For everyone who remains intrigued by Salem, here are a few lesser-known facts about the witchcraft trials. George Burroughs had been named the village minister in 1680, but many disapproved of his religious views, and he often wasnt paid his salary. It is not known why Abigail was living with the Parris family but many historians assume her parents . The court first convened on June 2, 1692, with Bridget Bishops case being the first to be adjudicated upon. 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. They argue that the trialscreated a taboo in America against mixing religion and government, and George Lincoln Burr called it, the rock on which the theocracy shattered. There is also no question that the incident remains a constant reminder in our collective minds about the importance of due process in a legal system, and the dangers of premature overreaction and irrational hysteria. They screamed, made odd sounds, threw things, contorted their bodies, and complained of biting and pinching sensations. Gallows Hill was discovered on a rocky outcropping now located, very unfittingly, near a Walgreens in Salem. Nineteen were executed by hanging. While Wyatt sneaks away from the bunker to face an unbelievable truth, Lucy, Rufus and Flynn chase the Mothership to the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. So if you celebrate Christmas and live in Massachusetts today, be happy you were born when you were! Dorothy Good, the 4-year-old daughter of the previously accused Sarah Good, was the youngest to be accused of witchcraft. The crisis in Salem, Massachusetts took place partly because the community lived under an ominous cloud of suspicion. Credit where credit is due! Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. The collective delusion of witchcraft took more than a year to loosen its grip on Salem and its surrounding towns. She crafted a tale detailing how the devil had come to her and asked her to do his bidding. The best revenge might be living well, but that doesn't mean we can always turn the other cheek. Although it provided no answers, its baking outraged Parris, who saw it as a blasphemous act. Initially, Tituba also claimed to be blameless, but after being repeatedly badgered (and undoubtedly fearful owing to her vulnerable status as a slave), she told the magistrates what they apparently wanted to hearthat she had been visited by the devil and made a deal with him. Get ready to pull out your history books as we bring you the most DISTURBING facts about the Salem Witch Trials. Another famous incident from the trials was the case of John Proctor. For example, the infamous Putnam family had been one of the earliest settler dynasties to come to the Massachusetts Bay colony and establish themselves there. Unfortunately for Bishop, that allegation of witchcraft would not be her last. In October 1692, a girl in Andover accused a neighbors dog of trying to bewitch her. This is the event that Salem is most known for, in only three months' time 19 innocent people, 14 women and 5 men, were hanged, and one man was pressed to death. Linder, Douglas O. It was a time when Christianity was prominent and no one steered away from the biblical beliefs. In January 1692 Bettys and Abigails increasingly strange behaviour (described by at least one historian as juvenile deliquency) came to include fits. Those people lived in quite a horrific time. Perhaps some training in the law would have constrained Stoughtons more extreme actions. Some of the families now only remembered for their connection to the trials had actually been important and well-known people before that. They found it by following clues in an accused witchs writings and through guesses on where prisoners would be transported. Which, yes, is a little ironic. Its name comes from the Anglo-French phrase oyer et terminer, which literally translates to hear and determine.. SALEM WITCH TRIALS CHRONOLOGY. Its sad to think that all of the trials and the numerous deaths could have been caused by ergot poisoning, and no one in the town had any idea. History. 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). The extraordinary series of events in 1692 led to the deaths of 25 innocent men, women and children. The Salem Witch Trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 was most defiantly a time when one could attribute "moral panic" to the deaths of 20 people who were hung for being what society deemed as witches. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. There was a social divide between the leading families as well as a split between factions that were for and against the villages new pastor, Samuel Parris. 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.. The 1692 Salem witch trials are a big blot on American history. The infant died shortly after her birth, likely due to malnutrition. For instance, after being accused of witchcraft, Philip and Mary English were held for trial in a Boston jail. 10 The Symptoms That Gave Witches Away Make No Sense At All All witches are women, but not every woman is a witch. 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. Witches were considered to be followers of Satan who had traded their souls for his assistance. In the midst of all this religious and political controversy, there was also a major racial incident. It was believed that they employed demons to accomplish magical deeds, that they changed from human to animal form or from one human form to another, that animals acted as their familiar spirits, and that they rode through the air at night to secret meetings and orgies. Salem witch trials, (June 1692May 1693), in American history, a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted witches to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts). Interesting Facts about the Salem Witch Trials. From unbelievable witch swimming tests to the role of Salem smallpox in the trials, this list will bring you every crazy witch trial fact that you never knew existed! For more than 300 years, the complex drama of the 1692 Salem witch trials and its themes of injustice and the frailties of human nature have captivated and fascinated the public imagination. A period of less than a year caused such turmoil that Salem, Massachusetts, is still widely known for the trials. Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. The community, beleaguered with hardships already, then overreacted. 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. As the weeks passed, many of the accused proved to be enemies of the Putnams, and Putnam family members and in-laws would end up being the accusers in dozens of cases. 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. It was carried out as such by Sheriff George Corwin. From petty paybacks to insane acts of karma, these bitter people somehow found the most ingenious ways. The Salem Witch Trials Victims: Who Were They? History of Massachusetts Blog, August 19, 2015. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-witch-trials-victims/. One man was pressed to death under heavy stones, the only such state-sanctioned execution of its kind. I wonder if what the prescription is for that. The trials came to an abrupt halt when the Governors wife was accused of witchcraft, causing him to immediately order an end to the trials. Witches could change from human to animal form or from one human form to another. Between February 1692 and May 1693, colonial Massachusetts was the scene of a mass hysteria sparked by false accusations from several young girls. No, it doesnt sound that romantic or comic to me either. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Abigail Williams and Betty Parris, the two girls at the very center of the trials, made sure to use every trick in the book to accuse others in the town, leading to people not only being tested, but also pressed to death! However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. Kyle Climans has been a published writer since 2011. Upon Governor William Phipss return from England, he realized the need for a new court for the witch trials. In fact, there was fear in Europe that an entire group of evil witches were consciously attacking Europeans in order to destroy Christendom. Alexander, Mary Jane. 9 Things You Might Not Know About the Salem Witch Trials, The world's largest online family history resource - Start now, New England, Salem Witches and Others Tried for Witchcraft, 1647-1697, 6 Unusual Last Names You Wont Believe Exist, The Experience of an Ancestral Home Visit, Discovering African American Heroes in My Family Tree. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_of_the_Salem_witch_trials. Unlike the others who were hanged, this unfortunate fellow was crushed to death by stones. Historys most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. Life, woman, life is Gods most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it.Arthur Miller, in The Crucible. 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. Tituba ultimately survived the saga and was not hanged. So if witchcraft wasnt really happening in Salem, what actually caused those girls to have the fits? After months of trials, the governor finally decided to put an end to the trials with the last trials being held in May of 1693. The panic and fear over witches hiding amongst the colony began when two young girls, Abigail Williams and Betty Parris, developed strange symptoms including having fits and screaming in pain at mysterious moments. 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. Even more interesting, the summer of 1692 was a dry one, and coincided with the apparent end of the bewitchments. For those who are unaware, Salem is located in Massachusetts, which, as you might remember from history class, was New Englands first established colony dating back to the arrival of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620. Part of the escalation of theSalem trials included investigators literally going door to door and asking homeowners to rat out any suspected witches in their midst. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Phips. Before she was hanged for witchcraft, Sarah Good gave birth to a daughter, Mercy Good, while detained. Image of The Salem Witch Trials. Learn all about secret burials, door to door witch hunters, the touch test, the swimming test, and the witchcraft act that made all of this possible. Witch trials had actually been a fairly common phenomenon in Europe during that period. One dog was shot after a girl suffering from convulsions accused the dog of trying to bewitch her. What historians do know is that Abigail Williams was born on July 12, 1680. Despite the horrible and senseless loss of life and community divisions that the witch trials caused, some historians believe that the traumatic incident had a silver lining. Unlike the stereotype surrounding witchcraft that indicates that it is primarily done by women, the people of Salem did not discriminate on the basis of gender. Here's what we know about the original witch hunt: 1. It was actually the local doctor, likely William Griggs, who first diagnosed the girls as having been bewitched when he couldnt find anything medically wrong with them to explain the strange behavior. One exception was Giles Corey, who refused to stand for trialhe believed the court had already decided his fate, and he didn't want his property to be confiscated upon his verdict of being found guilty. Dont feel too embarrassed if you happen to be from Massachusetts, you guys were not the first to do something like this. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure. But the accusations didnt stop there. Tituba, an enslaved person born to a South American indigenous tribe, became the first person accused of witchcraft in Salem after Betty, the daughter of Salems minister, Samuel Parris, began acting erratically. Salem Witch Trials of 1692. In the midst of all this religious and political controversy, there was also a major racial incident. Soon after, other girls including Anne Putnam, Jr., 12, and Elizabeth Hubbard, 17, also started showing similar symptoms. Witch hunts Having an angry witch killing your children made sense. Although Giles was a wealthy farmer and Martha was a prominent church member, both of them had pasts they werent exactly advertising to the public. She added a hog, a great black dog, a red rat, a black rat, and a yellow bird, among other animals, to her storys cast. Little is known about Tituba besides her role in the witch trials. Lets just, The Crucible (1996), Twentieth Century Fox, Salem (20142017), 20th Century Fox Television, I Married a Witch (1942), Paramount Pictures, The Truth Always Comes Out: Dark Family Secrets Exposed, Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress, Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIIIs First Wife, Festive Facts About Bing Crosby, The King Of Christmas, Stormy Facts About Sammy Davis Jr., The Worlds Greatest Entertainer, Sorrowful Facts About Alma Rubens, The Silent Film Siren, Daring Facts About Gina Lollobrigida, Golden Hollywoods Last Survivor. Were always looking for your input! She went as far as to say that she did not even know what a witch was. She stayed out for long hours, had people in her home late at night, and hosted drinking and gambling parties frequently. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from Life to Compact Cars and Trucks to A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius. Well get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics youre interested in. Both Good and Osborn protested their own innocence, though Good accused Osborn. Other proof was the touch test, where if a witch who cursed someone touched the cursed person in the midst of a fit, theit fit would stop. 25 DISTURBING Facts About The Salem Witch Trials 429,208 views Sep 12, 2018 6.3K Dislike Share Save List 25 2.51M subscribers Get ready to pull out your history books as we bring you the most. In addition, one man was pressed to death by giant stones for refusing to even plea innocent. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were killed during the hysteria. This series of prosecutions and hangings of those accused of practicing witchcraft provoked a major backlash, andthe event still haunts us today. Thomas Maule, a Quaker who found himself at odds with the Puritan community at times, was beaten and imprisoned for speaking out against the trials, despite the fact that he himself believed in witches. The episode is heavily ingrained in American history and perpetuated through pop culture, but the souls lost and persecuted during that time aren't just present in our literature, media, and popular culture. His vocal support for his wifewho was also accused of witchcraftand claims that the accusers were lying were among the possible reasons why suspicion fell on him as well. During 1692, in the city of Salem, a little colony in Massachusetts, US, a horrifying trial started against several neighbors accused of witchcraft. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. The girls contorted their bodies into odd positions, made strange noises and spoke gibberish, and seemed to be having fits. Around the same time, in Salem Village, village girls accused a man of tormenting a different dog with his evil spirit. Here are 10 things you need to know about the notorious witch trials. In fact, the first people accused of bewitching Betty were all women: Tituba, a beggar named Sarah Good, and Sarah Osbourne, an older woman who had not attended church for a year. To identify witches, authorities used the "touching test", in which victims of witchcraft would become calm upon touching the culprit. But men were accused (and executed) as well. There were two Salems in the late 17th century: a bustling commerce-oriented port community on Massachusetts Bay known as Salem Town, which would evolve into modern Salem, and, roughly 10 miles (16 km) inland from it, a smaller, poorer farming community of some 500 persons known as Salem Village. Descendants of the Salem community have made constant efforts to clear the names of those ancestors and relatives who were falsely accused and convicted back in the 1690s, with some being officially recognized as innocent by the Massachusetts government as recently as the beginning of the 21st-century. That May release included Elizabeth Proctor, who had been found guilty of witchcraft in August of the previous year and sentenced to death,but had her execution postponed due to pregnancy. Arthur Miller, the famous playwright who authored Death of a Salesman, responded to the McCarthy hysteria by writing The Crucible, a play about the Salem witch trials, as a metaphor for what the country was going through in the 1950s. There is little doubt that some individuals did worship the devil and attempt to practice sorcery with harmful intent. 20 wereexecuted (generally hanged) by the prosecutors, and five died while serving prison time. The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local. Los Angeles Times, August 29, 1993. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-29-mn-29128-story.html. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Two of the casualties were babies. Episode 44 Danvers State Mental Hospital & Salem Witch Trials: Carol checks herself in with the lunatics at the legendary Danvers asylum while Holly confesses to witchcraft on the stand in Salem, Massachusetts. After Governor Phips's wife faced accusations of witchcraft, he outlawed spectral evidence in October 1692. The next time Giles wanted to attend, Martha objected and prevented him from going. The three convicted individuals received pardons. 