NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Salem Witch Trials

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings by local magistrates and county court trials to prosecute people alleged to have committed acts of witchcraft in Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex Counties of Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. The hearings in 1692 were conducted in Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover and Salem Town, Massachusetts. The trials in 1692 were all held in Salem Town by the Court of Oyer and Terminer, with the Superior Court of Judicature hearing cases in 1693 in the individual county court seats: Salem Town, Ipswich, Boston, and Charlestown. Between February 1692 and May 1693, over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned, with even more accused who were not formally pursued by the authorities. The two courts convicted thirty people of the capital felony of witchcraft, twenty of whom (fourteen women, six men) were executed -- nineteen by hanging and one by being pressed to death. In addition to those executed, at least five more died in prison. While not the first or only witch-hunt in New England or Europe, the sensational story of these particular individuals has secured its place in the cultural imagination of the United States. public domain, Pioneers in the Settlement of America by William A. Crafts. ... public domain, Pioneers in the Settlement of America by William A. Crafts. ... Mary Walcott (July 5, 1675 â€“ after 1719) was one of the witnesses at the Salem Witch Trials of Salem, Massachusetts in the years 1692 and 1693. ... Look up trial in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Witchcraft (disambiguation). ... Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the state of Massachusetts. ... Suffolk County is a county located in the state of Massachusetts. ... Middlesex County is a county located in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. ... Seal of Danvers, MA Danvers, a town located in Essex County, Massachusetts was formerly named Salem Village. ... Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. ... Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Essex County Settled 1642 Incorporated 1646 Government - Type Open town meeting - Town Manager Reginald Buzz Stapczynski - Board of Selectmen Ted Teichert (2009) Mary Lyman (2008) Alexander Vispoli (2010) Jerry Stabile (2010) Brian Major (2009) Area - Town 32. ... Nickname: Location in Essex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Essex County Settled 1626 Incorporated 1626 Government - Type Mayor-council city - Mayor Kimberley Driscoll Area - City 18. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Nickname: Location in Essex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Essex County Settled 1626 Incorporated 1626 Government - Type Mayor-council city - Mayor Kimberley Driscoll Area - City 18. ... Nickname: Location in Essex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Essex County Settled 1626 Incorporated 1626 Government - Type Mayor-council city - Mayor Kimberley Driscoll Area - City 18. ... Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. ... Nickname: Location in Massachusetts, USA Coordinates: , Country United States State Massachusetts County Suffolk County Settled 1630 Incorporated (city) 1822 Government - Mayor Thomas M. Menino (D) Area - City 89. ... Birdseye view of Boston, Charlestown, and Bunker Hill between 1890 and 1910. ... A witch-hunt is a search for suspected witches; it is a type of moral panic. ...

Background

In 1692, Salem Village was torn by internal disputes between neighbors who disagreed about the choice of Samuel Parris as their first ordained minister. In January 1692, York, at the "Eastward" frontier of Maine, was attacked by the Abenaki Indians, and many of its citizens were massacred or taken captive, echoing the brutality of King Philip's War of 1675-76. Image File history File links Salem_Village_-_map_of_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_17845. ... Image File history File links Salem_Village_-_map_of_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_17845. ... Reverend Samuel Parris (1653-1720) Samuel Parris (1653 â€“ February 27, 1720) was the Puritan minister in the town of Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) during the Salem witch trials, as well as the father and uncle of two of the afflicted girls. ... York is a town located in York County, Maine, United States at the southwest corner of the state. ... The Abenaki (also Wabanuok or Wabanaki) are a tribe of Native Americans/First Nations belonging to the Algonquian peoples of northeastern North America. ... Attack King Philips War was an armed conflict between Indian inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Indian allies from 1675â€“1676. ...

Increasing family size fueled disputes over land between neighbors and within families, especially on the frontier where the economy was based on farming. Changes in the weather or blights could easily wipe out a year's crop. A farm that could support an average-sized family could not support the many families of the next generation, prompting farmers to push farther into the wilderness to find land, encroaching upon the indigenous people. As the Puritans had vowed to create a theocracy in this new land, religious fervor added tension to the mix. Losses of crops, livestock, and children, as well as earthquakes and bad weather, were typically attributed to the wrath of God. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Within the Puritan faith, one's soul was considered predestined from birth as to whether it had been chosen for Heaven or condemned to Hell. Puritans constantly searched for hints to this predestination, assuming God's pleasure and displeasure could be read in signs given in the visible world. The invisible world was inhabited by God and the angels, including the Devil who was seen as a fallen angel. To Puritans, this invisible world was as real as the visible one around them. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Hell (disambiguation). ... Predestination and foreordination are religious concepts, under which the relationship between the beginning of things and the destiny of things is discussed. ... The Devil is the name given to a supernatural entity, who, in most Western religions, is the central embodiment of evil. ...

The patriarchal beliefs that Puritans held in the community added further stresses. Women, they believed, should be totally subservient to men. By nature, a woman was more likely to enlist in the Devil's service than was a man, and women were considered lustful by nature. In addition, the small-town atmosphere made secrets difficult to keep and people's opinions about their neighbors were generally accepted as fact. In an age where the philosophy "children should be seen and not heard" was taken at face value, children were at the bottom of the social ladder. Toys and games were seen as idle and playing was discouraged. Girls had additional restrictions heaped upon them. Boys were able to go hunting, fishing, exploring in the forest, and often became apprentices to carpenters and smiths, while girls were trained from a tender age to spin yarn, cook, sew, weave, and be servants to their husbands, mothers, and children.

Origin of trials

In Salem Village in 1692, Betty Parris, age 9, and her cousin Abigail Williams, age 11, the daughter and niece (respectively) of Reverend Samuel Parris, fell victim to what was recorded as fits "beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or natural disease to effect," according to John Hale, minister in Beverly, in his book A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (Boston, 1702). The girls screamed, threw things about the room, uttered strange sounds, crawled under furniture, and contorted themselves into peculiar positions, according to the eyewitness account of Rev. Deodat Lawson, A Brief and True Narrative Of some Remarkable Passages Relating to sundry Persons Afflicted by Witchcraft, at Salem Village Which happened from the Nineteenth of March, to the Fifth of April, 1692. The girls complained of being pinched and pricked with pins. A doctor, historically assumed to be William Griggs, could find no physical evidence of any ailment. Other young women in the village began to exhibit similar behaviors. When Lawson preached in the Salem Village meetinghouse, he was interupted several times by outbursts of the afflicted. After shuving up her anusElizabeth Betty Parris (November 28, 1682 â€“ March 21, 1760) was the nine-year-old daughter of the Salem villages reverend Samuel Parris (1653â€“1720) and was the first to become ill after being bewitched as most people thought. ... Abigail Williams testimony against George Jacobs, Jr. ... Reverend Samuel Parris (1653-1720) Samuel Parris (1653 â€“ February 27, 1720) was the Puritan minister in the town of Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) during the Salem witch trials, as well as the father and uncle of two of the afflicted girls. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area - City 232. ...

