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Salem Witch Trials

By: History.com Editors

Updated: September 29, 2023 | Original: November 4, 2011

The infamous Salem witch trials 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 a wave of 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 abate 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, bitterness lingered in the community, and the painful legacy of the Salem witch trials would endure for centuries.

What Caused the Salem Witch Trials?: Context & Origins

Belief in the supernatural—and specifically in the devil’s practice of giving certain humans (witches) the power to harm others in return for their loyalty—had emerged in Europe as early as the 14th century, and was widespread in colonial New England . In addition, the harsh realities of life in the rural Puritan community of Salem Village (present-day Danvers, Massachusetts ) at the time included the after-effects of a British war with France in the American colonies in 1689, a recent smallpox epidemic, fears of attacks from neighboring Native American tribes and a longstanding rivalry with the more affluent community of Salem Town (present-day Salem). 

Amid these simmering tensions, the Salem witch trials would be fueled by residents’ suspicions of and resentment toward their neighbors, as well as their fear of outsiders.

Did you know? In an effort to explain by scientific means the strange afflictions suffered by those "bewitched" Salem residents in 1692, a 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.

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 women—the homeless beggar Sarah Good and the poor, elderly Sarah Osborn—whom the girls accused of bewitching them.

Salem Witch Trials: Who Were the Main Accusers?

Though adult women—and a few men—accused their neighbors of witchcraft in 1692, the core group of accusers were girls.

5 Notable Women Hanged in the Salem Witch Trials

An elderly widow, a beggar and a church‑going woman who made a stand against the trials were among those executed.

How the Salem Witch Trials Influenced the American Legal System

Those accused lacked basic legal protections, including the premise that one was innocent until proven guilty.

Salem Witch Trial Victims: How the Hysteria Spread

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 by acting as an informer, she claimed there were other witches acting alongside her in service of 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 named still others, and the trials soon began to overwhelm 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.

Presided over by judges including Hathorne, Samuel Sewall and William Stoughton, the court handed down its first conviction, against Bridget Bishop, on June 2; she was hanged eight days later on what would become known as Gallows Hill in Salem Town. 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 Witch Trials: Conclusion and Legacy

Though the respected minister Cotton Mather had warned of the dubious value of spectral evidence (or testimony about dreams and visions), his concerns went largely unheeded during the Salem witch trials. Increase Mather, president of Harvard College (and Cotton’s father) later joined his son in urging that the standards of evidence for witchcraft must be equal to those for any other crime, concluding that “It would better that ten suspected witches may escape than one innocent person be condemned.” 

Amid waning public support for the trials, Governor Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer in October and mandated that its successor disregard spectral evidence. Trials continued with dwindling intensity until early 1693, and by that May Phips had pardoned and released all those in prison on witchcraft charges.

Salem Witch Trials: What Caused the Hysteria?

Explore five factors that fueled unease and panic over accusations of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.

Before America Had Witch Trials, Europe Had Werewolf Trials

A few of the accused may have been actual pedophiles or serial killers, but many were beggars, hermits or recent émigrés who were tortured into confessions.

7 Bizarre Witch Trial Tests

From barbaric tortures and occult dessert dishes to unwinnable trials by ordeal, find out more about seven unusual tests once used as evidence of supernatural misconduct.

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 lingered, however, even after Massachusetts Colony passed legislation restoring the good names of the condemned and providing financial restitution to their heirs in 1711. 

Indeed, the vivid and painful legacy of the Salem witch trials endured well into the 20th century, when Arthur Miller dramatized the events of 1692 in his play “The Crucible” (1953), using them as an allegory for the anti-Communist “witch hunts” led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. A memorial to the victims of the Salem witch trials was dedicated on August 5, 1992 by author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

HISTORY Vault: Salem Witch Trials

Experts dissect the facts—and the enduring mysteries—surrounding the courtroom trials of suspected witches in Salem Village, Massachusetts in 1692.

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Salem Witch Trials — the Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692

February 1692–May 1693

The Salem Witch Trials are a series of well-known investigations, court proceedings, and prosecutions that took place in Salem, Massachusetts over the course of 1692 and 1693.

This illustration by Howard Pyle depicts one of the accusers pointing at the accused and saying, “There is a flock of yellow birds around her head.” It is an example of the spectral evidence that was permitted at the trials. Image Source: New York Public Library Digital Collections .

Salem Witch Trials Summary

The Salem Witch Trials took place in colonial Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693 when people living in and around the town of Salem, Massachusetts were accused of practicing witchcraft or dealing with the Devil. The accusations were initially made by two young girls in the early part of the year.

By May, William Phips had been named Governor of Massachusetts and a new charter had been implemented. Initially, Phips responded to the accusations by setting up a special court — the Court of Oyer and Terminer — to hear the cases and to determine the fate of the accused.

Unfortunately, the court was controversial because they allowed “spectral” evidence — visions of ghosts, demons, and the Devil — to be entered into the proceedings. It seemed to fuel the hysteria, which was likely elevated by King William’s War, which was going on in New England at the same time.

By the fall, 19 men and women had been convicted and hanged, and another was pressed to death . Another man died from having heavy stones placed on him. Somewhere between 150 and 200 were in prison or had spent time in prison.

Governor Phips ended the special court in October after accusations were made against well-respected members of the community. In January 1693, the trials resumed, but under the Supreme Court of Judicature. Spectral evidence was not allowed, and most of the accused were found innocent of the witchcraft charges and released.

A handful of the people accused of witchcraft were convicted, but Governor Phips intervened in May 1693 and agreed to release them as long as they paid a fine. By the time the proceedings ended, it was the largest outbreak of witchcraft in Colonial America .

Salem Witch Trials Facts

Facts about the accusers in the salem witch trials.

Two young girls, Elizabeth Paris and Abigail Williams started to act in a strange manner, which included making strange noises and hiding from their parents and other adults.

Elizabeth Paris, known as Betty, was 9 years old. Her father was the Reverend Samuel Paris.

Abigail Williams was 11 years old. Reverend Paris was her uncle.

More young girls in Salem Village started to show similar symptoms, including 12-year-old Anne Putnam and 17-year-old Elizabeth Hubbard.

Facts About the Accused in the Salem Witch Trials

The first people accused of witchcraft were Tituba, an enslaved woman, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne.

Dorothy Good was the youngest person to be accused of witchcraft. She was 4 years old.

Facts About the Role and Testimony of Tituba in the Salem Witch Trials

Tituba is believed to be an enslaved woman from Central America, possibly from Barbados.

She lived in the home of Reverend Paris and had been taken to Massachusetts by Paris in 1680.

Tituba confessed to using witchcraft.

She testified that four women, including Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good, along with a man, had told her to hurt the children.

Her testimony convinced the people of Salem Village that witchcraft was rampant in the town.

Facts About People Convicted and Executed During the Salem Witch Trials

The first person to be executed was Bridget Bishop.

Over the course of the Salem Witch Trials, 19 people were hanged at Proctor’s Ledge, near Gallows Hill.

Another one of the accused, Giles Corey, refused to enter a plea before the court and was ordered to be pressed to death. He was laid down on the ground and had heavy boards placed on top of him. Then heavy rocks were set on the boards until he was crushed by the weight.

The charges against all victims of the Salem Witch Trials were eventually cleared.

The Special Court

The Court of Oyer and Terminer was the special court ordered to oversee the trials, as ordered by Governor William Phips.

Salem Witch Trials Significance

The Salem Witch Trials were important because they showed how quickly accusations and hysteria could spread through Colonial America. At the time, the Witch Trials also threatened the authority and stability of the new charter and government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, while King William’s War raged across New England and Acadia .

Salem Witch Trials APUSH — Notes and Study Guide

Use the following links and videos to study the Salem Witch Trials, King Willilam’s War, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony for the AP US History Exam. Also, be sure to look at our Guide to the AP US History Exam .

Salem Witch Trials APUSH Definition

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions that occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. The trials were a dark chapter in American history, characterized by mass hysteria and accusations of witchcraft. Numerous individuals, predominantly women, were accused of practicing witchcraft, leading to the execution of 20 people — 13 women and 7 men. The trials were fueled by social, religious, and political factors, partially driven by King William’s War, resulting in tragic consequences for the victims and their families.

Salem Witch Trials Video for APUSH Notes

This video from the Daily Bellringer provides a detailed look at the Salem Witch Trials.

Salem Witch Trials APUSH Terms and Definitions

William Phips — William Phips was the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Salem Witch Trials. He played a significant role in bringing an end to the trials by dissolving the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which was responsible for the majority of the convictions. Phips was concerned about the growing public skepticism and criticism surrounding the trials, prompting him to take decisive action and promote a more rational approach to handling alleged witches. He was also worried about the public perception the trials had, during a time of war.

Court of Oyer and Terminer — The Court of Oyer and Terminer was a special court established in 1692 to handle the cases of alleged witches in Salem and surrounding areas. The court was led by several judges, including William Stoughton, and it operated under a unique legal process that allowed spectral evidence, or testimonies of dreams and visions, to be admitted as valid evidence. This, along with other factors, contributed to a biased and unjust environment during the trials.

William Stoughton — William Stoughton was a prominent judge and the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. He presided over the Court of Oyer and Terminer during the Salem Witch Trials. He played a pivotal role in the harsh convictions and sentencing of numerous accused individuals. His unwavering support for spectral evidence and his lack of leniency exacerbated the severity of the trials’ outcomes. After Phips dismissed the cases, Stoughton worked to have him removed as Governor.

