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Helen Rosas Costa

HIST 1700 Hour 1
Jonathan Hebertson
2 April, 2015
Salem Witch Trials 1692
The history of the Salem Witch Trials begins in the Puritan community of Salem
Village in early 1962. However, the beginning of where the witch-hunt came from is
uncertain. The possible theories are as follows. One theory is that a house servant named
Tituba showed little girls some games to amuse their young girlish crushes. The second
theory is a few little girls got sick and starting having fits and spasms and they blamed
that some older women bewitched them. The last theory is since things were rough for
the community they looked for a way to blame their neighbors and enemies for
something or other. Through these assumptions and accusations there were 150 accused,
19 or 20 hanged, and hysteria instilled into the community.
Indulging into the first theory, where fun and games turned
into getting innocent people getting murdered. Tituba, a West
Indian slave woman, who was taking care of a few little girls,
decided to teach them some fortune telling and voodoo. After one
of the adults found out, started asking the girls questions, and tried
to make them fearful. Their tactics worked and started pointing
fingers at Tituba and some other older women. They accused
Tituba of bewitching them and making them spellbound. Even
after she had gone through trial, her neighbors and those who knew

Figure 1 Image of Tituba

taken from Google

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her testified she was not a witch, and she was found innocent. However, she was put back
on trial for the same crime, which is now illegal in the United States, and was found
guilty and hung for witchcraft. Arthur Miller best shows this in his version of the story in
the 1953 play The Crucible.
The second theory is that 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. After a local doctor, William Griggs, diagnosed bewitchment, other young
girls in the community began to exhibit similar symptoms, including Ann Putnam Jr.,
Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard,
Mary Walcott and Mary Warren. In late
February, arrest warrants were issued
for the Parris Caribbean slave, Tituba,
along with two other womenthe
homeless beggar Sarah Good and the
poor, elderly Sarah Osbornwhom the
girls accused of bewitching them
(Salem Witch Trials). Most likely these
symptoms were caused by the ailments

Figure 2 Image of witch hanging taken from Google

of that time but since they did not have modern medicine they had no other explanation
for it except for dealing with the Man in Black aka the devil.
The third theory is that the Salem Witch Trials, while the young girls may have
started it, it became a way to denounce those who you did not like in the community. But

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since there is no proven way to identify a witch they tortured those who were accuse.
They also, in some cases, look for dark marks on a persons body as a sign that the Man
in Black had touched them and left the dark mark. Some women were disrobed and
humiliated to try and find any dark marks, which could be taken as a form of torture. The
most common form of torture was the watertest(dunkingstool),whichwasadruid
practicerightoutoftheDarkAges.Floatingmeantyouwereawitch,sinkingimplied
innocents,drowningimpliedyouwenttoheaven.Anothercommontorturemethodwas
TheBootwhichinvolvedanironbootattachedtoyourfootthatslowlygottighter.
Throughthesetorturemethodstheywereabletogetconfessionsoutofsomeofthose
whowereaccused.However,itwasnotapersonalconfessionbutapreparedconfession
thattheyjusthadtosign.A way out of the accusations, besides death from the torture,
was to claim that they were indeed witches but that they would reject their dark arts and
become faithful Puritans.
It became so common in the legal system of Salem Town that In May 1692, the
newly appointed governor of Massachusetts, William Phips, ordered the establishment of
a special Court of Oyer (to hear) and
Figure 3 Image of finding dark marks taken
from Google

Terminer (to decide) on witchcraft

cases for Suffolk, Essex and
Middlesex counties (history.com).
While there were many accused,
only a handful actually got
convicted. Seven of those who were
accused died while in jail. Governor

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Phips and May Phips had established that being accused of witchcraft should be treated
like any other offence in the justice system and had to have just cause to have action
taken upon
it. In 1693,
those in jail
for
witchcraft
were
pardoned
and released.

Figure 4 Gravestones of those convicted of witchcraft. Image taken by

Google

While the Salem Witch Trials only lasted from the summer of 1962 into early
1963, 150 were convicted and around 19 to 20 people died. In 1967, the Massachusetts
Bay Colony held a fasting ceremony for those who were wrongly convicted during the
witch trials. Not only did the witch trials cause hysteria in the community it also
disruptedlifeandunderminedMassachusettsseconomy.Inpresentdaytheyhavea
memorialdedicatedtothosewhowereaccused,tortured,andkilledthroughtheSalem
WitchtrialsandhasleftapermanentmarkonAmericanHistory.

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Resources
"Salem Witch Trials." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials>.
"Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive." Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive.
Web. 28 Apr. 2015. <http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html>.
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Seagull Third ed. New York: W.W.
Norton, 2012. Print.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Viking, 1953. Print.