In his book Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions (1689) , Cotton Mather describes the strange behavior exhibited by the four children of a Boston mason, John Goodwin, and attributed it to witchcraft practiced upon them by an Irish washerwoman, Mary Glover. Mather, a minister of Boston's North Church (not to be confused with the Episcopalian Old North Church of Paul Revere fame), was a prolific publisher of pamphlets and a firm believer in witchcraft. Three of the five judges appointed to the Court of Oyer and Terminer were friends of his and members of his congregation. He wrote to one of the judges, John Richards, supporting the prosecutions, but cautioning him of the dangers of relying on spectral evidence and advising the court on how to proceed. Mather was present at the execution of the Reverend George Burroughs for witchcraft on August 19, 1692, and intervened after the condemned man had successfully recited the Lord's Prayer (supposedly a sign of innocence) to remind the crowd that the man had been convicted before a jury. Mather was asked by Governor Phipps in September to write about the trials, and obtained access to the official records of the Salem trials from his friend Stephen Sewall, clerk of the court, upon which his account of the affair, Wonders of the Invisible World, was based. Image File history File links downloaded from [1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links downloaded from [1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663 â€“ February 13, 1728). ... Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663 â€“ February 13, 1728). ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area - City 232. ... For other uses, see Witchcraft (disambiguation). ... Oyer redirects here. ... John Richards can refer to: John Richards, a Lieutenant-General of the Queens household in the United Kingdom John Richards, a United States congressman from Pennsylvania John Richards, a United States congressman from New York John Richards, a Canadian scholar John Richards, a radio disc jockey at KEXP in... One of the great injustices of the Salem Witchcraft Trials was the admission of spectral evidence. ... George Burroughs (c. ... For other uses, see Witchcraft (disambiguation). ... is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ... The Lords Prayer (sometimes known by its first two Latin words as the Pater Noster, in Greek as the , or the English equivalent Our Father) is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. ...

Traditionally, the affected girls are said to have been "entertained" by Parris' slave woman, Tituba, during the winter of 1692, although there is no contemporary evidence to support the story (Reis 56). Tituba's race is often cited as Carib-Indian or that she was of African descent, but contemporary sources describe her only as an "Indian." Research by Elaine Breslaw has suggested that she may well have been captured in what is now Venezuela and brought to Barbados, and so may have been an Arawak Indian, but other slightly later descriptions of her, by Gov. Hutchinson writing his history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 18th century, describe her as a "Spanish Indian." In that day, that typically meant an Indian from the Carolinas/Georgia/Florida. Contrary to the folklore, there is no evidence to support the assertion that Tituba told any of the girls any stories about using magic. The one supportable association with any type of magical practices is that John Indian, another slave in the Parris household (and assumed to have been Tituba's husband), was given a British recipe by a neighbor of the parsonage for a type of cake that could be used for identifying a witch. Tituba, was the first woman accused of being a witch during the Salem witch trials of 1692 that took place in Salem Village, Massachusetts. ... The term Arawak (from aru, the Lokono word for cassava flour), was used to designate the Amerindians encountered by the Spanish in the Caribbean. ... A map of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Capital Charlestown, Boston History - Established 1629 - New England Confederation 1643 - Dominion of New England 1686 - Province of Massachusetts Bay 1692 - Disestablished 1692 The Massachusetts Bay Colony (sometimes called the Massachusetts Bay Company, for the institution that founded it) was an English settlement on... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Largest metro area Miami metropolitan area Area Ranked 22nd - Total 65,795[1] sq mi (170,304[1] kmÂ²) - Width 361 miles (582 km) - Length 447 miles (721 km) - % water 17. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Sorceress by John William Waterhouse Magic and sorcery are the influencing of events, objects, people and physical phenomena by mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Witchcraft. ...

Wiccan sources, however, contradict that notion. According to the Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, Reverend Parris unknowingly "caused the witch hysteria." Prior to becoming a minister, Parris had been a merchant in Barbados, where he purchased the slave couple John and Tituba, who upon arrival in Massachusetts were given the last name Indian. Tituba was charged with caring for Paris' daughter Elizabeth (or Betty) and his niece, Abigail Williams. In the winter months, the black slave regaled the housebound girls with tales of Barbados that included stories of native voodoo.^[1]

Intrigued with the notion of voodoo, the girls and a number of their friends began toying with the occult, trying their hands at fortune telling. They would float an egg white in a vessel of water to create a primitive crystal ball in an attempt to divine the professions of their future spouses. The "game" became frightening when one girl saw the image of a coffin in the glass. Shortly thereafter, the girls, beginning with Betty Paris, began having fits. It is not possible to know whether the girls feigned the fits to hide their own involvement with the occult or whether there were other causes.

The Witch Cake and the Touch Test

At some point in February 1692, likely between the time when the afflictions began but before specific names were mentioned, a neighbor of Rev. Parris, Mary Sibly (aunt of the afflicted Mary Walcott), instructed John Indian, one of the minister's slaves, to make a "witch cake," using traditional English white magic to discover the identity of the witch who was afflicting the girls. The cake, made from rye meal and urine from the afflicted girls, was fed to a dog. Mary Walcott (July 5, 1675 â€“ after 1719) was one of the witnesses at the Salem Witch Trials of Salem, Massachusetts in the years 1692 and 1693. ...

According to English folk understanding of how witches accomplished affliction, when the dog ate the cake, the witch herself would be hurt because invisible particles she had sent to afflict the girls remained in the girls' urine, and her cries of pain when the dog ate the cake would identify her as the witch. This superstition was based on the Cartesian "Doctrine of Effluvia", which posited that witches afflicted by the use of "venemous and malignant particles, that were ejected from the eye," according to the October 8, 1692 letter of Thomas Brattle, a contemporary critic of the trials. ^[2]

According to the Records of the Salem-Village Church, Parris spoke with Sibly privately on March 25, 1692 about her "grand error" and accepted her "sorrowful confession." That Sunday, March 27, during his Sunday sermon, he addressed his congregation about the "calamities" that had begun in his own household, but stated, "it never brake forth to any considerable light, until diabolical means were used, by the making of a cake by my Indian man, who had his direction from this our sister, Mary Sibly," going on to admonish all against the use of any kind of magic, even white magic, because it was essentially, "going to the Devil for help against the Devil." Mary Sibley publicly acknowledged the error of her actions before the congregation, who voted by a show of hands that they were satisfied with her admission of error. ^[3] Image File history File links Samuel Parris, 1653-1720, puritan minister in Salem Village during the Salem witch trials Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Samuel Parris, 1653-1720, puritan minister in Salem Village during the Salem witch trials Source: http://www. ...

