The Salem Witch Trials of 1692   The fear of witches was very real in the Puritan communities in the 1600's. Cotton Mather wrote, "Witchcraft is a horrible plot against the country, which if not seasonably discovered, will probably blow up and pull down the churches in the country."  Witches, it was widely believed, gained their powers through the devil, who would only work with those who signed a pact with him. The devil would allow witches to take a form of man or beast, any time they desired, except, they could not take the forms of innocent people- that is not within the devil's power. Therefore if a person reported that they saw the image, ghost, or "spectre" of a person doing something evil, that evil doer had to be a witch and could not be an innocent person- thus "spectral evidence", as our ancestors called it, was a valid testimony in a court of law, where hallucinating and lying witnesses sent many innocent people to the gallows. (taken from "Witch Dungeon" by Robert Ellis Cahill, Former Keeper of Salem Jail)   Things in Salem Town, and Salem Village, which were separated by only 3 miles, were not very good, in 1692. The people had a bad crop that year, and were facing starvation. There had been frequent   French, and Indian attacks, and a recent outbreak of smallpox. There was also animosity between the "rich folk" of   Salem town, and the "dirt farmers" of  Salem Village. The people of Salem Village resented the high taxes imposed by those in Salem town, and wanted to separate, from Salem town, as there was also friction over land ownership and cattle grazing rights.   Reverend Samuel Parris, came to Salem Village, as a new pastor, and he was very disliked, as he had an unpleasant character, and was mean and bad tempered.  He had been a merchant in the West Indies, and he came to Salem Village with his wife, his 9 year old daughter Elizabeth, his niece Abilgail Williams, age 11, and two slaves, John Indian, and his wife, Tituba, who was half Careb Indian, and half African. Tituba was a good storyteller, and knowledgable in voodoo, black magick, and socerey. Elizabeth Parrish, and her friend, Ann Putnam, age 12, became friends, and the girls spent hours listening to stories of magick from Tituba in the Parish home.  Fun and games were not allowed, and much time was spent listening to sermons at the meeting house, so the popularity of Tituba's tales and fortune-telling spread throughout to the children in the village, and soon the Parish house was filled with girls, ages 9 to 19 listening to her tales of witches and spirits. Tituba, taught them games of black magic, and it was then that children then began to act oddly, screaming, having convulsions, and talking non-sensible nonsense.  Elizabeth started to go into trances, and her cousin, Abigail, began to act up at the dinner table, and threw a bible, and tried to run up the chimney. Reverend Parris, called in a doctor, who concluded that "an evil hand was upon her" and felt them to be "bewitched." The girls blamed Tituba for their condition, and Reverend Parris gave the slave such a beating that she confessed to being the cause of the problem. Ann Putnam started naming other local women as witches, and the Salem terror had begun.   Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn were the first named to be witches, and though they denied in court that they knew anything about witchcraft, Tituba readily admitted to being a witch, and she went on expanding upon her confessions for three days, stating that Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne attended the witches Sabbats with her, and that there were two other women, though she did not know who they were. This caused great widespread gossip and speculation. Ann Putnam put an end to the speculation, when she named several other people in town, encouraged by her mother.  Tituba was locked up in the dungeon, and shackled to the wall, and stayed there for a year, never going to trial. The trials began, with the girls, eight more of them becoming "afflicted" accusing Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne of "tormenting them" and began screaming and rolling on the floor saying that Sarah, in specter form, was pinching and biting them during the trials.   The trials and the hysteria continued with more people being put on trial, and with now eleven girls claiming to be tormented by devils. By September, the death toll had reached twenty people, and the girls were called to identify witches in other towns, and it looked as if the hysteria would spread to Andover and Boston. The Andover magistrate declined to sign more than 40 warrants, and had to escape with his wife, after being he was then accused of being a witch. The girls finally overstepped their bounds, when they named the wife of the governor of Massachusetts, Sir William Phips, as being a witch, and this was the beginning of the end of the witch trials. When governor Phips returned from fighting Indians on the Canadian border, he dismissed the court and released many of the accused. He also signed into law, that in all further trials, it was ruled that spectral evidence could not be used, and that those accused were innocent until proven guilty. The Salem witch craze abruptly ended about a year after it began. By mid-May, most of the accused and convicted witches were released from the dungeon, but some were not allowed to leave until they paid the jailor for their keep. Margaret Jacobs whose property had been confiscated by the sheriff, could not pay her fee, and remained in the dungeon for weeks after the governor's pardon, until a stranger named Gammon came and paid her fees and she was released. By late May, the only accused witch remaining in the dungeon was Tituba the one who started it all. Samuel Parrish, refused to pay for Tibuba's release. Finally an unknown stranger came to the Salem jail and paid for her release, and the Salem witch hysteria came to an end.

