. No, it doesnt sound that romantic or comic to me either. The Salem Witch Trials (1692) Cartoon - YouTube (2:10) https://youtu.be/jJJLy5_DlqY Its time for a Halloween special! Jeff Wallenfeldt, manager of Geography and History, has worked as an editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica since 1992. The Salem Witch Trials, the events of 1692 in Salem Village which resulted in 185 accused of witchcraft, 156 formally charged, 47 confessions, and 19 executed by hanging, remain one of the most studied phenomena in colonial American history. In addition to the twenty people convicted and executed for witchcraft, two dogs were also accused of and executed for the same crime. From the role of Abigail Williams to the invention of witch cakes and the devils mark, get ready to learn all you ever wanted to know (and more) about the dark past of the Salem witch trials. Life, woman, life is Gods most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it.Arthur Miller, in The Crucible. Much of the evidence brought agains the witches, at least at first, was called spectral evidence, where people testified to seeing an apparition of the accused trying to inflict harm on them. In October 1692, a girl in Andover accused a neighbors dog of trying to bewitch her. Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. The town of Andover in northeastern Massachusetts, not Salem Village, had the highest number of accused (42 accused in Andover versus 26 accused in Salem Village).However, it was Salem Village where the witch trials were taken to such drastic lengths. The story goes that Corey and her husband, Giles, sat in on the trials early on, causing Martha to express scepticism about the legitimacy of the proceedings. The community, beleaguered with hardships already, then overreacted. The people of Salem often ate rye bread,and in wet, swampy conditions (which Salem had at the time), rye can foster a fungus called ergot. In addition to the twenty people convicted and executed for witchcraft, two dogs were also accused of and executed for the same crime. On March 1 two magistrates from Salem Town, John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, went to the village to conduct a public inquiry. Two of the casualties were babies. Learn about the Salem witch trials and their legacy. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. I wonder if what the prescription is for that. They were eventually assumed to be possessed. The Salem witch trials of the late 17th century were a formative episode in America's early history, and have remained at the forefront of the national consciousness ever since. One of the turning points in ending public support and enthusiasm for the trials was the conviction and execution of one of the towns former minsters, George Burroughs, who publicly recited the Lords Prayer at the gallows, which was believed to be impossible for witches to do. When it was all over, 141 suspects, both men and women, were tried as witches. The process of identifying witches began with suspicions or rumours. He was the first to suggest the girls may be under the evil influence of witchcraft. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Ms Mades-Byrd said there were many misconceptions about the Salem witch trials and the truth had been lost in stories told over the centuries. They began in 1692, a full 73 years before the start of the American Revolution and some 40 years before George Washington was even born. Eventually, the accusations ensnared even the most powerful people in Massachusetts. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. At the suggestion of a neighbour, a witch cake (made with the urine of the victims) was baked by Tituba to try to ferret out the supernatural perpetrator of the girls illness. Their initial accusations gave way to trials, hysteria, and a frenzy that resulted in further accusations, often between the differing factions. One of the turning points in ending public support and enthusiasm for the trials was the conviction and execution of one of the towns former minsters, George Burroughs, who publicly recited the Lords Prayer at the gallows, which was believed to be impossible for witches to do. Several episodes of the original Bewitched TV series were actually filmed on location in Salem. Two of the casualties were babies. While Miller maintained that he kept everything historically accurate, some have noted that he made changes to the real record for the sake of the play. Linder, Douglas O. But not just adult women and men were impacted by the trials. Here are 12 Salem witch trials facts that will send chills down your spine. A complicated and long-lasting feud between the Putnam and Porter families of Salem may have been a motivating factor in some of the witchcraft accusations. In three days of vivid testimony, she described encounters with Satans animal familiars and with a tall, dark man from Boston who had called upon her to sign the devils book, in which she saw the names of Good and Osborn along with those of seven others that she could not read. Not even ministers could escape. Witches were considered to be followers of Satan who had traded their souls for his assistance. The girls contorted their bodies into odd positions, made strange noises and spoke gibberish, and seemed to be having fits. It seems that a shocking number of accusations were made by members of the Putnam family. Nineteen were hanged, and one-elderly Giles Corey-pressed to death. Apparently they felt that giving gifts took away from ones ability to focus on serious religious thought, and they did not like the pagan origins of some aspects of the holiday. Ergot causes hallucinations, convulsive fits, and sometimes death, and LSD derives from the substance. Based on these girls