Other instances appear in the records of the episode that demonstrated a continued belief by members of the community in this "effluvia" as legitimate evidence, including accounts in two statements against Elizabeth How that people had suggested cutting off and burning an ear of two different animals How was thought to have afflicted, to prove she was the one who had bewitched them to death. ^[4]

The most infamous employment of this belief, however -- and in direct opposition to what Parris had advised his own parishoners in Salem Village -- was the "touch test" used in Andover during preliminary examinations in September 1692. As several of those accused later recounted, "we were blindfolded, and our hands were laid upon the afflicted persons, they being in their fits and falling into their fits at our coming into their presence, as they said. Some led us and laid our hands upon them, and then they said they were well and that we were guilty of afflicting them; whereupon we were all seized, as prisoners, by a warrant from the justice of the peace and forthwith carried to Salem" ^[5] Rev. John Hale explained how this supposedly worked: "the Witch by the cast of her eye sends forth a Malefick Venome into the Bewitched to cast him into a fit, and therefore the touch of the hand doth by sympathy cause that venome to return into the Body of the Witch again." ^[6]

Accusations

The first three people accused and arrested for allegedly afflicting Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, 12-year-old Ann Putnam, Jr., and Elizabeth Hubbard were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba (Boyer 3) ^[7]. Tituba, as a slave of a different ethnicity than the Puritans, was an obvious target for accusations. Sarah Good, a poverty-worn, easily-angered woman, often muttered under her breath as she walked away from failed attempts of obtaining food or shelter from neighbors and people interpreted her muttering as curses. Sarah Osburne, an irritable old woman, was already marked for marrying her indentured servant. All of these women fit the description of the "usual suspects," since nobody would likely stand up for them; neither Osburne nor Good attended church, which made them especially vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft. House of Ann Putnam, Jr. ... Sarah Good was one of the first three people to be beaten and then convicted of witchcraft at the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. She was accused by Betty Hubbard and Ann Putnam, Jr. ... // Sarah Osborne was born Sarah Warren in the early seventeenth century. ... The Puritans were members of a group of radical Protestants which developed in England after the Reformation. ... An Indentured Servant (or in the U.S. bonded labourer) is a labourer under contract to work for an employer for a specific amount of time, usually seven to eight years, to pay off a passage to a new country or home. ...

These women were brought before the local magistrates on the complaint of witchcraft and interrogated for several days, starting on March 1, 1692, then sent to jail (Boyer 3). Other accusations followed in March: Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Dorothy Good (mistakenly called Dorcas Good in her arrest warrant), and Rachel Clinton. Martha Corey, ever an outspoken woman, was skeptical about the credence of the girls from the start and scoffed at the hearings by the magistrates, unfortunately drawing attention to herself. Dorothy Good, the daughter of Sarah Good, was only 4 years old, and easily manipulated by the magistrates to say things that were taken as a confession, implicating her own mother. To be with her mother after the accusations, she claimed herself a witch and was arrested. The charges against Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey greatly disturbed the community. Martha Corey was a full covenanted member of the Church in Salem Village, as was Rebecca Nurse in the Church in Salem Town. If such upstanding people could be accused of witchcraft and seen as possible witches, then anybody could be a witch and Church membership was no protection from accusation. is the 60th day of the year (61st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Rebecca Towne Nurse (baptized February 21, 1621 â€“ July 19, 1692) was an important figure in the Salem witch trials. ... Dorcas (or Dorothy) Good was the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good (executed by hanging for the crime of witchcraft) who was also accused of being a witch during the Salem witch trials. ... Sarah Good was one of the first three people to be beaten and then convicted of witchcraft at the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. She was accused by Betty Hubbard and Ann Putnam, Jr. ... Danvers is a town located in Essex County, Massachusetts. ... Rebecca Towne Nurse (baptized February 21, 1621 â€“ July 19, 1692) was an important figure in the Salem witch trials. ... Nickname: Witch City Settled: 1626 â€“ Incorporated: 1626 Zip Code(s): 01970 â€“ Area Code(s): 351 / 978 Official website: http://www. ...

Throughout April, many more were arrested: Sarah Cloyce (Nurse's sister), Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor and her husband John Proctor, Giles Corey (Martha's husband, and a covenanted church member in Salem Town), Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Mary Warren (a servant in the Proctor household and sometime accuser herself), Deliverance Hobbs (step-mother of Abigail Hobbs), Sarah Wilds, William Hobbs (husband of Deliverance and father of Abigail), Nehemiah Abbott Jr., Mary Esty (sister of Cloyce and Nurse), Edward Bishop Jr. and his wife Sarah Bishop, and Mary English, and finally on April 30, the Reverend George Burroughs, Lydia Dustin, Susannah Martin, Dorcas Hoar, Sarah Morey and Philip English (Mary's husband). Nehemiah Abbott Jr. was released because the accusers agreed he was not the person whose spectre had afflicted them. Mary Esty was released for a few days after her initial arrest because the accusers failed to confirm that it was she who had afflicted them, and then she was rearrested when the accusers reconsidered. Elizabeth Proctor was an indirect victim of the Salem Witch Trials whose husband, John Proctor, was executed; however, Elizabeth herself was not actually hanged because she was pregnant at the time. ... John Proctor (1632â€“1692) was a farmer and tavern-keeper in 17th century Massachusetts. ... Giles Corey (also spelled Cory or Coree, c. ... Bridget Bishop was the first person executed forwitchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, during the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. ... Mary Warren is a character in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. ... William Herbert Hobbs, Ph. ... is the 120th day of the year (121st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... George Burroughs (c. ... Born in England in 1625, Susannah Martin was the third daughter of Richard North. ... Philip English (born in Erie, Pennsylvania on June 20, 1956) currently represents Pennsylvanias First Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. ...

Much, but not all, of the evidence used against the accused was "spectral evidence," or the testimony of the afflicted who claimed to see the apparition or the shape of the person who was allegedly afflicting them. The theological dispute that ensued about the use of this evidence centered on whether a person had to give permission to the Devil for his/her "shape" to be used to afflict. Opponents claimed that the Devil was able to use anyone's "shape" to afflict people, but the Court contended that the Devil could not use a person's shape without that person's permission; therefore, when the afflicted claimed to "see" the apparition of a specific person, that was accepted as evidence that the accused had been complicit with the Devil. Increase Mather and other ministers sent a letter to the Court, "The Return of Several Ministers Consulted," urging the magistrates not to convict on spectral evidence alone. A copy of this letter was printed in Increase Mather's ["Cases of Conscience"] published in 1693. See facsimiles of [page 73] and [page 74] of this rare book. Other evidence included the confession of the accused, the testimony of another confessing "witch" identifying others as witches, the discovery of "poppits," books of palmistry and horoscopes, or pots of ointments in the possession or home of the accused, and the existence of so-called "witch's teats" on the body of the accused. One of the great injustices of the Salem Witchcraft Trials was the admission of spectral evidence. ... The Reverend Increase Mather (June 21, 1639 â€“ August 23, 1723) was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (now the Federal state of Massachusetts). ...