Samuel Paris — Reverend Samuel Paris was the minister of Salem Village and one of the central figures in the initial events that sparked the witch trials. He was the father of Elizabeth Paris and the uncle of Abigail Williams, two young girls who experienced mysterious fits and claimed to be afflicted by witchcraft. His role as a religious authority and his support for the accusations fueled the hysteria, contributing to the escalation of the trials.

Elizabeth Paris — Elizabeth Paris was the nine-year-old daughter of Samuel Paris and one of the first accusers in the Salem Witch Trials. With her cousin Abigail Williams, she exhibited peculiar behaviors, including seizures and strange utterances, which were attributed to witchcraft. Their accusations against various individuals, especially Tituba, were instrumental in initiating the investigations and subsequent arrests.

Abigail Williams — Abigail Williams, the eleven-year-old cousin of Elizabeth Paris, was another crucial accuser during the Salem Witch Trials. Like her cousin, she displayed symptoms of bewitchment and was among the first to accuse others, leading to a chain reaction of allegations.

Anne Putnam — Anne Putnam was a teenage girl from Salem Village who actively participated in the trials as an accuser. She made numerous accusations against various individuals, contributing to the mounting hysteria. Her motivations for involvement remain a topic of historical debate, with some suggesting that personal grievances and religious fervor influenced her actions.

Tituba — Tituba was an enslaved woman from the Caribbean who worked in the household of Reverend Samuel Paris. She became one of the first individuals accused of practicing witchcraft after Elizabeth and Abigail accused her of bewitching them. Tituba’s origin and cultural differences contributed to her status as an outsider in Salem, making her an easy target for accusations. Under pressure, she confessed to being a witch and provided testimonies that increased the intensity of the trials.

Bridget Bishop — Bridget Bishop was the first person to be tried and executed during the Salem Witch Trials. She was known for her unconventional lifestyle and had been accused of witchcraft once before.

John Proctor — John Proctor was a respected farmer in Salem Village and one of the central figures in Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible,” which was based on the events of the witch trials. Proctor was accused of witchcraft after he spoke out against the proceedings, expressing skepticism about the legitimacy of the trials. His refusal to falsely confess and his unwavering integrity ultimately led to his tragic execution.

Giles Corey — Giles Corey was an elderly farmer who became entangled in the witch trials when his wife, Martha Corey, was accused of witchcraft. In a notable act of protest against the unjust proceedings, Corey refused to enter a plea in court, leading to a brutal form of punishment known as pressing. Corey died during the punishment.

King William’s War — King William’s War was a conflict between England and France that occurred from 1689 to 1697, overlapping with the time of the Salem Witch Trials. The war was part of a larger conflict known as the Nine Years’ War or the War of the Grand Alliance. Its impact on the region, including heightened tensions and security concerns, likely contributed to the climate of fear and paranoia in Salem, potentially influencing the outbreak of the witch trials.

Salem Witch Trials — Primary and Secondary Sources

• The Witchcraft Delusion of 1692 by Thomas Hutchinson , William Frederick Poole, and Richard Frothingham
• The Wonders of the Invisible World : Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England by Cotton Mather
• Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men, Witchcrafts, Infallible Proofs of Guilt in Such as are Accused with the Crime  by Increase Mather
• Written by Randal Rust

Salem Witch Trials

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The Salem Witch Trials were a series of legal proceedings in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692-1693 resulting in the deaths of 20 innocent people accused of witchcraft and the vilification of over 200 others based, initially, on the reports of young girls who claimed to have been harmed by the spells of certain women they accused of witchcraft.

The initial accusers were Betty Parris (age 9) and her cousin Abigail Williams (age 11) who were supported in their claims by Ann Putnam the Younger (age 12) and Elisabeth Hubbard (age 17), but once those accusations were made, many others not only supported the girls but brought charges against their fellow citizens, sparking a witch hunt in Salem and the surrounding communities.

At the heart of the trials and later executions were religion and superstition in Colonial America . The Bible , in the Book of Exodus 22:18, states "Thou shalt not suffer a witch live," and this was adhered to as closely as any other biblical injunction and encouraged by the Salem Village minister of the time, the Reverend Samuel Parris (l. 1653-1720). Parris was the fourth minister called by the Salem Village congregation. Earlier ministers had left after relatively brief stays, and Parris was faring little better in his ability to mediate disputes between neighbors until he managed to focus their energies on accusing each other of witchcraft. The underlying tensions of the community found expression in the persecution of marginalized members – and then those well-respected – in the community which resulted in the execution of 20, self-exile, loss of status, or death in jail while awaiting a court appearance.

As early as 1695, criticism was leveled against the magistrates of Salem for the deaths and persecution of the innocent and this opinion only gained ground afterwards. Between 1700-1703, petitions were filed to have the convictions reversed and the accused exonerated, and in 1711, compensation was authorized for the families of those unjustly executed. Since that time, the Salem Witch Trials have been referenced simply as "witch trials" or "witch hunts" in connection with any unfounded, unfair, and baseless claim against a person or the ideals that person stands for and the event has been given iconic status in the USA and elsewhere.

Colonial Belief in Witchcraft

Legal documents and testimonies of the time establish that there were a number of citizens who did not believe in witchcraft, but the majority – in the New England Colonies as well as the Middle and Southern English Colonies – certainly did. This belief was encouraged by the Bible through stories such as the Witch of Endor (I Samuel 28:3-25) and the line from the Book of Exodus mentioned above. The Bible was understood as the inerrant word of God and made clear that witches were as much of a reality as anything else; questioning the existence of witches meant questioning the divine authority of the Bible.

A belief in witchcraft was further encouraged by the need to explain the seemingly unexplainable. If a pious person or a child or young bride should suddenly fall ill or die, it might be attributed to God’s mysterious will but could as easily be explained by witchcraft and the workings of the devil. Although it may seem strange and irrational to a modern-day audience, the belief was also supported by colonists’ interpretation of everyday experience. If Neighbor A asked to borrow some candles from Neighbor B and Neighbor B refused the request, and if Neighbor B later became ill or their house caught fire or their horse died for no apparent reason, Neighbor A might be accused of having cast a spell to cause the otherwise inexplicable misfortune.

A belief in witches did not originate in the colonies, however, as England – and Europe overall – had been persecuting those accused of witchcraft for centuries. One of the most famous witch trials in English history was that of the Pendle Witches in 1612 in Lancashire which resulted in the execution by hanging of ten people convicted of witchcraft. The records of the proceedings were published in 1613 and widely read, and the case was popularized again in 1634 when one of the accusers was herself accused of witchcraft. The 1634 case was further popularized by the melodrama The Late Lancashire Witches by Thomas Heywood (l. c. 1570-1641) and Richard Brome (l. c. 1590-1652), which ends with a supposition of the guilt of the accused.

This was almost always the foregone conclusion of an accusation of witchcraft since it was understood that no one would bring such a serious charge against another without good reason. Accusers seem to always have believed that their word and anecdotal evidence was all the proof a court needed to convict, and while this may have been true of popular opinion, courts did try to weigh objective evidence before handing down a conviction, even if the paradigm of guilty-until-proven-innocent was largely adhered to. This was certainly the case with the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-1693 during which over 200 people were accused of witchcraft in Salem Village, Salem Town, Andover, Ipswich, and Topsfield; 30 were found guilty and 20 executed, most by hanging.

Social & Religious Context

Tensions were already high in both Salem Town and Salem Village in 1692 and had been for some time. The citizens of Salem Village resented the greater affluence of Salem Town as well as its presumption in controlling the village’s affairs. Salem Village had no civil government of its own and was under the jurisdiction of Salem Town. All citizens of both were required to attend Sunday worship services, but Salem Town refused to allow Salem Village to have its own meeting house and so villagers had to travel to the town on Sundays, no matter the weather, which they came to resent.

Salem Village eventually hired their own minister but refused to pay him and so he left. The second minister, George Burroughs, experienced the same problems and resigned but remained in the village. A third minister also resigned, and this contributed to Salem Village’s reputation, as held by Salem Town, as contentious and petty. The fourth minister was Samuel Parris, a failed merchant who had attended Harvard University but never completed his course of study. He seems to have become a minister as a second career choice. In 1689, Salem Village was allowed to form its own church with Parris as their pastor. Scholar Brian P. Levack comments:

Parris proved to be an unfortunate choice: a failed and bitter merchant who resented those who succeeded in the world of commerce, he fueled local hostilities. Parris gave a series of inflammatory sermons that translated faction division into a cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil. In the minds of his supporters, Salem Town became the symbol of an alien, corrupt, and even diabolical world that threatened the welfare of Salem Village. Because supporters of Samuel Parris perceived their enemies as nothing less than evil, it was but a short step for them to become convinced that those aligned with the town and its interests were servants of Satan. (403)

Tensions increased further with the arrival of immigrants in the area who were members of minority Christian sects, such as the Quakers, who were considered threats to the Puritan vision of the Salem community. Perpetual fear of unseen and unexpected danger had been present in the communities since the outbreak of King Philip's War (1675-1678) when King Philip (also known as Metacomet , l. 1638-1676) of the Native American Wampanoag Confederacy launched an assault on the settlements of New England that killed hundreds and destroyed a number of settlements.

