25 disturbing facts about the salem witch trials

Move over Montagues and Capulets: You might not be the most vengeful families out there. 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. No, it doesnt sound that romantic or comic to me either. We want our readers to trust us. In 1635, Plymouth Colony made it a crime to "form a solemn compact with the devil by way of witchcraft." As late as the 19 th century, women were persecuted for cursing butter churns, making animals sick and causing people to die. Far more women than men were among the accused, convicted and executed. "Examination of a witch" by Tompkins Harrison Matteson (1853) This series of prosecutions and hangings of those accused of practicing witchcraft provoked a major backlash, andthe event still haunts us today. Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating. He was the first to suggest the girls may be under the evil influence of witchcraft. Another more disturbing theory proposed by researchers like behavioral psychologist Linnda Caporael suggests that Salem suffered from ergot poisoning. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. Arthur Millers play The Crucible played a large role in popularizing many of the details of the Salem witch trials and dramatizing facts that he uncovered in historical records. 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. 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. 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). Well, many workers and service providers will, Being a nurse isnt easy or ordinarybut these nurses had more difficult, and more bizarre,, Sometimes, you hear a story so wild that you heave a sigh of relief when, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex was the darling of Elizabeths old ageuntil he wasnt., Lets face it: Some people are just rude. The phrase witch hunt, commonly used to refer to an unjustified or falsely conjured-up prosecution, is thought to originate as a reference to this time period in American history. My mom never told me how her best friend died. Twenty of those people were executed, most by hanging. Miller did not approve of this, and this was one of the things he tried to criticize allegorically through his depiction of the Salem events. One person was even executed for refusing to testify at the hearings. One of the most famous victims of the trials was a prominent woman in the local community named Martha Corey. Thanks for your time! Due to its association with the supernatural and the haunted, Salem is now a popular destination for Halloween festivities, which run throughout the month of October. A period of less than a year caused such turmoil that Salem, Massachusetts, is still widely known for the trials. Bishop was known to rebel against the puritanical values of that time. Philip and Mary English Home, Site Of. Salem Witch Museum. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Today, witchcraftis recognized by the government as a protected and legitimate religion under the First Amendment. Learn about the Salem witch trials and their legacy. When you think of the Salem witch trials, you probably think of a bunch of confused villagers who didnt know any better, but there is so much more to the story. Many citizens believed that they way witches will get you is by baking a cake. Salem witch trials, (June 1692-May 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). Due to its association with the supernatural and the haunted, Salem is now a popular destination for Halloween festivities, which run throughout the month of October. Nineteen were executed by hanging. The three convicted individuals received pardons. They found it by following clues in an accused witchs writings and through guesses on where prisoners would be transported. There have been many other instances of this kind of phenomenon sincemost recently in an outbreak of alleged evil clown sightings across the continent and beyond in 2016. All Rights Reserved. During the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft. But men were accused (and executed) as well. 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. The infant died shortly after her birth, likely due to malnutrition. A lot was changing in colonial America at the time. One of the people who perished in prison was only an infant. 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. One man was pressed to death under heavy stones, the only such state-sanctioned execution of its kind. And the first person executed for witchcraft during the trials was also a woman. Although most of the accused witches were women, some men were also accused. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. 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. 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. You . The Putnams, a prominent family hed borrowed money from, sued Burroughs for unpaid debts and later accused him of witchcraft. In January 1692, two little girls living in Salem began acting strangely. Today, witchcraftis recognized by the government as a protected and legitimate religion under the First Amendment. 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. Since witches were often shackled in jail . 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. The Salem Witch Trials begin. It was a time when Christianity was prominent and no one steered away from the biblical beliefs. 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. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure. Full List, Photo Credits, and Sources: https://list25.com/25-disturbing-facts-about-the-salem-witch-trialsSUBSCRIBE - http://bit.ly/2uwq6BJCheck out our store: https://teespring.com/stores/list25-swagFollow us on: List25 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/list25List25 Instagram: https://instagram.com/list25/List25 Twitter - https://twitter.com/list25 List25 Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/list25/See more Top 25 lists on our website:http://list25.comThe Salem witch trials were BRUTAL, but did you know that a big reason for the craziness surrounding the town was the Salem smallpox outbreak shortly before? Here are 42 wicked facts about the Salem witch trials. One was pressed to death by heavy stones. Having an angry witch killing your children made sense. Were always looking for your input! 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. It is easy to feel like we've long known everything there is to know about it. Madame de Pompadour didn't just share King Louis XV's bed, she also shared his power. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks Post author October 25, 2017 at 3:28 pm. On January 14, 1697five years after the trialsthe General Court ordered a day of fasting and prayers for the tragedy of Salem, stating, That so all God's people may offer up fervent Supplications unto him for ye preservation & prosperity of his Majtys.. Ann Putnam testified that Good tried to choke and bite her, a claim that Mary Walcott corroborated. History. Squabbles over property were commonplace, and litigiousness was rampant. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/salem-witch-trial-descendants/. Another reason why it sucked that these trials took place before the Bill of Rights existed? The Start of the Salem Witch Trials. Make sure to watch this video all the way to the end to see which crazy witchcraft fact made our top 10! On March 23, 1692, a warrant was issued for the arrest of four-year-old Dorothy Good of Salem Village on "suspition of acts of Witchcraft.". Parris, whose largely theological studies at Harvard College (now Harvard University) had been interrupted before he could graduate, was in the process of changing careers from business to the ministry. Witchcraft was considered a crime against the church and the state. Given the subsequent spread of the strange behaviour to other girls and young women in the community and the timing of its display, however, those physiological and psychological explanations are not very convincing. 