As the number of accusations grew, the jail populations of Salem, Ipswich, Charlestown, Cambridge, and Boston swelled. The new governor and charter for the colony did not arrive until May. Some have postulated that without this, there was no legitimate form of government to try capital cases (Boyer 6), but this was not true. In the years between charters, according to the Records of the Court of Assistants, a group of 13 pirates led by Thomas Johnson, a mariner of Boston, were tried and hanged on January 27, 1690 for acts of piracy and murder in August and October of 1689.^[8] Elizabeth Emerson of Haverhill, Massachusetts was tried and hanged for double-infanticide in May 1691.^[9] The fact that none of the witchcraft cases was tried until late May, after Governor Sir William Phips arrived and instituted a Court of Oyer and Terminer (to "hear and determine"), was likely in deference to his imminent arrival. Phips appointed William Stoughton, who had theological training but no legal training, as the Chief Justice of this court (Boyer 7). By then, Sarah Osborne had died of natural causes in jail on May 10 without a trial (Boyer 3), as had Sarah Good's infant. Image File history File links Wstou. ... Image File history File links Wstou. ... William Stoughton (30 September 1631 â€“ 7 July 1701) was in charge of what has come to be known as the Salem Witch Trials, first as the Chief Magistrate of the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692, and then as the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature... Nickname: Location in Essex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Essex County Settled 1626 Incorporated 1626 Government - Type Mayor-council city - Mayor Kimberley Driscoll Area - City 18. ... Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. ... Birdseye view of Boston, Charlestown, and Bunker Hill between 1890 and 1910. ... Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country United States State Massachusetts County Middlesex County Settled 1630 Incorporated 1636 Government - Type Mayor-council city - Mayor Kenneth Reeves (D) Area - City 7. ... Nickname: Location in Massachusetts, USA Coordinates: , Country United States State Massachusetts County Suffolk County Settled 1630 Incorporated (city) 1822 Government - Mayor Thomas M. Menino (D) Area - City 89. ... There have been several people named Thomas Johnson. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area - City 232. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Giovanni Domenico Cassini observes differential rotation within Jupiters atmosphere. ... Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: Country United States State Massachusetts County Essex County Settled 1640 Incorporated 1641 Government - Type Mayor-council city - Mayor James J. Fiorentini Area - City 35. ... For other uses, see Witchcraft (disambiguation). ... Sir William Phips (or Phipps) (February 2, 1651 â€“ February 18, 1695) was a colonial governor of Massachusetts. ... Oyer redirects here. ... William Stoughton (30 September 1631 â€“ 7 July 1701) was in charge of what has come to be known as the Salem Witch Trials, first as the Chief Magistrate of the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692, and then as the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature... // Sarah Osborne was born Sarah Warren in the early seventeenth century. ... is the 130th day of the year (131st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

In May, warrants were issued for 36 more people: Sarah Dustin (daughter of Lydia Dustin), Ann Sears, Bethiah Carter Sr. and her daughter Bethiah Carter Jr., George Jacobs Sr. and his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs, John Willard, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Abigail Soames, George Jacobs Jr. (son of George Jacobs Sr. and father of Margaret Jacobs), Daniel Andrew, Rebecca Jacobs (wife of George Jacobs Jr. and sister of Daniel Andrew), Sarah Buckley and her daughter Mary Witheridge, Elizabeth Colson, Elizabeth Hart, Thomas Farrar Sr., Roger Toothaker, Sarah Proctor (daughter of John and Elilzabeth Proctor), Sarah Bassett (sister-in-law of Elizabeth Proctor), Susannah Roots, Mary DeRich (another sister-in-law of Elizabeth Proctor), Sarah Pease, Elizabeth Cary, Martha Carrier, Elizabeth Fosdick, Wilmot Redd, Sarah Rice, Elizabeth How, Capt. John Alden (son of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins of Plymouth Colony), William Proctor (son of John and Elizabeth Proctor), John Flood, Mary Toothaker (wife of Roger Toothaker and sister of Martha Carrier) and her daughter Margaret Toothaker, and Arthur Abbott. John Willard and Elizabeth Colson managed to evade capture for a while but were finally taken into custody, whereas Daniel Andrew and George Jacobs Jr. were never apprehended. When the Court of Oyer and Terminer convened at the end of May, this brought the total number of people in custody for the court to handle to 62.^[10] Hannah Dustin Howell (born 1950 in Massachusetts) is a best-selling American author of over 40 historical romance novels. ... John Willard was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. ... Ann Greenslit[1] Pudeator was a well-to-do septuagenarian widow hanged on charges of being a witch on September 22, 1692[2]. Thomas Greenslit was her first husband and they had five children (Thomas, Jr. ... Roger Toothaker (November 27, 1634, England â€“ June 1692, Massachusetts) was a physician who came to Massachusetts from England shortly after he was born. ... Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz (nee Cary) (1822 - 1907) was a U.S. educator. ... 1876 illustration of the courtroom; the central figure is usually identified as Mary Walcott The Salem witch trials, which began in 1692 (also known as the Salem witch hunt and the Salem witchcraft episode), resulted in a number of convictions and executions for witchcraft in both Salem Village and Salem... A memorial marker found at Old Burial Hill in Marblehead, near Redds Pond Wilmot Redd was one of the victims of the Salem witch trials of 1692. ... Sarah Rice is an actress whose career in theatre has spanned across many leading theatrical productions, such as Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music both by Stephen Sondheim. ... Signing of the Mayflower Compact John Alden (1599?-September 22, 1687) was one of the Pilgrims who emigrated to America in 1620 on the Mayflower and founded the Plymouth Colony. ... Seal of Plymouth Colony Map of Plymouth Colony showing town locations Capital Plymouth Language(s) English Religion Puritan, Separatist Government Monarchy Legislature General Court History - Established 1620 - First Thanksgiving 1621 - Pequot War 1637 - King Philips War 1675â€“1676 - Part of the Dominion of New England 1686â€“1688 - Disestablished 1691... John Wellesley Flood (born 22 April 1884 in Australia; died 1934 in Kokopo, New Britain, Papua New Guinea[1]) was an Australian-born Irish cricketer. ...