In the midst of these various tensions, in February 1692, Samuel Parris’ daughter Betty and his niece Abigail Williams, began exhibiting strange behavior – crawling around the floor, hiding under furniture, contorting themselves, screaming, and hurling objects – which, lacking any other explanation after they were examined by a physician, was blamed on witchcraft. Shortly afterwards, Ann Putnam the Younger and Elizabeth Hubbard, then Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and Mary Warren – all friends of Betty Parris and Abigail Williams – began exhibiting the same signs. When Samuel Parris asked his daughter and niece who had cast the spell that was tormenting them, they named three women – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and the Parris’ house-slave Tituba – and Salem Village was plunged into a witch-hunting frenzy.

Sarah Good was a homeless woman who often begged for charity and had been taken in by Samuel Parris for a short time until he threw her out for "malicious behavior" and ingratitude. Sarah Osborne was a wealthy landowner who had not attended church in over three years, claiming a recurring illness, making her as much of an outcast as Good. Tituba was possibly an Arawak of Caribbean origin who was kidnapped, enslaved, and sold to Samuel Parris in Barbados, where his family had a plantation. She was the family’s house-slave and looked after the children, often entertaining them with ghost stories and tales of demons and magic.

Tituba confessed (later revealing Samuel Parris had beaten the confession out of her) and supported the girls’ accusation of Good and Osborne. Good, as noted, was already despised by the Parris family and Osborne, due to her land deals, had adversely affected the finances of Ann Putnam the Younger’s father. Tituba popularized the concept of witches riding on broomsticks and conversing with 'familiars' – spirits in animal form – as well as associating with demonic figures and casting malicious spells. Osborne was hanged as a witch in May and Good in July of 1692, maintaining their innocence to the end; Tituba, since she had confessed, was left in jail because Parris refused to pay the fees which would have released her. She was finally sold for the price of the jail fees and disappears from history.

The accusations against the three marginalized women in February 1692 were only the beginning, however, as more people were accused in March. Two of them, Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse, were members in good standing in the church. Corey had questioned the validity of the girls’ accusations, insinuating they were lying for personal reasons, and so was charged as a witch for denying the existence of witches. Nurse was accused by the Putnams who claimed her 'specter' was harassing them. The use of 'spectral evidence' was admissible in court as the concept had been addressed by the well-respected Puritan theologian Cotton Mather (l. 1663-1728) whose works were especially popular among the citizens of Massachusetts.

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Spectral evidence was simply accepting the word of an accuser over that of the accused as in the case of Martha Corey where the girls cried out in court that her specter was tormenting them and a yellow bird, invisible to everyone but them, was feeding at her hand. Nurse and Corey, both in their early 70s, were hanged. Their convictions heightened the hysteria further in that, if two elderly church-going women in good standing could be witches, anyone could. Corey’s husband, Giles, was accused when he defended her. He refused to stand trial and was executed by pressing – crushed to death by weights – in order to extract a confession of guilt. As he never confessed and was never convicted, his last will was honored and his lands went to his heirs, as he intended, instead of being taken by the Putnam family who had accused him.

Once spectral testimony came under attack and once confessors began to recant, the court found itself in an extremely awkward position…As the eagerness of the court to convict collided with a growing chorus of opposition to its proceedings, the governor felt that he had no choice but to suspend the trials and reassess the situation. (407)

The trials were stopped and pardons issued for those still in jail in May 1693. Although it is well-documented that 19 people were hanged and Giles Corey crushed to death, others died in jail awaiting trial, and over 200 had their reputations damaged if not irreparably ruined. The accusers were never called to account because no one involved doubted the reality of witches and their power to harm nor of Satan and his ability to deceive in order to destroy. After the hysteria died down, the accusers went on with their lives as before.

Those who had been accused and pardoned, as noted, were not as lucky and lived on with the stigma of the event or moved elsewhere. Three years later, in 1696, the General Court mandated a day of fasting and repentance for the trials on 14 January 1697. Judges who had taken part in the trials publicly repented and asked forgiveness of the community. Beginning in 1700, petitions were filed by family members with the colonial government of Massachusetts to have the convictions overturned, and in 1711, 22 people were exonerated and financial compensation authorized. This pattern continued over the next ten years but not all who had been convicted were cleared even then. The names of all the people convicted were not cleared, in fact, until 2001.

The Salem Witch Trials, as the most infamous event of its kind, has generated a number of myths from the time people began writing about it c. 1700 to the present. Among the most persistent is that "witches" were burned at Salem even though there is no evidence to support this claim. No "witches" were burned at Salem; they were all hanged. Until recently, those convicted were thought to have been hanged on Gallows Hill, conjuring images of a somber death march up the hill to the place of execution, but the Gallows Hill Project of 2017 debunked this myth, establishing that the hangings took place at the bottom of the hill at the far less dramatic area known as Proctor’s Ledge.

It has also been claimed that the majority of those accused were poor, marginalized women, but this has also been challenged and debunked. People of all social classes were accused and convicted, women and men – and, actually, two dogs – for any reason at all. George Burroughs, the second minister to resign at Salem Village, was accused and convicted because he seemed to possess unnatural strength, another woman was convicted because she was able to walk the dusty streets of Salem Village without dirtying her clothing, and Martha Corey, as noted, was executed as a witch for denying witchcraft even existed.

Over the years, many theories have been suggested to explain the Salem witch hysteria and trials. One theory, popularized in the 1970s, is that the colonists were poisoned by ergot fungus on their rye crop in 1692 which caused them to hallucinate, but this does not explain the continuing hysteria throughout 1693 nor the fact that there were many who still believed in witches and the justice of the trials afterwards. Witch trials had been conducted prior to 1692 and would be afterwards throughout the colonies. Class frictions between Salem Village and Salem Town have also been cited as a possible cause, but, although these added to the tensions of the time, they did not actually cause the hysteria. Of the first people accused, only Osborne had connections to Salem Town, the other two were firmly of Salem Village.

The most likely cause of the witch hysteria of 1692-1693 at Salem was religious belief coupled with societal tensions. No one will ever know what caused the girls to make the accusations which started the panic, but once made, they confirmed what was already believed by the colonists. American playwright Arthur Miller’s The Crucible cast the Salem Witch Trials as an allegory of the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s which sought to root out communism in the United States. In this play, Miller was drawing attention to the dangers of ideologies which depend on confirmation bias in order to thrive. In both cases, the accusers were operating on a belief in threatening agents in their midst they needed to defend themselves against. The people of Massachusetts already believed in witches because religion in Colonial America encouraged it – they did not need ergot or anything else – all that was required was a physical manifestation of what they feared to confirm what they already knew to be true and act upon it.

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Mark, J. J. (2021, April 13). Salem Witch Trials . World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Salem_Witch_Trials/

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A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials

One town’s strange journey from paranoia to pardon

Jess Blumberg

The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between early 1692 and mid-1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the devil’s magic —and 20 were executed.

In 1711, colonial authorities pardoned some of the accused and compensated their families. But it was only in July 2022 that Elizabeth Johnson Jr. , the last convicted Salem “witch” whose name had yet to be cleared , was officially exonerated .

Since the 17th century, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice . Fueled by xenophobia , religious extremism and long-brewing social tensions , the witch hunt continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later.

Tensions in Salem

In the medieval and early modern eras, many religions, including Christianity , taught that the devil could give people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. A “ witchcraft craze ” rippled through Europe from the 1300s to the end of the 1600s. Tens of thousands of supposed witches —mostly women—were executed. Though the Salem trials took place just as the European craze was winding down, local circumstances explain their onset.

In 1689, English monarchs William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies. Known as King William’s War to colonists, the conflict ravaged regions of upstate New York, Nova Scotia and Quebec, sending refugees into the county of Essex—and, specifically, Salem Village—in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. (Salem Village is present-day Danvers, Massachusetts; colonial Salem Town became what’s now Salem.)

The displaced people placed a strain on Salem’s resources, aggravating the existing rivalry between families with ties to the wealth of the port of Salem and those who still depended on agriculture. Controversy also brewed over the Reverend Samuel Parris , who became Salem Village’s first ordained minister in 1689 and quickly gained a reputation for his rigid ways and greedy nature. The Puritan villagers believed all the quarreling was the work of the devil.

In January 1692, Parris’ daughter Elizabeth (or Betty), age 9, and niece Abigail Williams, age 11, started having “fits.” They screamed, threw things, uttered peculiar sounds and contorted themselves into strange positions. A local doctor blamed the supernatural . Another girl, 12-year-old Ann Putnam Jr., experienced similar episodes. On February 29, under pressure from magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, colonial officials who tried local cases, the girls blamed three women for afflicting them: Tituba , a Caribbean woman enslaved by the Parris family; Sarah Good , a homeless beggar; and Sarah Osborne , an elderly impoverished woman.

The witch hunt begins

All three women were brought before the local magistrates and interrogated for several days, starting on March 1, 1692. Osborne claimed innocence, as did Good. But Tituba confessed , “The devil came to me and bid me serve him.” She described elaborate images of black dogs, red cats, yellow birds and a “tall man with white hair” who wanted her to sign his book. She admitted that she’d signed the book and claimed there were several other witches looking to destroy the Puritans.

With the seeds of paranoia planted, a stream of accusations followed over the next few months. Charges against Martha Corey , a loyal member of the church in Salem Village, greatly concerned the community; if she could be a witch, then anyone could. Magistrates even questioned Good’s 4-year-old daughter, Dorothy , whose timid answers were construed as a confession. The questioning got more serious in April, when the colony’s deputy governor, Thomas Danforth, and his assistants attended the hearings. Dozens of people from Salem and other Massachusetts villages were brought in for questioning .