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. A total of 25 people died because of the Salem witch trials. Besides their descendants, the accused witches of Salem leave another legacy: a rich and fascinating history for us to explore today. Significantly, those that they began identifying as other witches were no longer just outsiders and outcasts but rather upstanding members of the community, beginning with Rebecca Nurse, a mature woman of some prominence. They argue that the trialscreated a taboo in America against mixing religion and government, and George Lincoln Burr called it, the rock on which the theocracy shattered. There is also no question that the incident remains a constant reminder in our collective minds about the importance of due process in a legal system, and the dangers of premature overreaction and irrational hysteria. Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, With roles ranging from Miss Congeniality to Gravity, The Heat, and Minions, Sandra Bullock has, "You might belong in Gryffindor / Where dwell the brave at heart / Their daring,, Star-studded premieres, massive advertising campaigns, and big budget blockbusters: The movies are big money. Giles had actually been accused and found guilty of murdering one of his farm hands years earlier, but was let off with just a fine! Thomas Maule, a Quaker who found himself at odds with the Puritan community at times, was beaten and imprisoned for speaking out against the trials, despite the fact that he himself believed in witches. 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. However, no one ever embodied the concept of a witch as previously described. For everyone who remains intrigued by Salem, here are a few lesser-known facts about the witchcraft trials. Witches have been the origin of many myths and legends. If there is any consolation for some of the condemned witches of Salem, it may come from the fact that their families lived on long after them. Descargue el archivo de msica MP3 25 disturbing facts about the salem witch trialsa una calidad de audio de 320 kbps. Sir William Phips. Famous Trials. We want our readers to trust us. Ann Putnam, for example, used spectral evidence to accuse Rebecca Nurse,said, I saw the Apperishtion of [Rebecca Nurse] and she did immediatly afflect me. Such evidence was also used against Bridget Bishop, with many men claiming she had visited them in spectral form in the middle of the night. Another executed man was John Proctor, a wealthy farmer who spoke out against the witch trials, particularly after his wife Elizabeth had been arrested for witchcraft. 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. Seventeenth century Salem also gave birth to stories of courageous stands for reason, hopeful births, and acts of clemency and mercy. They thought that when witches baked cakes, that they were casting a spell in it. Animals were the "familiar spirits" of witches. Many read Miller's play as a criticism of McCarthyism, the Red Scare, and intolerance. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. 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 Salem witchcraft trials, which began in May of 1692 after months of rumors of Satanic influence, still grip the American imagination more than 300 years later. 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. These included "violent contortions and uncontrollable . The Salem witch trials are considered one of Americas most noteworthy cases of mass hysteria. Facts: -"At the time of these events Parris was in his middle forties." -"They did not celebrate Christmas, and a holiday from work meant only that they must concentrate even more upon prayer." -"The edge of the wilderness was close by. Witchcraft was considered a crime against the church and the state. The second slain dog was actually thought to be a victim of witchcraft whose tormentors fled Salem before they could be tried in court. The Salem Witch Trials begin. Mid-February- After a month of fasting, prayer, and home remedies, Betty and Abigail have not improved. Directed by Guy Ferland. In January 1692, two little girls living in Salem began acting strangely. In the late 1600s the Salem Village community in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts) was fairly small and undergoing a period of turmoil with little political guidance. Please reach out to us to let us know what youre interested in reading. Courts relied on three kinds of evidence: 1) confession, 2) testimony of two eyewitnesses to acts of witchcraft, or 3) spectral evidence (when the afflicted girls were having their fits, they would interact with an unseen assailant - the apparition of the witch tormenting them). Gallows Hill was discovered on a rocky outcropping now located, very unfittingly, near a Walgreens in Salem. So if witchcraft wasnt really happening in Salem, what actually caused those girls to have the fits? Of them, thirty were found guilty, and nineteen of whom were executed. These 10 lesser-known facts about the . January 1692- Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village's daughter, 9-year-old Elizabeth "Betty" Parris, falls ill, soon followed by his 11-year-old niece, Abigail Williams. One of the most famous victims of the trials was a prominent woman in the local community named Martha Corey. Despite the Salem witch trials occurring centuries ago, researchers only just found the execution site for the trials in 2016. George Burroughs, the Puritan minister, had nine children before being hanged. Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. The trials came to an abrupt halt when the Governors wife was accused of witchcraft, causing him to immediately order an end to the trials. In addition to the twenty people convicted and executed for witchcraft, two dogs were also accused of and executed for the same crime. And the first person executed for witchcraft during the trials was also a woman. On March 1 two magistrates from Salem Town, John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, went to the village to conduct a public inquiry. All Rights Reserved. Rather, as Salem archivist and historian Richard Trask observes, they also included "second-hand rumors" and "fits of fancy." See Richard B. Trask, Legal Procedures Used During the Salem Witch Trials and a Brief History of the Published Versions of the Records, in Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt (Bernard Rosenthal ed., 2009).