Some Facts of the Salem Witch Trials -150 people were accused of being witches, 55 of them admitted to being guilty   -Those who admitted being guilty, were freed, and those who would not admit that they were guilty, were tortured, put in the dungeons, and eventually hung.   -Two people who were accused of witchcraft, escaped from the Salem dungeons, assisted by their friends and neighbors, who paid the jailors, often their live fortunes, to allow the prisoners to flee.   -John Proctor spoke out against the witch accusations, stating that the girls should be "put over a knee, and have the devil spanked out of them" and shortly after that, he was also accused of being a witch, and was hung in 1692.   -The first people who were accused of being witches were:   -Sarah Good, who was a pipe-smoking beggar, who was known to go to people houses to beg food or money, and when turned down, who walk away muttering.   -Sarah Osborn, who was an aged cripple, who walked with a cane.   -Martha Cory, who gave birth to an illegitimate son.   -Tituba,  Samuel Parrish's black slave woman, who told the young girls stories of witchcraft and voodoo, who was the only one, who outright admitted to being a witch.   -Ann Foster, whose daughter accused her.   -Martha Carrier, whose 7 year old daughter accused her.   -Rebecca Nurse, when her neighbor became ill and died.   -Sarah Martin, who was said to have "stepped in a mud puddle without getting wet."   -Later in the witch trials, anyone who had a grudge of any kind against another, accused them of being a witch, and also those who had wealth or property were also accused, as their property and livestock could be confiscated.   -Giles and Martha Cory, were ones who did have much property and wealth, and Mary was accused of being a witch. Mary, upon hearing the "gibberish" of the young girls accusations, burst into laughter. During her trial, in her defense, she stated, "I am a gospel woman." Her husband appeared at her trial, and asked if he could go with her. The judges at first refused, but soon after, he too, was accused, was also sent to the dungeon. He would not plead guilty, or innocent, and the law read that: "No person shall be tried for any offense, but high treason until he enters a plea." The punishment for treason was, "slow crushing weights until a plea is forth coming." Giles was stripped to the waist, and led to a newly dug pit, and forced to lie down, where a door was placed over his chest. The men began to pile rocks upon the door, and when asked to plead "guilty or not guilty", he would not respond in any way. For to admit his guilt he would lose his property and holdings, and to proclaim his innocence, he would be found to be a witch, and would lose his property anyways, and he knew this, so therefore he refused to speak, wishing that his property and money would go to his family. His eyes bulged, as more and more rocks were piled upon his chest and stomach. One witness wrote, "in the pressing, Corey's tongue was pressed out of his mouth, and Sheriff Corwin, with his cane, forced it in again." Corey lasted two days, under this constant pressure until he finally died. Many of the people of Salem, concluded that Cory remained silent so that the Sheriff, by law was unable to confiscate his home, as he had with the other convicted witches. Giles Cory died on September 19th, at the age of 80 years old, and his wife were hung, three days later.   -Two women accused of being witches, escaped being hung because they were pregnant.   -Sarah Osborne was pregnant when placed in the dungeons, and when it came time for the delivery, the baby was born dead.   -Two dogs were hung at Gallows hill because the girls claimed they gave them the "evil eye", and were "possessed by the devil."   -Some of the common tortures to force a confession, were both mental and physical.  One of them was to make a person stand for long periods in a pillory, for hours with arms outstretched. This was one of Judge Hawthorne?s favorite tortures. Another was to tie a person's feet to their neck, until blood dripped from their eyes and their nose. They were denied sleep, or water. The women were periodically stripped of their one set of clothing, and pricked with pins on warts, moles, and pimples, as Sheriff Corwin was reminded by the magistrates that, "the devil's mark, being pinched, will not bleed, and be often in the secretest parts, and therefore require diligent and careful search." Another popular torture of the time, was to tie the right thumb, to the big toe of the left foot of a accused witch, and to throw them into a pond. If the victim sinks and drowns, they are innocent, if they float, then this is ?proof? that they are a witch. This was mostly used in Connecticut, though not used in Salem.    -The girls who claimed to be "bewitched" were taken to neighboring towns, and at one point, there were 150 people in the Salem dungeon. Those in the dungeons, were expected to not only pay, for the cell they were in, but also for their food, which was very little, and was often rotten, the drinking water putrid. They were also expected to pay for their cuffs, chains, and the fetters that they were forced to wear, "seven shillings, and a six-pence a-piece." The jail keeper was also paid by each accused, or their family, "two pounds, and eight shillings." A bit extra had to be paid for inspecting moles and warts. Court costs were "one pound and six shillings apiece" and if executed, there was a sizable hangman's fee to be paid. As you can see, witch hunting, became quite a lucrative business in the late 17th century.    -The dungeons were cold, and foul smelling, and were kept in total darkness, and the only light that was ever seen, was when the guards entered the dungeon. The dungeon was also near the north river, and during high tide would flood, and the cold water would rise to the prisoner's ankles, daily. Most of the prisoners were kept in chains, and it was a stomping ground for large river rats. For the prisoners, who were poor, and could not afford to pay for their stay in the dungeon, they were put in coffin like cells, smaller than a phone booth, in which they could only stand.   -Two women died in the dungeons from the lack of food and water, and the cold.   -The youngest girl, accused of witchcraft, was 4 year old Dorcus Good, who witnessed her mother being hung. Dorcus was sent to a Boston dungeon for 8 months, and though she escaped execution, she was released, but went insane.   -14 women, 5 men, and 2 dogs were hung, before the witch trials had ended.   ~Tala 2007