Legal procedures

After someone concluded that a loss, illness or death had been caused by witchcraft, the accuser would enter a complaint against the alleged witch with the local magistrates.^[11]

If the complaint was deemed credible, the magistrates would have the person arrested^[12] and brought in for a public examination, essentially an interrogation, where the magistrates pressed the accused to confess.^[13]

If the magistrates at this local level were satisfied that the complaint was well-founded, the prisoner was handed over to be dealt with by a superior court. In 1692, the magistrates opted to wait for the arrival of the new charter and governor, who would establish a Court of Oyer and Terminer to handle these cases. Oyer redirects here. ...

The next step, at the superior court level, was to summon witnesses before a grand jury.^[14] A person could be indicted on charges of afflicting with witchcraft^[15], or for making an unlawful covenant with the Devil.^[16] Once indicted, the defendant went to trial, sometimes on the same day, as in the case of the first person indicted and tried on June 2, Bridget Bishop, who was executed on June 10, 1692. is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Bridget Bishop was the first person executed forwitchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, during the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. ... is the 161st day of the year (162nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ...

There were four execution dates, with one person executed on June 10, 1692^[17], five executed on July 19, 1692^[18], another five executed on August 19, 1692 (Susannah Martin, John Willard, George Burroughs, George Jacobs Sr., and John Proctor), and eight on September 22, 1692 (Mary Esty, Martha Cory, Ann Pudeator, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Alice Parker, Wilmot Redd, and Margaret Scott). Several others, including Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor and Abigail Faulkner, were convicted but given temporary reprieves because they were pregnant (Chronology). Though convicted, they would not be hanged until they had given birth (Chronology). Five other women were convicted in 1692, but sentence was never carried out: Ann Foster (who later died in prison), her daughter Mary Lacy Sr., Abigail Hobbs, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury. is the 161st day of the year (162nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ... is the 200th day of the year (201st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ... is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ... Born in England in 1625, Susannah Martin was the third daughter of Richard North. ... John Willard was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. ... George Burroughs (c. ... John Proctor (1632â€“1692) was a farmer and tavern-keeper in 17th century Massachusetts. ... is the 265th day of the year (266th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ... Ann Greenslit[1] Pudeator was a well-to-do septuagenarian widow hanged on charges of being a witch on September 22, 1692[2]. Thomas Greenslit was her first husband and they had five children (Thomas, Jr. ... A memorial marker found at Old Burial Hill in Marblehead, near Redds Pond Wilmot Redd was one of the victims of the Salem witch trials of 1692. ... Elizabeth Proctor was an indirect victim of the Salem Witch Trials whose husband, John Proctor, was executed; however, Elizabeth herself was not actually hanged because she was pregnant at the time. ... Ann Foster (born Ann Alcock, 1617-1693), was the widow of Andrew Foster. ...

Giles Corey, an 80-year-old farmer from the southeast end of Salem (called Salem Farms), refused to enter a plea when he came to trial in September. The judges mistakenly believed that the law provided for the application of a form of torture called peine forte et dure, in which the victim was slowly crushed by slowly piling stones on a board laid upon the victim's body. (British law had, in reality, abolished this practice twenty years earlier.)[2] After two days of peine fort et dure, Corey died, his chest crushed, without entering a plea (Boyer 8). Though his refusal to plead is often explained as a way of preventing his possessions from being confiscated by the state, this is not true; the possessions of convicted witches were often confiscated, and the possessions of persons accused but not convicted were confiscated before a trial, as in the case of Corey's neighbor John Proctor and the wealthy Englishmen of Salem Town. Some historians hypothesize that Giles Corey's personal character, a stubborn and lawsuit-prone old man who knew he was going to be convicted regardless, led to his recalcitrance (Boyer 8). Image File history File links Gilecory. ... Image File history File links Gilecory. ... Giles Corey (also spelled Cory or Coree, c. ... John Proctor (1632â€“1692) was a farmer and tavern-keeper in 17th century Massachusetts. ...

Sadly, not even in death were the accused witches granted peace or respect. As convicted witches, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey had been excommunicated from their churches and none was given proper burial. As soon as the bodies of the accused were cut down from the trees, they were thrown into a shallow grave and the crowd would disperse. Oral history claims that the families of the dead reclaimed their bodies after dark and buried them in unmarked graves on family property. The record books of the time do not mention the deaths of any of those executed. Rebecca Towne Nurse (baptized February 21, 1621 â€“ July 19, 1692) was an important figure in the Salem witch trials. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Philip and Mary English escaped to New York. They returned after the trials to find their property pillaged. Philip English eventually recovered 260 pounds out of a claim of 1183 pounds. ^[20]

Closure

The Reverend Francis Dane led the opposition and supported the accused. He petitioned the Governor and General Court, condemning the trials due to unfounded accusations. The last witch trials took place in May of 1693, although people already found not guilty of witchcraft were not released until they paid their jailers' fees. On October 3, 1692, Increase Mather published "Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits." In it, Increase Mather stated "It were better that Ten Suspected Witches should escape, than that one Innocent Person should be Condemned." After another trial was conducted, all those in jail were set free in May of 1693 (this amnesty is what saved Elizabeth Proctor). Public domain from 1688 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Public domain from 1688 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... The Reverend Increase Mather (June 21, 1639 â€“ August 23, 1723) was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (now the Federal state of Massachusetts). ... Francis Dane, (20 Nov 1615-17 Feb 1697) Born in Roxbury, England, Dane served as the second minister of the church in Andover, Massachusetts, He had lived in Andover for 44 years when the Salem Witch Trials began. ... The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. ... Devil, one of the main protagonists of the witch trials. ... For other uses, see Witchcraft (disambiguation). ... is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ... The Reverend Increase Mather (June 21, 1639 â€“ August 23, 1723) was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (now the Federal state of Massachusetts). ... The Reverend Increase Mather (June 21, 1639 â€“ August 23, 1723) was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (now the Federal state of Massachusetts). ... In criminal law, Blackstones formulation (also known as Blackstones ratio or the Blackstone ratio) is the principle that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. Named after the English jurist William Blackstone, the principle expressed in the formulation is much older, being... Elizabeth Proctor was an indirect victim of the Salem Witch Trials whose husband, John Proctor, was executed; however, Elizabeth herself was not actually hanged because she was pregnant at the time. ...

Many descendants of the people who were wrongfully convicted still sought closure. Numerous petitions were filed between 1692 and 1711, demanding monetary restitution to those wrongly imprisoned.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives finally passed a bill disallowing spectral evidence. However, they gave reversal of attainder only for those who had filed petitions.^[21] This applied to only three people, who had been convicted but not executed: Abigail Faulkner Sr., Elizabeth Proctor, and Sarah Wardwell.^[22]

In 1704, another petition was filed, requesting a more equitable settlement for those wrongly accused. In 1709, the General Court received a request to take action on this proposal. In May 1709, 22 people who had been convicted of witchcraft, or whose parents had been convicted of witchcraft, presented the government with a petition in which they demanded both a reversal of attainder and compensation for financial losses.

