The Salem Witch Trials

Witch Hunt in Salem
The Salem Witch Trials

Around 1692 a hysteria developed in Salem Village, Massachusetts and a massive witch hunt ensued. The mass hysteria has become known as the Salem witch tirals. An infamous and tragic and event in early American history taking the lives of at least nineteen innocent women and men were victims of the trials. Aside from this nineteen an estimated thirteen more the accused are said to have died in prison. They were all acused of the same crime, that of witchcraft. How and why could this could happen in a small Puritan town will never truly be known, but over the years much research has gone into the subject and some theories have been formulated from the evidence left.
In 1629 Puritans founded Salem Village and in 1641 anti-witchcraft laws were passed in Britian. By 1684 Britian had declared the colonies may not be self-goverened and the anti-witchcraft laws were then in effect upon the New World. This would bring about a

slaughter of innocent men and women, but mostly women, that was unprecedented during this time. In the winter of 1692 Abigail Williams, aged eleven and Elizabth Parris aged nine began acting strangely. Not long after the onset of their symptoms other young girls of Salem began having similar fits, among them was Ann Putnam Jr. Their behavouir reminded the villagers of an incident some years before the Goodwin children had apparently been "bewitched." The doctor who attended to the girls declared that they were bewitched in February and some action was taken to relieve the girls of their symptoms. A servant, Tituba, is asked to lift the curse upon the girls and she attempts this with an old folk remedy. Also, around this time the girls were being pressured to name their tormentors. Elizabeth accused Tituba and later the girls will accuse Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne of witchcraft. Nearing the beginning of March the arrests are made of Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba. The women are then examined for "wtiches teats" (because it was believed taht when one consorted with the Devil he left a visiable mark on the body). During the examination and questioning Tituba confesses to the practice of witchcraft and claims Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good are also conspirators. In March Ann Putnam and three other girls, Mary Walcott, Mary Warren, and Mercy Lewis, begin showing signs of the affliction. Ann accuses Martha Cory of bewitching her, Abigail Williams accuses Rebecca Nurse, next Elizabeth Proctor is accused and then Sarah Cloyce after defending Rebecca Nurse. Much of the evidence during their unfortunately trials fell under spectral evidence. Spectral evidence was evidence by someone's "specter" not their physical body. From March to September nineteen people are hanged under the accusation of witchcraft, many more are failed. Some of the accused confessed and others denied their accusations with their very last breath.
       There are many stories as to what caused the girls "fits" and why the trials got to the point they did. One theory states that perhaps a mold was growing on the wheat. The girls may have eaten this mold, and it caused the fits and hallucinations suffered. The hallucinations induced by the mold would explain the large about of spectral evidence given at the trial. However, if there were a mold growing on the wheat the question of why there weren't accusations coming from adults. Eventually there were, after it had built up to a hysteria, but in the beginning it was just the young girls. If there were a mold on the wheat why were only the young women of the village affected? Why did only they suffer so severely of these fits and what would lead them to accuse their fellow neighbors of such a crime?
       Yet another theory for why the Salem Witchcraft Trials happend is that the girls were guilty for their past actions or they were simply lying. Tituba confessed to witchcraft. She was a slave or servant woman who grew up in a different culture. From her home she knew many stories of magic and fantasy. She also may have practiced the art of fortune telling and folk magic from her region of the world. It is said that she would entertain the young women of the village with her stories and games. It's likely that these innocent stories and practices would have been considered witchcraft and consorting with the Devil by the Puritans. The girls may have felt so guilty that they had taken part in these activities that they devised a plan to let their parents know of their practices without telling them and without getting in a great deal of trouble. The theory that they were simply being mischievous girls is also likely. The Puritans regarded children as pure and true, they did not think that a child would lie simply for the sake of lying. Today we are aware that even children lie, and are prefectly capable of lying to a sever degree. This could have been what happened, maybe the girls of the village regarded it as a game. This theory is supported because years after the inicdent Ann Putname Jr. apologised for her part in the trials and soon after the trials Samuel Sewall publicly confesses his error in the making of his accusations. These two confessions lead us to believe that perhaps it was only a game that got out of control. Perhaps the girls did not fully realise the severity of their actions or what they were really causing to happen until it was too late. The other girls and those who accused someone may not have confessed to lying earlier or at all for fear of retribution by those most immediately affected by the tragedy.