accusations, the witch hunt began, and the warrants for the apprehension of Tituba, Osborne, and Good were officially signed on February 29, 1692. Move over Montagues and Capulets: You might not be the most vengeful families out there. The largest account of witch trials as well as deaths by witch trials occurred in Salem, a village heavily populated with the Puritans. Even more interesting, the summer of 1692 was a dry one, and coincided with the apparent end of the bewitchments. Some three-fourths of those European witch hunts took place in western Germany, the Low Countries, France, northern Italy, and Switzerland. Nineteen were executed by hanging. In 1689, through the influence of the Putnams, Samuel Parris, a merchant from Boston by way of Barbados, became the pastor of the villages Congregational church. The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: An Account. Famous Trials. Witches could change from human to animal form or from one human form to another. They were also used for identifying witches in Salem, using the Witch Cake test. Salem Witch Trials: 25 DISTURBING Facts About The Salem Witch Trials | Salem Witch Trial Full Documentary The Geographic Channel | Samuel Parris | Dorothy Good | Familiar | Giles Corey | Salem Witch Trials - Events, Facts & Victims - HISTORY | George Corwin | Haunted Salem - Where Are the Most Haunted Sites? In Salem Massachusetts in 1692 the Salem Witch Trials took place. The Salem witch trials of the late 17thcentury were a formative episode in Americas early history, and have remained at the forefront of the national consciousness ever since. SALEM WITCH TRIALS CHRONOLOGY. The stars of the Salem story were the Puritan community of the Massachusetts Bay colony, a religious groupthat came over to America to escape religious persecution back in England. Not that Salem didnt have its problems to begin with, but the community never fully recovered from the witch trials saga, and the divisions and setbacks to the towns development continued in the years following the trials. So if you are a witch, no need to worry about this ever happening again! An important minister in Boston named Increase Mather was one of these objectors, stating that It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than that one innocent person should be condemned.. Citizens began to believe that people were practicing witchcraft in their town. Additionally, a man was pressed beneath heavy stones until he died. Another more disturbing theory proposed by researchers like behavioral psychologist Linnda Caporael suggests that Salem suffered from ergot poisoning. They found it by following clues in an accused witchs writings and through guesses on where prisoners would be transported. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/philip-and-mary-english-home-site-of/. This database contains information on more than 200 individuals formally accused and put on trial for witchcraft in New England between 1647 and 1697, including those accused in the Salem witch trials. When Millers The Crucible was produced, it was in the aftermath of his feud with Elia Kazan, the man who had directed his two earlier hit plays All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. Credit where credit is due! Some of the families now only remembered for their connection to the trials had actually been important and well-known people before that. But by October 1692, his wife Mary found herself the target of sorcery accusations. It involved a woman by the name of Tituba, a most likely South American slave from Barbados, who was the first victim of Salems witchcraft accusations. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. Witches have been the origin of many myths and legends. Animals were the "familiar spirits" of witches. The feud was over the fact that Kazan had named communist sympathizers during his testimony to Congress. Take, Salvador Dali was a man of contradictions. The haphazard fashion in which the Salem witch trials were conducted contributed to changes in U.S. court procedures, including rights to legal representation and cross-examination of accusers as well as the presumption that one is innocent until proven guilty. This resulted in him being accused as well, and in the end it was he who was executed while Elizabeth was instead sentenced to prison so that her unborn baby would not have to die. What historians do know is that Abigail Williams was born on July 12, 1680. Log in or try Ancestry 14 days free to start finding the survivors, the outspoken, or the ones who did things differently in your family tree. The Salem witch trials would mark her second time being accused of being a witch. In June 1692, Governor Phips appointed Stoughton as chief judge and prosecutor in the Salem witch trials despite Stoughtons lack of legal experience. Despite the Salem witch trials occurring centuries ago, researchers only just found the execution site for the trials in 2016. T he infamous Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693 claimed the lives of 20 people. The events in Salem in 1692 were but one chapter in a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe between 1300 and 1330 and ended in the late 18th century (with the last known execution for witchcraft taking place in Switzerland in 1782). Salem didn't burn witches at the stake; most of the accused witches were hanged. In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village became ill. William Griggs, the village doctor, was called in when they failed to improve. Family History Proves Bewitching to Descendants of Salem Witches : Colonial America: Three Presidents, Clara Barton, Walt Disney, Joan Kennedy and One Unborn Child Are among Those Whose Ancestors Were Accused of Consorting with the Devil 300 Years Ago. Los Angeles Times.