On May 27, 1692, Governor William Phips ordered the establishment of a Special Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) for Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex counties. The first accused witch brought in front of the special court was Bridget Bishop , an older woman known for her gossipy habits and promiscuity. When asked if she committed witchcraft, Bishop responded , “I am as innocent as the child unborn.” The defense must not have been convincing, because she was found guilty and, on June 10, became the first person hanged on what was later called Gallows Hill .

Just a few days after the court was established, respected minister Cotton Mather wrote a letter imploring the court not to allow spectral evidence —testimony about dreams and visions. The court largely ignored this request, sentencing the hangings of five people in July, five more in August and eight in September. On October 3, following in his son Cotton’s footsteps, Increase Mather , then-president of Harvard, denounced the use of spectral evidence: “It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person be condemned.”

Phips, in response to these pleas and his own wife’s questioning as a suspected witch, prohibited further arrests and released many accused witches. He dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer on October 29, replacing it with a Superior Court of Judicature , which disallowed spectral evidence and condemned just 3 out of 56 defendants.

By May 1693, Phips had pardoned all those imprisoned on witchcraft charges. But the damage was already done. Nineteen men and women had been hanged on Gallows Hill. Giles Corey , Martha’s 71-year-old husband, was pressed to death in September 1692 with heavy stones after refusing to submit himself to a trial. At least five of the accused died in jail. Even animals fell victim to the mass hysteria, with colonists in Andover and Salem Village killing two dogs believed to be linked to the devil.

Restoring good names

In the years following the trials and executions, some involved, like judge Samuel Sewall and accuser Ann Putnam , publicly confessed error and guilt. On January 14, 1697, Massachusetts’ General Court ordered a day of fasting and soul-searching over the tragedy of Salem. In 1702, the court declared the trials unlawful. And in 1711, the colony passed a bill restoring the rights and good names of many of the accused, as well as granting a total of £600 in restitution to their heirs. But it wasn’t until 1957—more than 250 years later—that Massachusetts formally apologized for the events of 1692. Johnson, the accused woman exonerated in July 2022, was left out of the 1957 resolution for reasons unknown but received an official pardon after a successful lobbying campaign by a class of eighth-grade civics students.

In the 20th century, artists and scientists alike continued to be fascinated by the Salem witch trials. Playwright Arthur Miller resurrected the tale with his 1953 play The Crucible , using the trials as an allegory for the anti-communist McCarthyism then sweeping the country. Scholars offered up competing explanations for the strange behavior that occurred in Salem, with scientists seeking a medical cause for the accusers’ afflictions and historians more often grounding their theories in the community’s tense sociopolitical environment .

An early hypothesis now viewed as “fringe, especially in historical circles ,” according to Vox , posited that the accusers suffered from ergotism , a condition caused by eating foods contaminated with the fungus ergot. Symptoms include muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions and hallucinations. Other theories emphasize a “combination of church politics, family feuds and hysterical children, all of which unfolded in a vacuum of political authority,” as Encyclopedia Britannica notes. Ultimately, the causes of the witch hunt remain subject to much debate .

In August 1992, to mark the 300th anniversary of the trials, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel dedicated the Witch Trials Memorial in Salem. Also in Salem, the Peabody Essex Museum , which houses the original court documents , mounted an exhibition reckoning with and reclaiming the tragedy in late 2021 and early 2022. Finally, the town’s most-visited attraction, the Salem Witch Museum , attests to the public’s enduring enthrallment with the 17th-century hysteria.

Editor’s Note, October 24, 2022: This article has been updated to reflect the latest research on the Salem witch trials.

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The salem witch trials.

• Emerson W. Baker Emerson W. Baker Department of History, Salem State University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.324
• Published online: 07 July 2016

The Salem Witch Trials are one of the best known, most studied, and most important events in early American history. The afflictions started in Salem Village (present-day Danvers), Massachusetts, in January 1692, and by the end of the year the outbreak had spread throughout Essex County, and threatened to bring down the newly formed Massachusetts Bay government of Sir William Phips. It may have even helped trigger a witchcraft crisis in Connecticut that same year. The trials are known for their heavy reliance on spectral evidence, and numerous confessions, which helped the accusations grow. A total of 172 people are known to have been formally charged or informally cried out upon for witchcraft in 1692. Usually poor and marginalized members of society were the victims of witchcraft accusations, but in 1692 many of the leading members of the colony were accused. George Burroughs, a former minister of Salem Village, was one of the nineteen people convicted and executed. In addition to these victims, one man, Giles Cory, was pressed to death, and five died in prison. The last executions took place in September 1692, but it was not until May 1693 that the last trial was held and the last of the accused was freed from prison.

The trials would have lasting repercussions in Massachusetts and signaled the beginning of the end of the Puritan City upon a Hill, an image of American exceptionalism still regularly invoked. The publications ban issued by Governor Phips to prevent criticism of the government would last three years, but ultimately this effort only ensured that the failure of the government to protect innocent lives would never be forgotten. Pardons and reparations for some of the victims and their families were granted by the government in the early 18th century, and the legislature would regularly take up petitions, and discuss further reparations until 1749, more than fifty years after the trials. The last victims were formally pardoned by the governor and legislature of Massachusetts in 2001.

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Salem witch trials summary

Know what happened during the salem witch trials.

Salem witch trials , (May–October 1692)American colonial persecutions for witchcraft. In the town of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony, several young girls, stimulated by supernatural tales told by a West Indian slave, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused three women of witchcraft. Under pressure, the accused women named others in false confessions. Encouraged by the clergy, a special civil court was convened with three judges, including Samuel Sewall, to conduct the trials. They resulted in the conviction and hanging of 19 “witches” and the imprisonment of nearly 150 others. As public zeal abated, the trials were stopped and then condemned. The colonial legislature later annulled the convictions.

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History Resources

Cotton Mather’s account of the Salem witch trials, 1693

A spotlight on a primary source by cotton mather.

Cotton Mather, a prolific author and well-known preacher, wrote this account in 1693, a year after the trials ended. Mather and his fellow New Englanders believed that God directly intervened in the establishment of the colonies and that the New World was formerly the Devil’s territory. Cotton Mather’s account of the witch trials reinforced colonial New Englanders’ view of themselves as a chosen generation of men.

The Salem witch scare had complex social roots beyond the community’s religious convictions. It drew upon preexisting rivalries and disputes within the rapidly growing Massachusetts port town: between urban and rural residents; between wealthier commercial merchants and subsistence-oriented farmers; between Congregationalists and other religious denominations—Anglicans, Baptists, and Quakers; and between American Indians and Englishmen on the frontier. The witch trials offer a window into the anxieties and social tensions that accompanied New England’s increasing integration into the Atlantic economy.

A transcribed excerpt is available.

Wherefore The devil is now making one Attempt more upon us; an Attempt more Difficult, more Surprizing, more snarl’d with unintelligible Circumstances than any that we have hitherto Encountered; an Attempt so Critical, that if we get well through, we shall soon Enjoy Halcyon Days, with all the Vultures of Hell Trodden under our Feet. He has wanted his Incarnate Legions to Persecute us, as the People of God have in the other Hemisphere been Persecuted: he has therefore drawn forth his more spiritual ones to make an attacque upon us. We have been advised by some Credible Christians yet alive, that a Malefactor, accused of Witchcraft as well as Murder, and Executed in this place more than Forty Years ago, did then give Notice of, An Horrible PLOT & against the Country by WITCHCRAFT, and a Foundation of WITCHCRAFT then laid, which if it were not seasonably discovered, would probably Blow up, and pull down all the Churches in the Country.  And we have now with Horror seen the Discovery of such a WITCHCRAFT!

Questions for Discussion

Read the document introduction and transcript and apply your knowledge of American history in order to answer these questions.

• The events in Salem and other towns in New England took place in a region of isolated villages and towns. What part might this physical separation have played in turning neighbors against one another and stoking fears of demons?
• According to Cotton Mather, what are the immediate and long-term goals of the Devil?
• We now know that some of the accused were pre-teens. Why might their age make them particularly susceptible to accusations of strange behavior?
• Describe a relatively recent historical event that resembles the situation that unfolded in Salem.

*** Beyond Arthur Miller’s The Crucible , numerous dramatic presentations offer insights into irrational human fear. For example, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” an episode of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone series, may provide students and teachers an opportunity to examine the phenomenon of mass hysteria.

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Salem Witch Trials — The Salem Witch Trials

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What Caused the Salem Witch Trials?

Looking into the underlying causes of the Salem Witch Trials in the 17th century.

In February 1692, the Massachusetts Bay Colony town of Salem Village found itself at the center of a notorious case of mass hysteria: eight young women accused their neighbors of witchcraft. Trials ensued and, when the episode concluded in May 1693, fourteen women, five men, and two dogs had been executed for their supposed supernatural crimes.

The Salem witch trials occupy a unique place in our collective history. The mystery around the hysteria and miscarriage of justice continue to inspire new critiques, most recently with the recent release of The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Pulitzer Prize-winning Stacy Schiff.

But what caused the mass hysteria, false accusations, and lapses in due process? Scholars have attempted to answer these questions with a variety of economic and physiological theories.

The economic theories of the Salem events tend to be two-fold: the first attributes the witchcraft trials to an economic downturn caused by a “little ice age” that lasted from 1550-1800; the second cites socioeconomic issues in Salem itself.

Emily Oster posits that the “little ice age” caused economic deterioration and food shortages that led to anti-witch fervor in communities in both the United States and Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Temperatures began to drop at the beginning of the fourteenth century, with the coldest periods occurring from 1680 to 1730. The economic hardships and slowdown of population growth could have caused widespread scapegoating which, during this period, manifested itself as persecution of so-called witches, due to the widely accepted belief that “witches existed, were capable of causing physical harm to others and could control natural forces.”