1032 Words | 5 Pages. Some scholars believe that they were of African heritage, while others think that they may have been of Caribbean Native American heritage.). This period of witch trials later came to be known as the Salem witch trials, named after the town of Salem and Salem Village (present-day Danvers). For everyone who remains intrigued by Salem, here are a few lesser-known facts about the witchcraft trials. The Salem witch trials were also the subject of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, written in the 1950s. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_of_the_Salem_witch_trials. Villagers killed that second dog and sent the man fleeing for his life. Interestingly, dogs role did not end here. 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. 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. Three presidents William Howard Taft, Chester Arthur, and Gerald Ford have been said to descend from one of Salems executed witches or their siblings. After that, the next thirty-three witchcraft trials resulted in acquittals. Please reach out to us to let us know what youre interested in reading. William Phips. Wikipedia. Their initial accusations gave way to trials, hysteria, and a frenzy that resulted in further accusations, often between the differing factions. Instead, in 1692, hanging was the preferred form of punishment. 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. 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. 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. The Salem trials occurred late in the sequence, after the abatement of the European witch-hunt fervour, which peaked from the 1580s and 90s to the 1630s and 40s. To identify witches, authorities used the "touching test", in which victims of witchcraft would become calm upon touching the culprit. Seven more died in jail. 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. Gallows Hill was discovered on a rocky outcropping now located, very unfittingly, near a Walgreens in Salem. Another more disturbing theory proposed by researchers like behavioral psychologist Linnda Caporael suggests that Salem suffered from ergot poisoning. Linder, Douglas O. Making distraction rewarding since 2017. Of the 20 people executed during the trials, six of them were men: Giles Corey, George Burroughs, George Jacobs Sr., John Proctor, John Willard, and Samuel Wardwell Sr. John Proctor was the first man accused of witchcraft. In October 1692, a girl in Andover accused a neighbors dog of trying to bewitch her. When he stopped being paid altogether, he left Salem. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://salemwitchtrials.com/accusedstats.html. The litany of odd behaviour also mirrored that of the children of a Boston family who in 1688 were believed to have been bewitched, a description of which had been provided by Congregational minister Cotton Mather in his book Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1689) and which may have been known by the girls in Salem Village. Dont feel too embarrassed if you happen to be from Massachusetts, you guys were not the first to do something like this. Tituba: The Slave of Salem. History of Massachusetts Blog, January 2, 2013. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/tituba-the-slave-of-salem/. So if witchcraft wasnt really happening in Salem, what actually caused those girls to have the fits? Upon Governor William Phipss return from England, he realized the need for a new court for the witch trials. One of the most famous victims of the trials was a prominent woman in the local community named Martha Corey. Most importantly, Stoughton allowed spectral evidence during the trials, so that an accuser could claim that an accused witch had appeared to them in a vision or hurt them within a dream. Los Angeles Times, August 29, 1993. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-29-mn-29128-story.html. The effects of the Salem Village witch trials were devastating: 141 people imprisoned, 19 people executed, and two more died from other causes directly related to the investigations.1 The Salem witch trials would account for a quarter of all people executed for the crime of witchcraft in the history of New England,2 and would furthermore prove The most terrifying part, perhaps, was that anyone could be accused of engaging in witchcraft, and there was little they could do to defend themselves. 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. We've compiled over 4375 history facts in one place, just for you. Despite their obvious Christian commitment, the early American Puritans actually banned Christmas in the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1659, deeming it a sacrilege. 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. Salem Witch Trials of 1692. There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. 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. 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. Pressured by Parris to identify their tormentor, Betty and Abigail claimed to have been bewitched by Tituba and two other marginalized members of the community, neither of whom attended church regularly: Sarah Good, an irascible beggar, and Sarah Osborn (also spelled Osborne), an elderly bed-ridden woman who was scorned for her romantic involvement with an indentured servant. The First Amendment has generally served to protect individuals for opinions that they have expressed, albeit not for violent or illegal conduct. At the time of the Salem Witch Trials, Abigail was living with her uncle, Reverend Samuel Parris, his daughter Betty Parris and Parris' slaves Tituba and John Indian. Let those stories inspire you to start your family history research today. The grave of Martha Corey, the wife of Giles Corey . In fact, there was fear in Europe that an entire group of evil witches were consciously attacking Europeans in order to destroy Christendom. It seems that a shocking number of accusations were made by members of the Putnam family. But the accusations didnt stop there. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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. Despite their obvious Christian commitment, the early American Puritans actually banned Christmas in the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1659, deeming it a sacrilege. Directed by Guy Ferland. In 1692, when the Salem witch trials began, the United States Constitution did not yet exist. 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. Even during the trials, there were many who objected to the whole procedure, even within the religious Puritan community. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. But not just adult women and men were impacted by the trials. Unlike the others who were hanged, this unfortunate fellow was crushed to death by stones. The legacy of the trials has far outlasted their duration, even . Kyle Climans has been a published writer since 2011. John Proctors son was born in prison while his wife was imprisoned on witchcraft charges. 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. Sir William Phips. Famous Trials. New Hampshire. Corrections? 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. 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. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. His diagnosis of bewitchment put into motion the forces that would ultimately result in the hanging deaths of 19 men and women. There were complex political, religious, and racial issues under the crisis. Updates? The hunts were efforts to identify witches rather than pursuits of individuals who were already thought to be witches. 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. 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. Many possible answers have been proposed, but one likely explanation is that they were suffering from some kind of natural medical afflictions. Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton served as its chief magistrate and Thomas Newton as the Crowns Prosecuting Attorney. His wife, Elizabeth, had been accused of witchcraft and John tried to step in to defend her. Despite the Salem witch trials occurring centuries ago, researchers only just found the execution site for the trials in 2016.

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