In 1706, Ann Putnam, one of the most active accusers, was the only one to offer a written apology. She claimed that she had not acted out of malice, but was being deluded by Satan into denouncing innocent people, and mentioned Rebecca Nurse in particular. In 1712, the pastor who had cast Rebecca out of the church, formally canceled the excommunication. Ann Putnam, Jr. ... This article is about the concept of Satan. ... Rebecca Towne Nurse (baptized February 21, 1621 â€“ July 19, 1692) was an important figure in the Salem witch trials. ... Topics in Christianity Movements Â· Denominations Ecumenism Â· Preaching Â· Prayer Music Â· Liturgy Â· Calendar Symbols Â· Art Â· Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul Â· Church Fathers Constantine Â· Athanasius Â· Augustine Anselm Â· Aquinas Â· Palamas Â· Luther Calvin Â· Wesley Arius Â· Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury Â· Catholic Pope Coptic Pope Â· Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box: A pastor is an... Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ...

On October 17, 1711, the General Court passed a bill reversing the judgment against the 22 people listed in the 1709 petition (there were seven additional people who had been convicted but had not signed the petition, but there was no reversal of attainder for them). is the 290th day of the year (291st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1711 (MDCCXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ...

On December 17, 1711, monetary compensation was finally awarded to the 22 people in the 1709 petition. The amount of 578 pounds 12 shillings was authorized to be divided among the survivors and relatives of those accused, and most of the accounts were settled within a year. An additional amount of 150 pounds was awarded to the Proctor family for John and Elizabeth, so the Proctor family received much more money from the Massachusetts General Court than most families of the accused witches. December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1711 (MDCCXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ...

By 1957, not all the condemned had been exonerated. Descendants of the six people who had been wrongly convicted and executed but who had not been included in the bill for a reversal of attainder in 1711, or added to it in 1712, demanded that the General Court formally clear the names of their ancestral family members. An act was passed pronouncing the innocence of those accused, although it listed only Ann Pudeator by name. The others were listed as "certain other persons," still failing to include Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Wilmot Redd and Margaret Scott by name. Ann Greenslit[1] Pudeator was a well-to-do septuagenarian widow hanged on charges of being a witch on September 22, 1692[2]. Thomas Greenslit was her first husband and they had five children (Thomas, Jr. ... Bridget Bishop was the first person executed forwitchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, during the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. ... Born in England in 1625, Susannah Martin was the third daughter of Richard North. ... Alice Parkers official homepage alice parker made these codes 969585 145679 897653 128587 2581412 8584678 787538 0643123 45689637 09753134512415247 1652 4241524 8521415 87629 528041 57258 174512515 12415247 1652 4241524 8521415 825151 815185 1515815 15815 158181 8518424 72263 1234 567899 87456 321123 65478 9663233 255559 87456 321147 85236 99632 20147... A memorial marker found at Old Burial Hill in Marblehead, near Redds Pond Wilmot Redd was one of the victims of the Salem witch trials of 1692. ...

In 1992, The Danvers Tercentenial Committee persuaded the Massachusetts House of Representatives to issue a resolution honoring those who had died. After much convincing and hard work by Salem school teacher Paula Keene, Representatives J. Michael Ruane and Paul Tirone and others, the names of all those not previously listed were added to this resolution. When it was finally signed on October 31, 2001 by Governor Jane Swift, more than 300 years later, all were finally proclaimed innocent. is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Governor (disambiguation). ... Jane Maria Swift (born February 24, 1965) is an American politician from Melrose, Massachusetts. ...

Possible explanations of the "possessed"

Today, it is not widely believed that the girls who made the original accusations were actually possessed by the devil. Most academics believe that the accusers were motivated by jealousy, spite, or a need for attention and that their behavior was all an act. Contemporaneous to the witch trials was the Glorious Revolution in England, leaving the colony of Massachusetts without a charter or governor, which in turn led to political strife, uncertainty, and extreme behavior. Other theories posit that the accusers were afflicted by hysteria, a form of mental illness. The Glorious Revolution (1688-1689), also known as the bloodless revolution, is an event in which the Stuart king James II (James VII of Scotland) was removed from his thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland, and replaced by William of the House of Orange and his wife and joint sovereign... Hysteria is a diagnostic label applied to a state of mind, one of unmanageable fear or emotional excesses. ... A mental illness or mental disorder refers to one of many mental health conditions characterized by distress, impaired cognitive functioning, atypical behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or maladaptive behavior. ...

In 1976, graduate student Linnda Caporael published an article in Science magazine, making the claim that the hallucinations of the afflicted girls could possibly have been the result of ingesting rye bread that had been made with moldy grain. "Ergot of Rye" is a plant disease caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea. This fungus contains chemical precursors used to synthesize the powerful psychedelic drug LSD. Convulsive ergotism causes nervous dysfunction, which Caporael claims is consistent with many of the physical symptoms of those alleged to be afflicted by witchcraft. Within seven months, however, a refutation of this theory was published in the same journal by Spanos and Gottlieb, arguing, among other things that if the poison was in the food supply, the symptoms would have occurred on a house-by-house basis, and that biological symptoms do not stop and start on cue and simultaneously in a group of those afflicted (as described by witnesses). Species About 50, including: Claviceps africanum Claviceps fusiformis Claviceps paspali Claviceps purpurea Ergot is the common name of a fungus in the genus Claviceps that is parasitic on certain grains and grasses. ... Binomial name Secale cereale M.Bieb. ... Species About 50, including: Claviceps africanum Claviceps fusiformis Claviceps paspali Claviceps purpurea Ergot is the common name of a fungus in the genus Claviceps. ... For psychedelics, see psychedelic drug. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called LSD, LSD-25, or acid. ... Ergotism is the effect of long-term ergot poisoning, classically due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the Claviceps purpurea fungus which infects rye and other cereals, and more recently by the action of a number of ergoline-based drugs. ...

In her book A Fever in Salem, Laurie Winn Carlson offers an alternative theory. She believes those afflicted in Salem, who claimed to have been bewitched, suffered from encephalitis lethargica, a disease whose symptoms match some of what was reported in Salem and could have been spread by birds and other animals (Aronson). Encephalitis lethargica is an atypical form of encephalitis. ...

It also has been suggested in an undocumented article that the girls could have had Huntington's Chorea, carriers of which have been traced to be among the colonists that settled in that area ^[23], but no serious modern historian [Mary Beth Norton, Bernard Rosenthal, and Marilynne K. Roach, among others] gives any of these medical explanations any serious credibility. They cite the apparent "cherry-picking" of biological symptoms by adherents of the medical theories to make the afflictions seem more consistent with the selected illness, and point out that the evidence cited as support for certain symptoms is often historically inaccurate. Huntingtons disease or Huntingtons chorea is an inherited disorder characterized by abnormal body movements called chorea, and loss of memory. ...