Salem Village, where the witchcraft accusations began, was an agrarian, poorer counterpart to the neighboring Salem Town, which was populated by wealthy merchants. According to the oft-cited book  Salem Possessed by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, Salem Village was being torn apart by two opposing groups–largely agrarian townsfolk to the west and more business-minded villagers to the east, closer to the Town. “What was going on was not simply a personal quarrel, an economic dispute, or even a struggle for power, but a mortal conflict involving the very nature of the community itself. The fundamental issue was not who was to control the Village, but what its essential character was to be.” In a retrospective look at their book for a 2008 William and Mary Quarterly Forum , Boyer and Nissenbaum explain that as tensions between the two groups unfolded, “they followed deeply etched factional fault lines that, in turn, were influenced by anxieties and by differing levels of engagement with and access to the political and commercial opportunities unfolding in Salem Town.” As a result of increasing hostility, western villagers accused eastern neighbors of witchcraft.

But some critics including Benjamin C. Ray have called Boyer and Nissenbaum’s socio-economic theory into question . For one thing –the map they were using has been called into question. He writes: “A review of the court records shows that the Boyer and Nissenbaum map is, in fact, highly interpretive and considerably incomplete.” Ray goes on:

Contrary to Boyer and Nissenbaum’s conclusions in Salem Possessed, geo graphic analysis of the accusations in the village shows there was no significant villagewide east-west division between accusers and accused in 1692. Nor was there an east-west divide between households of different economic status.

On the other hand, the physiological theories for the mass hysteria and witchcraft accusations include both fungus poisoning and undiagnosed encephalitis.

Linnda Caporael argues that the girls suffered from convulsive ergotism, a condition caused by ergot, a type of fungus, found in rye and other grains. It produces hallucinatory, LSD-like effects in the afflicted and can cause victims to suffer from vertigo, crawling sensations on the skin, extremity tingling, headaches, hallucinations, and seizure-like muscle contractions. Rye was the most prevalent grain grown in the Massachusetts area at the time, and the damp climate and long storage period could have led to an ergot infestation of the grains.

One of the more controversial theories states that the girls suffered from an outbreak of encephalitis lethargica , an inflammation of the brain spread by insects and birds. Symptoms include fever, headaches, lethargy, double vision, abnormal eye movements, neck rigidity, behavioral changes, and tremors.  In her 1999 book, A Fever in Salem , Laurie Winn Carlson argues that in the winter of 1691 and spring of 1692, some of the accusers exhibited these symptoms, and that a doctor had been called in to treat the girls. He couldn’t find an underlying physical cause, and therefore concluded that they suffered from possession by witchcraft, a common diagnoses of unseen conditions at the time.

The controversies surrounding the accusations, trials, and executions in Salem, 1692, continue to fascinate historians and we continue to ask why, in a society that should have known better, did this happen? Economic and physiological causes aside, the Salem witchcraft trials continue to act as a parable of caution against extremism in judicial processes.

Editor’s note: This post was edited to clarify that Salem Village was where the accusations began, not where the trials took place.

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Salem Witch Trials: Primary Sources

The primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials offer a wealth of information on these infamous trials.

These sources include official court records as well as several books, diaries and letters written by the various people involved in the trials.

Many of these primary sources were published in the latter half of 1692, while the trials were still going on.

Hoping to stop further arrests and to calm the hysteria, Governor Phips banned the publication of all books regarding the Salem Witch Trials in late October of 1692, as he explained in a letter to William Blathwayt of the Privy Council:

“I have also put a stop to the printing of any discourses one way or another, that may increase the needless disputes of people upon this occasion, because I saw a likelihood of kindling an inextinguishable flame if I should admit any public and open contests.”

Many historians have pointed out that this ban is essentially the first government cover up in American history and was designed to stifle the growing opposition to the trials because it was a threat to the government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

The majority of these primary sources were critical of the trials and made strong arguments against how the trials were conducted.

In order to defend its actions, the Massachusetts government asked Boston minister Cotton Mather to write a book about the trials in which he justified the trials and the way they were conducted.

Mather’s book was published in late October of 1692, after the ban had taken affect but included a disclaimer explaining that the book was authorized by the colonial government.

Even though the ban was in effect, it couldn’t stop the circulation of some unpublished letters criticizing the trials and the ban was eventually broken with the publications of various books by people who were either involved in or had witnessed the events of the trials.

The following is a list of primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials:

(Disclaimer: This article contains Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

♦ A Brief and True Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages Relating to Sundry Persons Afflicted by Witchcraft, at Salem Village by Deodat Lawson

Published in 1692, this 10-page narrative by Deodat Lawson is about Lawson’s personal observations of the events at Salem in the spring of 1692.

Lawson had a personal interest in Salem because he had been the minister at Salem Village from 1687 to 1688 but was denied the position of full minister after several parishioners objected to his permanent tenure as a result of ongoing disputes between the parishioners.

The narrative was written after Lawson had been invited to Salem to serve as a guest preacher for the sabbath service on March 20, 1692 and his sermon was interrupted several times by some of the afflicted girls in attendance.

Since this type of behavior was so unusual for young children in Puritan society, Lawson decided to dig deeper into the events at Salem village and, as a result, wrote what became the first eyewitness account of the Salem Witch Trials.

After spending a month in Salem, Parris returned to Boston where the manuscript was published by Boston publisher Benjamin Harris and “sold at his shop, over-against the Old-Meeting-House.,1692.”

In 1704, Lawson wrote another account of the Salem Witch Trials, a sermon titled “Christ’s Fidelity the only Shield against Satan’s Malignity,” aka “Witchcraft in Salem,” which was published in London in 1704.

♦ Robert Pike Letter to Judge Jonathan Corwin

On August 9, 1692, Robert Pike, the Massachusetts Bay councilor and Salisbury magistrate, wrote a personal letter to Judge Corwin expressing his concerns with the admission of spectral evidence in the trials.

In the letter, Pike argues that spectral evidence is unreliable because these alleged visions and apparitions are “more commonly false and delusive than real, and cannot be known when they are real and when feigned.”

Pike goes on to argue that spectral evidence is considered unreliable evidence for three specific reasons:

1. Apparitions and visions are sometimes caused by delusion. 2. The devil himself can appear in the shape of a person without their knowledge. 3. Even if an apparition was real, it is impossible to know whether it is real or a delusion.

Pike also points out how illogical it is that these accused witches would plead innocent but then incriminate themselves by using witchcraft openly in the courtroom, as the accusers stated they were doing, and suggests that the accusers were delusional or possibly possessed.

It is not known what Corwin thought of the letter since there is no record of a reply or response.

Although Pike previously supported the testimony of several accusers against Salisbury native Susannah Martin, he eventually came out against the Salem Witch Trials and also signed an affidavit in defense of another accused Salisbury woman, Mary Bradbury, who was his son’s mother-in-law.

Pike’s letter to Corwin was later republished in a number of books, such as Salem Witchcraft by Charles W. Upham and The New Puritan: New England Two Hundred Years Ago by James Shephard Pike.

♦ Thomas Brattle’s Letter to an Unnamed Clergyman

On October 8, 1692, Thomas Brattle, a Boston merchant, wrote a letter to an unnamed English clergyman in which he criticized the Salem Witch Trials.

In the letter, Brattle criticizes the methods in which the accused are examined, points out the unreliablity of confessions from the accused, denounces the use of spectral evidence and criticizes the practice of relying on the “afflicted girls” for information on suspected witches.

Brattle supports his argument against spectral evidence by stating that it is actually the work of the devil:

“I think it will appear evident to any one, that the Devil’s information is the fundamental testimony that is gone upon in the apprehending of the aforesaid people…Liberty was evermore accounted the great priviledge of an Englishman; but certainly, if the Devil will be heard against us, and his testimony taken, to the seizing and apprehending us, our liberty vanishes, and we are fools if we boast our liberty.”

Brattle also argues that consulting with the afflicted girls for information on their alleged supernatural knowledge is absurd:

“It is true, I know no reason why these afflicted may not be consulted as well as any other, if so be that it was only their natural and ordinary knowledge that was had recourse to: but it is not on this notion that these afflicted children are sought onto; but as they have a supernatural knowledge; a knowledge which they obtain by their holding correspondence with spectres and evill spirits, as they themselves grant. This consulting of these afflicted children, as abovesaid, seems to me to be a very grosse evill, a real abomination, not fitt to be known in N.E.”

The letter circulated widely in Boston at the time and continues to be studied due to its reasoned and secular arguments against the trials.

The letter was later published in a number of books, such as Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases 1648-1706 by George Lincoln Burr and What Happened in Salem: Documents Pertaining to the 17th Century Witchcraft Trials by David Levin.

♦ Some Miscellany Observations on Our Present Debates Regarding Witchcraft in a Dialogue Between S & B by P.E. And J.A.

Published in mid-October of 1692, this 16-page book by Samuel Willard criticizes the use of spectral evidence in the Salem Witch Trials.

The book is structured as a debate between “S and B,” which stands for Salem and Boston, with Willard’s views being represented by Boston.

While both sides agree that witches exist, Boston argues that the accused witches should only be convicted if sufficient evidence is found while Salem argues that spectral evidence is sufficient.

Boston goes on to argue that spectral evidence is insufficient because the afflicted girls are possessed, not bewitched, but Salem argues that they were indeed bewitched because they display the “seven signs of one bewitched.”