        There is also a theory that perhaps members of Salem village were in fact practicing some sort of witchcraft. Recently, there has been reported evidence of a site in the forest surrounding Salem Village where strange marking have been carved into trees and painted onto rocks. Allegedly, the dating of the paint on the rocks has been dated back to the 17th century. If this is genuine there may have been some abnormal activity in Salem Village and these girls may only have been doing what they felt was right. Although, I find this theory probably the most unlikely because this site has been recently discovered the amount of time that has passed with these questions unanswered. I feel that if this site were authentic then it would not have gone unnoticed for so long, too much time has passed for something like this to come up now which has not been tampered with in some way.
        The theory which I feel is most likely is that the hysteria among the girls was caused by the Puritan way of life. The young women who began the accusations were most likely just entering puberty. This can be a very tramatic peroid in a girl's life today in our more open and understanding times, one can only imagine what it must have been like for girls in a strict Puritan town. It's unlikely that Purtian women would have talked to the girls about the changes in their bodies, and in some cases it is known that there was no "mother" present in some of the girls' lives. It's unlikely that no one acted as a mother but it could be likely that these subjects were not disgussed. The Puritans regarded bodies, sexuality, and ecspecially women's bodies as "dirty" some of this can still be seen in American culture today. The changes of puberty may have frigthened the girls. Also, the Pruitans were a very strict and repressed society with no outlet for the energy of youth. It has been proven that other strange phenomina can spring up around girls going through puberty ecspecially in repressed settings. One of these phenomina is poltergist. It's likely that these girls and their families were experincing something similar and the only thing that was known that could explain these happenings was witchcraft with out the psychological and para-psychological knowledge we have today. Along with the harsh facts of daily Puritan life New England, ecspecially for early American settlers, must have been a harsh land and New England winters were cold and wicked. Without the luxeries of central heating, good strong homes with minimal drafts, and supermarkets providing fresh fruits, vegetables, and other foods all year round it must have been pure hell. Under these conditions it's likely that the girls and entire village was under a great amount of stress and this too could have contirbuted for the girl's fits. All of these factors possibly lead up to a breakdown which first affected the girls and then spread to the villagers. It seems that perhaps the village along was set up for a hysteria.
      Politics may also have played a role in the witchcraft trials. There has been proof found that some of the villagers felt it would be beneifical to merge Salem Village with the neighbouring Salem Town. Most people who favour this theory agree that those who supported the merger would directly benefit from this. Those who opposed this mereger were mostly the poorer families and famers who felt that they would not benefit. It's likely that most sides knew there would be no real benefit to Salem Village itself and that a such a mereger would only benefit some families. The Puritans were humans, and humans are prone to greed, maybe a little of that was going on here. While the girls first cries of witchcraft are not really explained by this theory, the onslaught of villagers who joined in with their own claims of being bewitched could be explained by this. Perhaps the villagers were just getting rid of or weakening those who opposed their opinion of what should be done about this situation.
        These are only some theories for why the events at Salem took place. However, they were stopped in October of 1692 when spectral evidence was banned from courts by Governor Phipps. When spetral evidence was taken out of the courts the arrests were also stopped, thus no more arrests wer made. He also released most of the accused witches. The following May those still in prison on witchcraft charges are pardoned. In 1957 a formal apology was made by the state of Massachusetts for the tragedy which took place in 1692. On the 300th anniversaty of the witchcraft trials in 1992 the city dedicated a witchcraft memorial to the victims in Salem. Those who were hung were Brigdet Bishop, Rebeca Nurse, Sarah Good, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Wildes, George Burroghs, Martha Carrier, John Willard, George Jacobs Sr., John Proctor, Martha Cory, Mary Eastey, Ann Pudeator, Alice Parker, Wilmott Redd, Maragret Scott, Samuel Wardwell, and Giles Corey. A few of the accused which died in prison were Sarah Osborn, Roger Toothaker, Lyndia Dustin, and Ann Foster although there may have been more. Unfortunately we still do not have an answer as to exactly why these people died and what, if any, crimes they truly were guilty of.
        Despite it's grim history which witchcraft Salem, Massachusetts seems to be a haven for witches and other occult practioners today. Many of the witches in Salem now are Wiccans. Well known Wiccan authour Laurie Cabot resides there, owns a shop, and is high priestess to a coven that often holds rituals in public spaces. They seem to be on a mission to educate the world about their NeoPagan spirituality and form of witchcraft. However, one must keep in mind when one meets these witches that Wicca is newly developed and was not known before the 1950s, if there were any witches in Salem Village in 1692, this is not the sort of witchcraft they would have been practicing.