Time line

November: Samuel Parris is named the new minister of Salem. Parris moves to Salem from Boston, where Memorable Providences was published. Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663 â€“ February 13, 1728). ... Reverend Samuel Parris (1653-1720) Samuel Parris (1653 â€“ February 27, 1720) was the Puritan minister in the town of Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) during the Salem witch trials, as well as the father and uncle of two of the afflicted girls. ...

October 16: Villagers vow to drive Parris out of Salem and stop contributing to his salary. is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

January 20: Eleven-year old Abigail Williams and nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris begin behaving much as the Goodwin children acted four years earlier. Soon Ann Putnam Jr. and other Salem girls begin acting similarly. January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Abigail Williams testimony against George Jacobs, Jr. ... Elizabeth Betty Parris (November 28, 1682 â€“ March 21, 1760) was the nine-year-old daughter of the Salem villages reverend Samuel Parris (1653â€“1720) and was the first to become ill after being bewitched as most people thought. ...

Mid-February: A local doctor (historically assumed to be Doctor Griggs), attends to the "afflicted" girls, and first suggests that witchcraft may be the cause.

c.February 25: Mary Sibley, a neighbor of the Parris family, tells John Indian, the husband of Tituba, the recipe to make a "witch cake" of rye meal and the girls' urine to feed to a dog in order to discover who is bewitching the girls, according to English folk "white magic" practices. is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Tituba, was the first woman accused of being a witch during the Salem witch trials of 1692 that took place in Salem Village, Massachusetts. ...

late February: Pressured by ministers and townspeople to say who caused her odd behavior, Elizabeth Parris identifies Tituba. The girls later accuse Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne of witchcraft.

February 29: Based on formal complaints from Joseph Hutchinson, Thomas Putnam, Edward Putnam and Thomas Preston, Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin issue warrants to arrest Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba for afflicting Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., and Elizabeth Hubbard. February 29 is a day added into a leap year of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tituba, was the first woman accused of being a witch during the Salem witch trials of 1692 that took place in Salem Village, Massachusetts. ...

March 1–March 7: Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin interrogate Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba over the course of several days. Tituba confesses to afflicting and confirms Good and Osborne are her co-conspirators. is the 60th day of the year (61st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 66th day of the year (67th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

March 11: Ann Putnam Jr. shows symptoms of affliction by witchcraft. Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott and Mary Warren later allege affliction as well. is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

March 12: Ann Putnam Jr. accuses Martha Cory of witchcraft. is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

March 19: Abigail Williams denounces Rebecca Nurse as a witch. is the 78th day of the year (79th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

March 21: Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin examine Martha Cory. is the 80th day of the year (81st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

March 23: Salem Marshal Deputy Samuel Brabrook arrests four-year-old Dorothy Good. is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Dorothy Good was the real name of the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good, both of whom were accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem in 1692. ...

March 24: Corwin and Hathorne examine Rebecca Nurse. is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

March 26: Hathorne and Corwin interrogate Dorothy Good. March 26 is the 85th day of the year (86th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Dorothy Good was the real name of the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good, both of whom were accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem in 1692. ...

March 28: Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft. is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Elizabeth Proctor was an indirect victim of the Salem Witch Trials whose husband, John Proctor, was executed; however, Elizabeth herself was not actually hanged because she was pregnant at the time. ...

April 3: Sarah Cloyce, after defending her sister, Rebecca Nurse, is accused of witchcraft. is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

April 11: Hathorne and Corwin examine Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor. On the same day Elizabeth's husband, John Proctor, becomes the first man accused of witchcraft and is jailed. is the 101st day of the year (102nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Elizabeth Proctor was an indirect victim of the Salem Witch Trials whose husband, John Proctor, was executed; however, Elizabeth herself was not actually hanged because she was pregnant at the time. ... John Proctor (1632â€“1692) was a farmer and tavern-keeper in 17th century Massachusetts. ...

Early April: The Proctors' servant and accuser, Mary Warren, admits to lying and accuses the other accusing girls of lying.

April 13: Ann Putnam Jr. accuses Giles Cory of witchcraft and alleges that a man who died at Cory's house also haunts her. is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

April 19: Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Giles Cory and Mary Warren are examined. Deliverance Hobbs confesses to practicing witchcraft. Mary Warren reverses her statement made in early April and rejoins the accusers. April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ...

April 22: Mary Easty, another of Rebecca Nurse's sisters who defended her, is examined by Hathorne and Corwin. Hathorne and Corwin also examine Nehemiah Abbott, William and Deliverance Hobbs, Edward and Sarah Bishop, Mary Black, Sarah Wildes and Mary English. is the 112th day of the year (113th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

April 30: Several girls accuse former Salem minister George Burroughs of witchcraft. is the 120th day of the year (121st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

May 2: Hathorne and Corwin examine Sarah Morey, Lyndia Dustin, Susannah Martin and Dorcas Hoar. May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... Born in England in 1625, Susannah Martin was the third daughter of Richard North. ...

May 4: George Burroughs is arrested in Maine. is the 124th day of the year (125th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

May 7: George Burroughs is returned to Salem and placed in jail. is the 127th day of the year (128th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

May 9: Corwin and Hathorne examine Burroughs and Sarah Churchill. Burroughs is moved to a Boston jail. is the 129th day of the year (130th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

May 10: Corwin and Hathorne examine George Jacobs, Sr. and his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs. Sarah Osborne dies in prison. is the 130th day of the year (131st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

May 14: The Reverend Increase Mather and Sir William Phipps, the newly-elected governor of the colony, arrive in Boston. They bring with them a charter ending the 1684 prohibition of self-governance within the colony. May 14 is the 134th day of the year (135th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Reverend Increase Mather (June 21, 1639 â€“ August 23, 1723) was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (now the Federal state of Massachusetts). ...

May 18: Mary Easty is released from prison. Following protest by her accusers, she is again arrested. Roger Toothaker is also arrested on charges of witchcraft. is the 138th day of the year (139th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

May 27: Phipps issues a commission for a Court of Oyer and Terminer and appoints as judges John Hathorne, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop and Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton. is the 147th day of the year (148th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

May 31: Hathorne, Corwin and Gednew examine Martha Carrier, John Alden, Wilmott Redd, Elizabeth Howe and Phillip English. Alden and English later escape from prison and do not return. is the 151st day of the year (152nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

June 2: Bridget Bishop is the first to be tried and convicted of witchcraft. She is sentenced to death. is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

June 8: Eighteen year old Elizabeth Booth shows symptoms of affliction by witchcraft. is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

June 10: Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill. Following the hanging Nathaniel Saltonstall resigns from the court and is replaced by Corwin. is the 161st day of the year (162nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

June 15: Cotton Mather writes a letter requesting the court not use spectral evidence as a standard and urging that the trials be speedy. The Court of Oyer and Terminer pays more attention to the request for speed and less attention to the criticism of spectral evidence. is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... One of the great injustices of the Salem Witchcraft Trials was the admission of spectral evidence. ...