Boston then counters that this argument is tricky because it is possible to be both bewitched and possessed at the same time:

“I dispute not that ; though I find force to be very confused in this point : but supposing them bewitched, they may be possessed too: and it is an ordinary thing for a possession to be introduced by a bewitching, as there are many instances in history do confirm.”

The book was published under assumed names to protect Willard from being prosecuted. The initials “P.E. And J.A.” are the initials of Philip English and John Alden who were two accused witches who had fled Salem.

The book was also listed as having been published in Philadelphia when it was actually published in Boston as another way to avoid prosecution.

The book is located in the records of the Massachusetts Historical Society and is also available on the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project website.

♦ The Wonders of the Invisible World: Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England by Cotton Mather

Published in October of 1692, this book by Boston minister Cotton Mather discusses a number of witchcraft cases in New England during the 17th century, including the Salem Witch Trials.

The book is considered both a justification for and an official defense of the verdicts in the Salem Witch Trials.

In the book, Mather states that New England is under attack by the Devil and argues these instances of witchcraft are proof of that claim.

Mather goes on to explain that a witch who had been executed 40 years prior had warned the Massachusetts Bay Colony of a “horrible plot against the country by witchcraft” which Mather states finally seems to have been uncovered in Salem, the first settlement of the colony:

“And we have now with horror seen the discovery of such witchcraft! An army of devils is horribly broke in upon the place which is the center, and after a sort, the first-born of our English settlements.”

The book contains descriptions of the six most notorious cases of witchcraft: George Burrough, Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Martha Carrier and a witchcraft case in England against Rose Cullender and Amy Duny.

Although Mather wasn’t directly involved in the Salem Witch Trials, he gave the judges advice on what is considered acceptable evidence of witchcraft by the church, attended some of the executions and even intervened in one of the executions after Reverend George Burroughs recited the Lord’s Prayer perfectly upon the ladder and dissent began to grow in the crowd.

After Burroughs was pushed off the ladder and hanged, Mather reassured the crowd that Burroughs wasn’t an ordained minister and that he was in fact guilty, which seemed to appease them and allowed the remaining executions that day to continue.

Some historians argue that the book doesn’t reflect how Mather really felt about the trials since his personal letters and diaries reflect a much more cautious view of spectral evidence and of the trials in general.

Robert Calef points out, in his own book More Wonders of the Invisible World, that Mather’s language in the book shows that the work was actually more propaganda than it was a historical account and that Mather wrote it as he did solely to please the government officials who had appointed him to write it:

“Martin is called one of the most impudent, scurrilous, wicked creatures in the world; in his account of Martha Carrier, he is pleased to call her a rampant hag, & c. These expressions, as they manifest that he wrote more like an advocate than an historian, so also that those that were his employers were not mistaken in their choice of him for that work…” Calef (276).

The Wonders of the Invisible World was the first official book ever written on the Salem Witch Trials and was only published because it was officially authorized and commissioned by the Massachusetts colonial government.

♦ More Wonders of the Invisible World by Robert Calef

Written in 1697 and published in 1700, this book by Boston cloth merchant Robert Calef denounces the Salem Witch Trials and Cotton Mather’s role in it.

The book was written as a response to Cotton Mather’s book Wonders of the Invisible World and contains evidence not presented in the trials, such as the juror’s apologies and some of the accuser’s confessions of lying.

The book also criticizes the use of spectral evidence and criticizes Puritans for their “unscriptual” belief in witches, arguing that the Bible makes no mention of witchcraft and therefore gives no basis for the existence of witches’ pacts with the devil.

Calef then concludes the book by stating that Mather’s actions were “highly criminal” and his beliefs in witches and witchcraft made him “guilty of of sacrilege in the highest nature…”

The book consists of five parts: Part 1: Cotton Mather’s account of Margaret Rule from the fall of 1693; Part 2: Letters to Mather and his reply relating to witchcraft; Part 3: The conflict between the Salem village residents and Samuel Parris; Part IV: Letters discussing whether the recent opinions about witchcraft are orthodox; Part V: a short history of the Salem Witch Trials written by Cotton Mather.

Calef wrote the book after a visit to Salem in the spring and summer of 1692, during which he witnessed and described many of the events of the trials, such as some of the executions.

In fact, Calef’s description of the execution site was one of many sources that later helped researchers identify Proctor’s Ledge as the site of the hangings in 2016.

The book was printed in London in 1700 and then later reprinted in Salem in 1823.

♦ Cause of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits by Increase Mather

Published around November or December of 1692, but postdated to 1693 to comply with Phip’s ban, this book by Increase Mather criticizes the court’s use of spectral evidence and other evidence, such as the touch test.

In the book, Mather argued that specters could take the shape of innocent people and therefore rendered spectral evidence invalid. Mather referenced scriptures from the Bible and historical stories to illustrate his point:

“Argu I. There are several scriptures from which we may infer the possibility of what is affirmed. I. We find that the devil by the instigation of the witch at Endor appeared in the likeness of the prophet Samuel…But that is was a demon represent Samuel has been evidenced by learned and orthodox writers: especially (e) Peter Martyr, (f) Balduinus, (t) Lavater, and our incomparable John Rainolde…And that evil angels have sometimes appeared in the likeness of of living absent persons is a thing abundantly confirmed in history…Paulus and Palladius did both of them profess to Austin, that one in his shape had divers times, and in divers places appeared them (k) Thyreus; mentions several apparitions of absent living persons, which happened in his time…Nevertheless, it is evident from another scripture, viz, that in, 2 Cor 11. 14. For Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light. He seems to be what he is not, and makes others seem to be what they are not…Third scripture to our purpose is that, in Re: 12 10 where the devil is called the accuser of the brethren…”

Mather also argues that another cause of these visions and specters is that the afflicted persons might be possessed by evil spirits.

Overall, Mather’s main problem with the use of this spectral evidence is the religious consequences of it:

“To take away the life of any one; meerly because a spectre or devil, in a bewitched or possessed person does accuse them, will bring the guilt of the innocent blood on the land.”

Mather finished writing the book on October 3, 1692 and sent it to Governor Phips and presented a summary of the book to the assembly of ministers in Boston for their approval.

The manuscript circulated widely in Boston before it was finally published. Before its publication, Mather added a postscript that strongly supported the use of confessions as evidence, stating:

“More than one or two of those now in prison, have freely and credibly acknowledged their communion and and familiarity with the spirits of darkness.”

♦ Truth Held Forth & Maintained by Thomas Maule

Published in 1695, this 260 pamphlet by Salem shopkeeper Thomas Maule criticizes the Puritan leaders of Massachusetts Bay for their treatment of Quakers and for their mismanagement of the Salem Witch Trials.

In the pamphlet, Maule criticizes the use of spectral evidence in the trials, argues that many of the accused witch’s confessions were forced and states that God would adversely judge the prosecutors of the Salem Witch Trials.

On December 14, 1695, Sheriff George Corwin arrested Maule for printing the pamphlet “without license of authority”, and seized the 31 copies in his possession. Corwin then took Maule to the Salem jail and then burned the confiscated copies (Hildeburn 305.)

On December 16, 1695, Maule was brought before the council for printing the book but refused to answer any questions. The remaining copies were ordered to be burned.

Maule was finally tried in 1696 and acquitted of all charges.

♦ A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft by John Hale

Written in 1697 and published posthumously in 1702, this book by John Hale, who was the pastor of the Church of Christ in Beverly, Mass, is a critique of the Salem Witch Trials.

The book discusses various witchcraft cases in New England from 1648 to 1692 and includes the events that led up to the Salem Witch Trials, many of which Hale witnessed firsthand.

Some of the events described in the book include how some of the “afflicted girls” dabbled in folk magic and fortune-telling techniques shortly before they became ill, what the afflicted girls symptoms were, how Tituba baked a “witch cake” with the help of a neighbor to identify who was bewitching the girls, how Tituba’s confession prompted officials to examine more suspects and also includes brief mentions of other accused Salem witches.

Hale concludes the book by stating that it was Satan, not witches, who hurt and tormented the afflicted girls.

Hale first became involved in the Salem Witch Trials when, on March 11, 1692, he was asked by Reverend Samuel Parris to observe the afflicted girls symptoms in order to determined what was wrong with them.

Hale later attended many of the court cases, often prayed with the accused and supported the work of the court but ultimately reconsidered his support when his wife, Sarah Noyes Hale, was herself accused of the crime on November 14, 1692.

♦ Court Records

The court records from the Salem Witch Trials include examinations of the accused witches, depositions, testimonies, petitions, formal examinations, arrest warrants and death warrants.

These court records are available on the website of the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project and were also published in a book, titled The Salem Witchcraft Papers which was edited by Paul S. Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum.

♦ The Cotton Mather Papers

Reverend Cotton Mather was a prolific writer and kept a diary from 1681-1724, wrote and published numerous sermons, and wrote many letters.

Mather’s collection of papers include a number of letters and diary entries related to the Salem Witch Trials, such as his many letters to the judges of the trials, his letters to the other ministers involved in the trials and his letters to his grandfather, John Cotton.

Some of Mather’s letters were later published in a multi-volume book, titled The Mather Papers and his diary was published in a book, titled Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681-1724 , along with many of his letters.

Mather’s letters to the Salem judges and to his grandfather are also available on the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project website.

Mather’s entire collection of papers are also located in the records of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

♦ Samuel Parris’ Sermons

Reverend Samuel Parris, pastor of the Salem Village church, delivered a series of sermons between 1689 and the autumn of 1692 related to the Salem Witch Trials.

