The Salem witch trials have been discussed and re-discussed over and over. Why? So we never forget and hopefully it never happens again.
The whole thing 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 women of witchcraft.
As the hysteria spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, a special court convened in Salem to hear the cases; the first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hanged that June.
Eighteen others followed Bishop to Salem’s Gallows Hill, while some 150 more men, women and children were accused over the next several months.
By September 1692, the hysteria had begun to fade and public opinion turned against the trials. Though the Massachusetts General Court later annulled guilty verdicts against accused witches and granted indemnities to their families, the damage was already done and the painful legacy of the Salem witch trials would endure, even until now.
ORIGINS OF THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
Belief in the devil’s practice of giving certain humans (witches) the power to harm others had started in Europe in the 14th century, and was widespread in colonial New England.
By the way, a scientific study published in Science magazine in 1976 cited the fungus ergot (found in rye, wheat and other cereals), which toxicologists say can cause symptoms such as delusions, vomiting and muscle spasms.
So maybe that could explain a few things, who know?
In January 1692, 9-year-old Elizabeth (Betty) Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams (the daughter and niece of Samuel Parris, minister of Salem Village) began having fits, including violent contortions and uncontrollable outbursts of screaming.
A local doctor, William Griggs, diagnosed bewitchment as the only explanation, other young girls in the community began to exhibit similar symptoms, including Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott and Mary Warren.
SALEM WITCH TRIALS IS OUT OF CONTROL
The three accused witches were brought before the magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne and questioned, even as their accusers appeared in the courtroom in a grand display of spasms, contortions, screaming and writhing.
Though Good and Osborn denied their guilt, Tituba confessed. Likely seeking to save herself from certain conviction as an informer, she claimed there were other witches working with the devil against the Puritans.
As hysteria spread through the community and beyond into the rest of Massachusetts, a number of others were accused, including Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse–both regarded as upstanding members of church and community–and the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good.
Like Tituba, several accused “witches” confessed and threw others under the bus, and the trials overwhelmed the local justice system.
In May 1692, the newly appointed governor of Massachusetts, William Phips, ordered the establishment of a special Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) on witchcraft cases for Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex counties.
The judges including Hathorne, Samuel Sewall and William Stoughton handed down its first conviction, against Bridget Bishop, on June 2; she was hanged eight days later.
Five more people were hanged that July; five in August and eight more in September. In addition, seven other accused witches died in jail, while the elderly Giles Corey (Martha’s husband) was pressed to death by stones after he refused to enter a plea at his arraignment.
SALEM LEGACY
In January 1697, the Massachusetts General Court declared a day of fasting for the tragedy of the Salem witch trials; the court later deemed the trials unlawful, and the leading justice Samuel Sewall publicly apologized for his role in the process.
The damage to the community was already done however, even after Massachusetts Colony passed legislation restoring the good names of the condemned and providing financial restitution to their heirs in 1711.
The church was the cornerstone of 17th century life in New England. Most people in Massachusetts were Puritans—colonists who had left England seeking religious tolerance.
But the strict Puritan code was far from tolerant.
It was against the law not to attend church—where men and women sat on opposite sides through long services. The Puritan lifestyle was restrained and rigid: People were expected to work hard and keep their emotions or opinions to themselves.
Individual differences were frowned upon.
Even the dark, somber Puritan dress was dictated by the church.
Since Puritans believed that all sins should be punished they also believed God would punish sinful behavior. When a neighbor would suffer misfortune, such as a sick child or a failed crop, Puritans saw it as God’s will and did not help.
Puritans also believed the Devil was as real as God.
Even though everyone was faced with the struggle between the powers of good and evil, Satan would select the weakest individuals—women, children, the insane—to carry out his devilish work. Those who followed Satan were considered witches. Witchcraft was one of the greatest crimes a person could commit, and as we know, punishable by death.
In keeping with the Puritan code of conformity, the first women to be accused of witchcraft in Salem were seen as different and that God had abandoned them.
As a result, the church was extremely instrumental in the manifestation of the witch trials. “Ministers were looked to for guidance by the judges, who were generally without legal training, on matters of witchcraft.
The trials would continue for as long or as short as the ministers wanted them to.
Evidence like hearsay, gossip, stories, unsupported assertions were generally admitted.
The church and the court had the people to a point where they would do anything to avoid getting on the wrong side of the powers including accusing their own friends. “
Fear of magic and witchcraft was common in New England, as it had been in Europe for centuries.
Over 100 alleged witches had been tried and hanged in New England during the 1600s.
But the hangings in 1692 Salem would be the last ones in America.
The painful legacy of the Salem witch trials has endured and ought to be a lesson to warn of the dangers of intolerance and religious extremism.