June 16: Roger Toothaker dies in prison. is the 167th day of the year (168th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

June 29-June 30: Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Sarah Wildes, Sarah Good and Elizabeth Howe are tried, pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang. is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Born in England in 1625, Susannah Martin was the third daughter of Richard North. ...

July 19: Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Good and Sarah Wildes are hanged at Gallows Hill. is the 200th day of the year (201st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Born in England in 1625, Susannah Martin was the third daughter of Richard North. ...

August 5: George Jacobs Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John Willard, and John and Elizabeth Proctor are pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang. is the 217th day of the year (218th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

August 19: George Jacobs Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John Willard and John Proctor are hanged on Gallows Hill. Elizabeth Proctor is not hanged because she is pregnant. is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

August 20: Margaret Jacobs recants the testimony that led to the execution of her grandfather George Jacobs Sr. and George Burroughs. is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

September 9: Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar and Mary Bradbury are pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang. is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

September 17: Margaret Scott, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca Earnes, Mary Lacy, Ann Foster and Abigail Hobbs are tried and sentenced to hang. is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

September 19: Sheriffs administer Peine Forte Et Dure (pressing) to Giles Cory after he refuses to enter a plea to the charges of witchcraft against him. After two days under the weight, Cory dies. is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

September 22: Martha Cory, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Willmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell and Mary Parker are hanged. Dorcas Hoar escapes execution by confessing. is the 265th day of the year (266th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

October 3: The Reverend Increase Mather, President of Harvard College and father of Cotton Mather, denounces the use of spectral evidence. is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

October 8: Governor Phipps orders that spectral evidence no longer be admitted in witchcraft trials. is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

October 29: Phipps prohibits further arrests, releases many accused witches and dissolves the Court of Oyer and Terminer. is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

November 25: The General Court establishes a Superior Court to try remaining witches. is the 329th day of the year (330th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

January: 49 of the 52 surviving people brought into court on witchcraft charges are released because their arrests were based on spectral evidence.

October: Winifred, Mary and Sarah Sanderson are sentenced to death for the disappearance of Thackery and Emily Binx

The Salem witch trials in literature

The Salem Witch Trials have provided the basis for two of America's great works of drama, Giles Corey in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's New England Tragedies and Arthur Miller's classic play The Crucible. Longfellow's play, which follows the form of a Shakespearean tragedy, is a commentary on the attitudes prevalent in 19th-century New England. Miller's play is a commentary on the actions of the House Committee on Unamerican Activities and Senator Joe McCarthy. Giles Corey (also spelled Cory or Coree, c. ... Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 â€“ March 24, 1882) was an American poet whose works include Paul Reveres Ride, A Psalm of Life, The Song of Hiawatha and Evangeline. He also wrote the first American translation of Dante Alighieris Divine Comedy and was one of the five members... Arthur Bob Miller (October 17, 1915 â€“ February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. ... For other uses, see The Crucible (disambiguation). ... Shakespeare wrote tragedies from the beginning of his career: one of his earliest plays was the Roman tragedy Titus Andronicus, and he followed it a few years later with Romeo and Juliet. ... HUAC hearings House Committee on Un-American Activities or HUAC (or, rarely, HCUA) (1938-1975) was an investigating committee of the United States House of Representatives. ... A senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. ... Joseph McCarthy This article is about the American politician. ...

Lois the Witch by Elizabeth Gaskell is a novella based on the Salem witch hunts and shows how jealousy and sexual desire can lead to hysteria. She was inspired by the story of Rebecca Nurse whose accusation, trial and execution are described in Lectures on Witchcraft, by Charles W. Upham, the Unitarian minister in Salem in the 1830s. Elizabeth Gaskell â€” from the portrait by George Richmond Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (nÃ©e Stevenson; 29 September 1810â€“12 November 1865), often referred to simply as Mrs. ... Rebecca Towne Nurse (baptized February 21, 1621 â€“ July 19, 1692) was an important figure in the Salem witch trials. ... Charles Wentworth Upham was a member of the Massachusetts State House of Representatives in the 19th Century. ... Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). ...

Gallows Hill by Lois Duncan is a young-adult fiction book in which main character Sarah, and many others, turn out to be reincarnations of those accused and killed during the Trials. Lois Duncan, American writer and novelist, was born Lois Steinmetz silly puddy is a yummy treat ehhheeheheApril 28, 1934 in Philadelphia. ...

In The Last Witchfinder, by James Morrow, the Salem Witch Trials feature prominently. James Morrow (born 1947) is an award-winning fiction author. ...

In "Oyer and Terminer", a short story by Joe Masdon, the Salem witch trials are the background.

A Break with Charity, a book by Ann Rinaldi, takes the Salem trials as its main subject. A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials (ISBN 0-15-204682-8) is a novel by Ann Rinaldi released in 1992, and is part of the Great Episodes series. ... Ann Rinaldi (b. ...

The Salem witch trials in popular culture

Simpsons redirects here. ... Treehouse of Horror VIII is the fourth episode of The Simpsons ninth season, as well as the eighth Halloween episode. ... Charmed is an American television series that ran for eight seasons on The WB. It was produced by Aaron Spelling and is about three sisters who are the worlds most powerful good witches, known throughout the supernatural community as The Charmed Ones but known to everyone else as the... Melinda Warren is a fictional character on the WB television series Charmed. ... Histeria! was an animated television series of the late-1990s, created by Tom Ruegger (who also created Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and Pinky and the Brain) at Warner Bros. ... This article is about the Harry Potter series of novels. ... Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. ... Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) or Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling. ... Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 â€“ March 15, 1937) was an American author from Providence, Rhode Island of fantasy, horror and science fiction. ... Arkham is a fictional city in Massachusetts, part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft and is featured in many of his stories, as well as those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers. ... Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965 ) [1]), better known as Rob Zombie, is an American heavy metal, groove metal, and industrial metal musician, film director, and writer. ... Educated Horses is the third album by Rob Zombie, released on March 28, 2006. ... The Covenant is a fictional galaxy-wide, militaristic, theocratic imperial alliance of alien races from the Xbox video game franchise Halo. ... Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. ... Hocus Pocus may mean: Hocus Pocus (magic), a magic word Hocus Pocus (book), by Kurt Vonnegut Hocus Pocus (movie), starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, and Omri Katz Hocus-Pocus (mythology), the wife of the giant Galligantus Hocus Pocus (game), a computer game by Moonlite Software and published... The Crucible is a 1996 film, written by Arthur Miller and based on his play of the same name. ... Arthur Bob Miller (October 17, 1915 â€“ February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

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