Some historians have accused Parris of causing the Salem Witch Trials by preaching many frightening and foreboding sermons that may have possibly caused panic among his anxious and stressed parishioners.

For example, in his March 27, 1692 sermon, Parris preached that the Devil had infiltrated the church:

“Our Lord Jesus Christ knows how many Devils there are in his Church, & who they are…. What is meant here by Devils. One of you is a Devil. And by Devil is ordinarily meant any wicked Angel or Spirit: Sometimes it is put for the Prince or head of the evil Spirits, or fallen Angels. Sometimes it is used for vile & wicked persons, the worst of such, who for their villany & impiety do most resemble Devils & wicked Spirits.”

Parris’ sermons are in his manuscript sermon notebook, located in the records of the Connecticut Historical Society, and were also published in a book, titled The Sermon Notebook of Samuel Parris, 1689-1694 , which was edited by James F. Cooper and Kenneth P. Minkema.

♦ Salem Village Church Record Books

Like many churches, the Salem Village church kept records of the events at the church and the people involved. The records were written by the pastor of the church at the time.

Samuel Parris served as the pastor from 1689 to 1696 and wrote all of the records from that time period. He was replaced by Joseph Green, who wrote all of the records from 1697 to 1753 during the aftermath of the Salem Witch Trials.

The records describe events such as Mary Sibley’s confession to the congregation that she had instructed Tituba to bake what was later described as a “witch cake” in order to find out who was bewitching the afflicted girls.

Parris’ records also mention the absence of many of the dissenting parishioners during and after the trials, the excommunication of Martha Corey after her conviction of witchcraft and the efforts by some of the parishioners to remove Parris from his position due to his involvement in the trials.

Green’s records mention the failed attempt to revoke Martha Corey’s excommunication in 1702, Ann Putnam’s confession in 1706 to being “made an instrument for ye accuseing of severall persons of a grievous crime” during the trials and the successful attempt to revoke Martha Corey’s excommunication in 1707.

The Salem Village Church record books are in the Danvers Archival Center, First Church Collection, in Danvers, Mass and were also published in a book, titled Salem-Village Witchcraft which was edited by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum.

♦ Diary of Samuel Sewall

Samuel Sewall was one of the judges of the court of Oyer and Terminer, which was a special court set up to hear the Salem Witch Trials cases.

Sewall kept a diary, from 1672 to 1729, in which he described many of the events of the trials, such as Giles Corey’s death, the confession of Dorcas Hoar, the dismissal of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, his meetings the following year with some of the surviving accused witches, and his public apology for his role in the trials.

All 11 volumes of Sewall’s diaries are located in the records of the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, Massachusetts and were also later published in a multi-volume book, titled the Diary of Samuel Sewall.

Selected excerpts of Sewall’s diaries related specifically to the Salem Witch Trials, from volume five of his diary, are available on the website of the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project.

For more info on this topic, check out the following articles on Salem Witch Trials secondary sources , the best Salem Witch Trials books and Salem Witch Trials websites .

Sources: Calef, Robert. More Wonders of the Invisible World. Salem: Cushing and Appleton, 1823. Hildeburn, Charles R. “Printing in New York in the Seventeenth Century.” The American Historical Magazine , Vol 3, The Americana Society, 1908. 304-305. Rosenthal, Bernard. Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692. Cambridge University Press, 1993. Hill, Frances. The Salem Witch Trials Reader. DaCapo Press, 2000. Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. Edited by George Lincoln Burr, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914. Ray, Benjamin C. Satan and Salem: The Witch-Hunt Crisis of 1692. University of Virginia Press, 2015. Miller, Jon. “Deodat Lawson, ‘Witchcraft in Salem’ (1704).” Jon Miller , www.jonmiller.org/materials/2006/05/deodat_lawson_w.html Goss, David K. Documents of the Salem Witch Trials . ABC-CLIO, 2018. “Samuel Sewall Diaries, 1672-1729.” Massachusetts Historical Society, www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0243 “17th Century Documents & Books.” Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, University of Virginia, salem.lib.virginia.edu/17docs.html “Deodat Lawson: A Brief and True Narrative.” History Department , Hanover College, history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/212law.html “A Guide to the On-Line Primary Sources of the Salem Witch Trials.” 17th Century Colonial New England, www.17thc.us/primarysources/

2 thoughts on “ Salem Witch Trials: Primary Sources ”

This is a really good cite. Great from NHD thank you.

Thank you! As a descendant of Mary (TOWNE) ESTEY, I have a verify, verify, verify approach to family history and primary sources are always part of the quest.

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83 Salem Witch Trials Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best salem witch trials topic ideas & essay examples, ⭐ good research topics about salem witch trials, 👍 simple & easy salem witch trials essay titles, ❓ salem witch trials research questions.

• Why Abigail Williams Is Blamed for the Salem Witch Trials This essay is going to analyze the reasons why Abigail Williams is to be blamed for the Salem witch trials and dreadful hangings. The narcissism and egocentrism of Abigail lead her to accuse others.
• The Salem Witch Trials: A Time of Fear The outbreak began with the sudden and rather unusual illness of the daughter and niece of the local Reverend Samuel Parris.
• Salem Witchcraft Hysteria: Crime Against Women In the “Was the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria a Product of Women’s Search for Power?” Kyle Koehler and Laurie Winn Carlson present the “pro” and “cons” arguments for this claim.
• Witch Trials. Salem Possessed by Boyer and Nissenbaum Let us recall that the greater part of the complaints during the trials came from the Salem Village and the greater part of the accused came from Salem Town and the pattern of economic and […]
• Salem Witch Trials: Differeenses From in Europe Witch trials in the new colonies of America were not a unique phenomenon in world history but the events of 1692 in Salem Massachusetts differed in scope and circumstances from in Europe, the origin of […]
• The Salem Witch Trials in American History Blame ranges from the devil initially to puritan ministers encouraging the witch mania to bring support for the Church, and to the ideology of Puritanism itself, a strong belief that everything strange is the work […]
• The Grave Injustices of the Salem Witchcraft Trials These thoughts enforced the belief in the existence of witchcraft in New England. The people of New England were in the middle of a war with the Indians.
• The Salem Witch Trials History Salem is a village in Massachusetts, which is a state in the New England region, in the North East of the United States of America.
• Witchcraft Accusations, Trials, and Hysteria in Border Regions and Rural Areas in Western Europe To a great extent, this phenomenon can be attributed to the following factors: 1) official recognition of witchcraft and the activities of religious zealots who inspired the persecution of many people; 2) the stereotypes and […]
• Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials As much as these trials can be referred to as the Salem trials, initial hearings were conducted in a number of towns in 1692.
• Through Women’s Eyes: Salem Witch Trial The accusers took advantage of the ignorance of the people to make them believe that it was indeed supernatural causes which made the town of Salem suffer.
• Salem Witch Trials Causes The writers explain that the problem began in the year 1691 and was marked by the behaviour of some girls in the same village who were involved in fortune telling.
• Salem Witch Trials and Civil Rights Movement
• The Infamous Salem Witch Trials
• Behavior, Expectation, and Witch-Hunting During the Salem Witch Trials
• Origins, Consequences, and Legacy of the Salem Witch Trials
• The History, Causes, and Effects of the Salem Witch Trials
• Reasons for Salem Witch Trials
• Salem Witch Trials and Innocent People
• Witchcraft and the Salem Witch Trials
• Discrimination and the Salem Witch Trials
• The Facts and Fictions of the Salem Witch Trials
• The Salem Witch Trials of Colonial History
• Religion, Social Norms, and the Salem Witch Trials
• The Psychic Crisis Theory of the Salem Witch Trials
• Salem Witch Trials and Religious Superstition
• Historical References From the Salem Witch Trials
• Mass Hysteria During the Salem Witch Trials
• The Salem Witch Trials on Society and Religious Belief
• Witchcraft and the Puritan Lifestyle in Salem During the Late 1600s in the Salem Witch Trials, a Book by Lori Lee Wilson
• Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism in America
• Factors That Influence the Salem Witch Trials
• Salem Witch Trials and the Great Tragedy
• Elizabeth Proctor and the Salem Witch Trials
• Hygiene During the Salem Witch Trials
• Cause, Effect, and Importance of the Salem Witch Trials
• Persecution and the Salem Witch Trials
• Individuals Who Played Different Roles in the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts
• Salem Witch Trials and Modern Satanic Trials
• McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials
• Puritanism and Salem Witch Trials
• Salem Witch Trials and Convulsive Ergotism
• The Events and History of Salem Witch Trials
• Anthropological and Sociological Effects of Puritanism and the 1692 Salem Witch Trials
• Primary Sources for the Salem Witch Trials
• The Salem Witch Trials and the Women Victims
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• Belonging: Salem Witch Trials and Society
• The Factors That Influenced Salem Witch Trials
• Horror During the Salem Witch Trials
• Crucible: Salem Witch Trials and American Society
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• What Social Problem Did the Salem Witch Trials and Executions Solve?
• Why and How Did the Salem Witch Trials Happen?
• What Effect Did the Salem Witch Trials Have on American Literature?
• Was Abigail Williams Solely Responsible for the Salem Witch Trials?
• What Do the Salem Witch Trials Reveal About Gender and Power in the 17th Century in the US?
• How Did the Puritans Affect the Trials of the Salem Witch?
• What Was Ann Putnum’s Point of View About the Salem Witch Trials?
• Were Salem Witch Trials a Peculiar Aberrant Moment in an Age of Superstition or Were They Something Else?
• What Part Did Gender Roles Play During the Salem Witch Trials?
• How Did the Salem Witch Trials Impact Modern Culture?
• What Impact Did the Puritan’s Religious and Social Culture Have on the Proceedings of the Salem Witch Trials?
• Were the Salem Witch Trials Spurred by Food Poisoning?
• What Were the Causes and Effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
• How Do the Salem Witch Trials Relate to the Changes Occurring During the Late 17th Century in Colonial British America?
• What Caused the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria?
• How Did the Salem Witch Trials Go Down?
• What Happened During the Salem Witch Trials?
• How Were McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials Related?
• What Was the Significance of the Salem Witch Trials?
• Is the Movie ‘the Crucible’ Historically Accurate to the Salem Witch Trials of 1693?
• How Were Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Cloyce Arrested During the Salem Witch Trials?
• What Were the Underlying Causes of the Persecution of People During the Salem Witch Trials?
• Do the Salem Witch Trials Which Occurred in 1662 and 1663 Have an Explanation Other Than Superstition and Religion?
• How the Salem Witch Trials Affected How We View Witches Today?
• What Was the Best Way to Avoid Trial and Execution for Witchcraft During the Salem Witch Trials?
• Are Witch Trials Legitimate Today? Was It Legal in the Period of the Salem Witch Trials?
• What Were the Events That Led to the Salem Witch Trials?
• Had the Puritan Religion Itself Been the Real Culprit in the Salem Witch Trials?
• How Does the Author Laurie Winn Carlson Speak About the Salem Witch Trials?
• What Did the Leaders of Salem Have to Gain Through the Exposure of So-Called Witches?
• Belief Questions
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The Salem Witch Trials Essay

