The Salem Witch Trials of 1692

8 minutes read

In the February of 1692, a series of strange occurrences were making their way through the town of Salem in Massachusetts. With more than 200 people accused and of the lot, 30 found guilty, the Salem Witch Trials would go on to become synonymous with paranoia and injustice. Although these infamous trials took place more than 300 years ago, they continue to beguile and enchant humans to this day. But what happened in the town of Salem in 1692? Was the ‘Devil’ actually at work? Why did it only take place in Salem? Scroll down to read about the infamous Witch Trials of Salem that continue to intrigue popular imagination, even to this day…

An artist’s depiction of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692

As early as the 14th century, Europe had already been gripped with a ‘witchcraft craze’, which gave rise to a strong belief that the ‘Devil’ could give certain people – ‘witches’ the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. These ‘witches’ were considered to be followers of Satan who had traded their souls for his assistance. Soon enough, all sorts of stories about how these witches operated started circulating through town. Gossip floated around, from one person to the other – witches employed demons to accomplish their magical deeds, changed from one-form to the other and rode through the air at night to secret meetings and orgies.

This ‘witch-hunt’ reached its peak in the period between the 1580s and ’90s to the 1630s and ’40s. Around three-fourths of these witch hunts took place in western Germany, the Low Countries, France, northern Italy, and Switzerland. Between these years close to 1,10,000 were tried for witchcraft and between 40,000-60,000, of whom most were women, were executed. Although the Salem Witch Trials took place between the high frequency periods, there were a number of reasons which historians now point towards, as the cause for this mass slaughter.

Map of the Salem Village, circa 1692

In the year 1689, the English rulers – William and Mary had begun a war with the French, who were then settled in their American colonies. This war ravaged regions of upstate New York, Nova Scotia and Quebec, which forced people out of these areas and into the county of Essex, specifically the Salem Village. The relocation of these displaced people created a huge strain on Salem’s resources. This is turn, aggravated the rivalry between the wealthy people of Salem, and those who still depended on agriculture. Amid such a tense atmosphere, the arrival of ‘outsiders’ into Salem, coupled with their resentment towards their neighbours, further created an environment wherein suspicion and superstition would eventually pave way for theinfamous Salem Witch Trials.

The entire tale began when John Putnam, one of the most influential elders of Salem Village, invited Samuel Parris, who was earlier settled in Barbados (a country in the Caribbean), to preach in the village church. Over a year later, after several negotiations upon the salary, inflation adjustments, and free firewood, Parris finally accepted the job as village minister. Soon enough, he moved to Salem with his wife Elizabeth, six-year-old daughter Betty, niece Abigail Williams, and 2 Indian slaves – John Indian and Tituba, acquired by him in Barbados. However, Parris was extremely unpopular amongst the occupants of Salem because of his greedy nature and rigid ways.

Reverend Samuel Parris

In the January of 1692, while a cold and frigid air blew through the town of Salem, the young Betty Parris became strangely ill. She started exhibiting extremely unusual and peculiar symptoms – she would dash about the house, dive under the furniture, writhe in pain, at times bark like a dog, and then suddenly fall absolutely silent, babble nonsensically and complain of having a fever. Once in a fit, she even threw a Bible across the room, an act that must have shocked her father, and thrown him over the edge. Soon enough, Betty’s other companions – Abigail Williams, her cousin, 11-year-old Ann Putnam, daughter of John Putnam, and two other 17-year-old girls, Mercy Lewis and Mary Walcott – too began to display highly unusual behaviour. Abigail Williams even tried to launch herself into the air, an act that planted only one question into the minds of the occupants of Salem – Was the Devil at work?

This belief was further grounded into their minds, when they came across a description of an eerily similar event that took place in Boston, published by the Congregational (a group of people who attend a particular church) minister Cotton Mather in his book Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1689). Mather’s detailed account of the children of a Boston family who in 1688 were believed to have been bewitched, very ominously displayed the exact same symptoms shown by the girls of the Salem Village. William Griggs, a local doctor who failed to cure the strange ailments displayed by the girls, in an act of desperation, ultimately pinned the blame on a supernatural occurrence. The already rising suspicions and the horrid and extremely strange nature of the young girls’ symptoms, now firmly made the villagers believe that the only possible cause of this eerie occurrence was the Devil.

The Original Arrest Warrant for ‘Suspected Witchcraft’

A trial soon began, albeit with a much smaller number than what it grew into later, wherein, at first, 3 women were brought forward as the accused. Thomas Putnam, father of Ann Putnam, one of the girls who displayed the first symptoms, pressurised his daughter to identify the cause of this hysteria. She supplied 3 names – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba. Good was a beggar and a ‘social misfit’, who lived like a nomad in whichever house that allowed her in. Osborn was an old and quarrelsome woman, who hadn’t attended church for over a year. Tituba was the Indian slave of the newly-appointed village minister Samuel Parris, and became a very obvious choice due to her habit of sharing with the girls tales of omens, voodoo, and witchcraft from her native folklore.

