THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

Report by Madison Nef

For a long time, witchcraft has been a wonder to many people. But never was witchcraft as popular as it was in the 1600’s. This whole witchcraft nonsense started when Samuel Pariss’s daughter and niece started behaving strangely. They would say they were hurting and being controlled and that they saw strange figures that they believed to be demons. Everyone suspected this was witchcraft.

After a few more incidents, people started blaming EVERYTHING on witchcraft. If their farm animal died for seemingly no reason, it was witchcraft. If one of their family members got ill, it was witchcraft. If crops got killed by an unexpected rainshower, it was witchcraft. Many innocent women were sent to jail or killed for witchcraft during this time. It was horrible because most of the accused were old widows.

You have to take into consideration that there were very strange plants around back then and the wheat that was used to make bread (which was used as a plate for the poor), had weird bacteria on it that could make you hallucinate. The people who claimed to be “cursed” could just have been reacting to wheat.

Many of the witchcraft “targets” seemed to be teenage girls. In my opinion, they could have just been trying to stir the pot and get attention. If a certain person had done something wrong to them, the girls could just cry boo and the person would likely be sent to jail.

Over 150 women were sent to jail accused of witchcraft. The jails were in disrepair, because so many people were in them. Some of the punishments for committing a crime were embarrassing. Example: Standing in the center of the main marketplace wearing nothing but a sign saying CRIME IS WRONG.

The perhaps most famous witch trial is the Salem Witch Trial. Many people were executed and/or hanged for witchcraft. These people were:

Martha Carrier- Hanged because her children confessed that she was a witch.

George Burroughs- A Congregational Pastor accused of witchcraft and hanged.

Bridget Bishop- The first person to be hanged during the trials.

Giles Corey and Martha Corey- Crushed and Hanged for refusing to plea during the trials.

Mary Eastey- Hanged during the trials.

Sarah Good- One of the first witches to be accused and hung.

Elizabeth Howe- Got hung during the trials for witchcraft.

Susanna Martin- Executed during the trials.

Rebecca Nurse- Hung

Alice and Mary Parker- Both were beheaded

And many others…..

Later Guys.

Maddie <3