“The Examination of a Witch”

On March 1^st, 1692, the trial began with the 3 women showing up at court as the prime accused. The judges wasted no time in getting directly to main question, by asking Sarah Good – “What evil spirit do you have familiarity with?” If the girls were, at first, being genuinely honest about their symptoms, during the trials, all of it looked as though it was pre-planned by them. All their symptoms seemed to appear at a very convenient time and soon seemed to look more like a forgery rather than a simple coincidence. Whatever the case, the ‘judges’ of the trial seemed to find no trace of forgery in their symptoms and allowed the trial to continue. The accused had no access to a lawyer, and neither were they allowed to admit witnesses into the court to testify on their behalf. However, they were allowed to represent themselves and cross-examine the other witnesses, something that obviously did not seem to be too useful for the accused.

The young girls worked their stories together and produced tales such as – seeing “witches flying through the winter mist.” Soon enough, the other villagers came forward as well, reporting the tiniest of unusual occurrences as acts carried out by witches. Stories of cheese and butter mysteriously going bad and animals born with deformities after visits by one of the suspects, soon began to circulate around town and only strengthened the case of the suspicious villagers.

Finally, most likely on the hope that she would be spared execution, Tituba agreed to the fact that she was indeed – a part of a coven of witches. Her transcript recorded, read as follows –

Tituba’s confession (Original Transcript)

Her confession succeeded in turning even those few who believed the ‘witch-scare’ to be a hoax, into believers. While Tituba was spared execution and ultimately jailed, a large number of other women and one man, were brought under the radar of the ‘witch hunters’ and ultimately accused. Sarah Good’s 4-year-old daughter – Dorcas Good became the first child to be convicted. She too was jailed for 8 months, alongside her mother and watched her mother get carried off to the gallows, as she “cried her heart out, and went insane.”  Soon enough, more and more people began confessing, as a way of avoiding the gallows.

The Chief Judge of the Salem Witch Trials – William Stoughton

As the governor of Massachusetts, William Phips returned, he set up a new and much bigger court with five judges and one chief justice – William Stoughton. Gossip and hearsay were now admitted as official evidence, and the case of the innocent and helpless witches became even weaker. Bridget Bishop, a 60-year-old women who owned a tavern (place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages) in the town, was accused and brought to the stand. As more and more stories of her being a supernatural being were brought into light, the jury was convinced that Bishop was indeed guilty. And so, Bridget Bishop became the first person to be executed as part of the Salem Witch Trials.

An artist’s depiction of – The Hanging of Bridget Bishop

However, no execution cause more unrest in the town, than the execution of the village’s ex-minister, George Burroughs. He was identified by the girls as the ‘ringleader’ of the gang of witches. Burroughs was a part of a failed military campaign that took place between 1688-89. The cause of his failure was attributed to him being a witch and Ann Putnam had gone as far as claiming that Burroughs had bewitched his soldiers. As fate would have it, Burroughs was also executed and he became the first male of the lot to be hanged. An even worse case was that of Giles Corey, who spent 5 months in the jail and refused to go to trial. The punishment for such a contempt was ‘peine et fort’ or death by pressing. Corey was pressed under heavy stones, till such time that he breathed his last. Three days after his death, 8 more witches, including his wife, were also executed and they became the last of the witches to be killed during the witch trials of Salem. A man named John Proctor, who publically criticised the trials was also executed with his heavily pregnant wife Elizabeth, also accused of witchcraft, being spared due to her ‘condition’.

An artist’s depiction of – The Hanging of George Burroughs

By the time this mass hysteria ended, 19 convicted witches were executed, at least 4 accused witches had died in prison, and one man, Giles Corey, had been pressed to death. An approximate of 100-200 people were jailed, and 2 dogs were executed as suspected accomplices of the witches. The possible cause of this massacre has been attributed to various factors over the years, including – the income divide that had separated the wealthy people from the farmers. Some even claim that the accusers stood to gain property from the executions of the accused witches, and so as the chasm widened between various communities, the fates of who lived and died were determined according to personal interests and rivalries.

Gradually, the people of the town began questioning how so many people could be a part of the supernatural community? How could so many respected members of the town be accused and hung in such a short span of time? As the thirst for blood began to die down, people began to see more clearly. While some of the perpetrators of the Salem Witch Trials apologised after the hysteria gradually met its end, many including the main culprit William Stoughton, the chief justice during the trials, refused to apologize or explain himself. In fact, he went on to become the next governor of Massachusetts. Samuel Sewall, one of the judges, issued a public confession of guilt and an apology. Several jurors came forward to say that they were “sadly deluded and mistaken” in their judgments. Parris, the minister of the village and the core part of the ‘witch-hunters’, also accepted his ‘errors’ but directed a large part of the blame towards others. He was soon replaced as the minister of Salem.

The ‘repentance’ of Samuel Sewall

While the ending of the witch trials finally allowed the occupants of Salem to breathe with ease, it’s delay came at a very heavy cost – the deaths of more than 20 people, and trauma to hundreds more. The Salem Witch Trials are a prime example of how blind faith and a blind justice system can lead to a very bloody conflict, resulting in the deaths of many innocent people and widespread chaos and hysteria.

Sources:

The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: An Account – Famous Trials

Salem Witch Trials – Wikipedia

Salem Witch Trials – History.com

A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials – Smithsonian Magazine

Salem Witch Trials – Britannica