In the British colony, Massachusetts, witchcraft hysteria broke out between February 1692 and May 1693, resulting in the execution of twenty people and the jailing of 342 people. The Salem Witch Trials began after young girls in Salem claimed to be possessed by the Devil and started holding local women of Salem accountable of witchcraft. The effects the Salem Witch Trials had on the colony were separation of the church and the state and mass hysteria. In the 17th century, witchcraft was a serious crime, and convicted witches could be put to death.

The following will discuss what the Salem Witch trials were, what happened during the time frame, and how it shaped Salem Village after it ended. The Salem Witch Trials were a chain of hearings and prosecutions of people held accountable for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. When a group of young girls began to display bizarre behaviors such as seizures, screaming, and trans-like states without physical symptoms of illness, the villagers of Salem believed it was the work of the Devil.

The girls blamed the way they were acting on witchcraft, and also named three women who cast spells on them: Tituba, a slave who told the girls witchcraft stories, Sarah Good, A beggar, and Sarah Osborne, an old lady who only went to church occasionally. Not just women were accused of witchcraft, men were also accused. For example, on April 11th, 1692 John Proctor was the first man arrested and held accountable for witchcraft. Although it was known as the Salem Witch Trials, several counties, such as Andover, were involved.

The Puritan lifestyle was very strict, and the slightest change in behavior, missing church for instance, a rose suspicion. People were so caught up with the idea of witches and witchcraft, when they had little knowledge of misfortunes, like sickness or death, they blamed supernatural forces. The disasters were believed to be upon them through supernatural forces, like witchcraft. The powerful beliefs of witchcraft and witches were brought by the English to America; it was part of their belief system and culture, which was passed from generation to generation and responsible for the Salem Witch Trials.

In the small Salem Village, the villagers were quick to blame witchcraft when Reverend Parris’ and several other girls were affected by seizures and lapses into unconsciousness, especially when they learned the girls had been messing with fortunetelling with Tituba. Only Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne were accused at first, but shortly after the witch hunt grew until some of Salem’s most prominent citizens stood accused. Historians believe that the causes of the witch trials had to deal with social and economical animosity behind the accusations, but mostly mass hysteria was the main culprit.

The accusations were not considered unusual because witchcraft beliefs were very strong in this time period. Witches were regular people whose pride, envy, or greed apparently led them to make a pact with the Devil. The people held accountable for witchcraft were claimed to use supernatural powers to torment their neighbors by causing illness, destroying property, or possessing the victim’s body and mind. The fear of witchcraft in the village of Salem overrode doubts about the young girls’ credibility and led local judges to put aside normal procedural safeguards. Judges ignored the law’s ban on “spectral evidence”.

Spectral evidence is a spirit resembling the accused had been seen harming a victim. The number of witchcraft accusations rose to 342 witches sitting in jail. More than half of the girls accusing people of witchcraft were between the ages of eleven to twenty most were servants in other family households. The fear of witchcraft broke ties between families and friends. For example, a minister’s own granddaughter had him condemned. During this time 50 people were able to save themselves by giving false confessions, the twenty others whom refused to confess were executed.

Governor William Phips forbid any more imprisonments of witchcraft in October 1692. Shortly after he suspended all the trials in 1693, he pardoned all the convicted people of witchcraft. This ended the Salem Witch Trials in May 1693. How did the Salem Witch Trials affect Salem and America? In January 1697, Massachusetts’ General Court announced a day of fasting specifically for the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. The Court deemed the trails unlawful and illegitimate. The ending of the Salem Witch Trials created a good closure in the community. In 1957, the last witches’ names were cleared.

The people e had realized their mistakes of accusations and made a memorial honoring the deaths of the people accused of witchcraft in 1992. The impact of hysteria is still amongst us today and has not gone away. The Salem Witch Trials have become the focus in many books such as crucible by Arthur Miller. The Salem Witch Trials split apart families, and made life difficult for the accused. Daily chores, like harvesting, were neglected during the Salem Witch Trials. The colonist of Salem, Massachusetts felt ashamed and remorseful about the witch trials.

Colonist began to suffer many misfortunes, and thought God was punishing them for their mistake. Out of all the accusers in the Salem Witch Trials only one girl apologized. Ann Putnam Jr. apologized in 1706 for her part in the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials is a very memorable event in Salem, Massachusetts in the 17th century and also had a very strong impact on American History. Throughout the Salem Witch Trials, hundreds were accuse and most were hung. Friends and families were turned against each other. In this essay | discussed, what the Salem trials were, what happened during the Salem Trials, and how it affected Salem.

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Joe Locke’s Marvel Character Explained: Who He’s Playing In Agatha All Along

I’m furious all over again about scarlet witch's mcu fate after new marvel show footage, scarlet witch’s mcu fate finally confirmed in universe.

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• This technique suggests Agatha All Along will be copying WandaVision , which explored a different time period and sitcom style in each of its episodes.
• It seems unlikely that WandaVision's next spinoff, the MCU's Vision series, will follow this same technique.

WandaVision's first spinoff, Marvel Television's upcoming Agatha All Along , is expected to copy one of the best parts of the Scarlet Witch's original MCU series. Kathryn Hahn's return as original Salem witch Agatha Harkness is very exciting, as she had a fantastic debut in 2021's WandaVision opposite Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch. Agatha All Along isn't expected to include Wanda Maximoff, since she met her demise in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , but the upcoming series will still take a huge amount of inspiration from the Scarlet Witch's previous adventure.

The first trailers for Agatha All Along have revealed more about what promises to be an exhilarating and spooky series. Confirming the formation of a new coven of witches in Westview, Agatha All Along's trailers have shown Agatha Harkness' new coven on a journey down the fabled Witches' Road . This is a plane of existence reserved only for sorcerers, filled with dangerous threats and haunting creatures. The MCU's version of the Witches' Road has been altered, however, so using it could introduce a case-of-the-week format that would allow Agatha All Along to copy WandaVision in the best way.

Agatha All Along’s Witches’ Road Will Explore Many Different Styles & Themes

Agatha All Along's Witches' Road has been described as "a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they're missing." Agatha Harkness seemingly wants to use the Witches' Road to regain her power, which was stolen by the Scarlet Witch in WandaVision's finale , but she must face a series of trials and tribulations first. The series' trailers suggest that these trials take place in differently-themed settings, which draws comparison to WandaVision's own exploration of different styles and time periods.

Agatha All Along actor Joe Locke recently confirmed to Total Film that "each episode has a different classic horror/thriller film that it is basing itself off." While WandaVision explored different time periods, Agatha All Along will borrow themes from classic movies such as The Wizard of Oz, The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby and The Goonies . This is a brilliant way for WandaVision's themes to continue in its first MCU spinoff, and gives Kathryn Hahn and the full cast of Agatha All Along the chance to play with many different styles.

Who Joe Locke is playing in the MCU's upcoming Agatha All Along series, and how he's likely connected to Wanda Maximoff's Scarlet Witch explained.

WandaVision’s Exploration Of Different Time Periods Was Genius

While Agatha All Along will be taking inspiration from the styles of some classic horror and thriller movies, WandaVision borrowed its episodes' styles from different time periods and iconic TV sitcoms. Wanda Maximoff's love for sitcoms inspired the style of her world inside the Westview Hex , beginning in the 1950s, drawing from The Dick Van Dyke Show , before moving onto I Love Lucy and Bewitched in the 1960s, The Brady Bunch in the 1970s, Full House in the 1980s, Malcolm in the Middle in the 1990s, and Modern Family in the 2000s before catching up to the present day.

These style changes contributed to WandaVision becoming one of the most popular MCU projects in recent years.

Using this technique, WandaVision was able to deliver something new and exciting every week, and the series pulled this off to perfection. These style changes contributed to WandaVision becoming one of the most popular MCU projects in recent years, so it's a clever move for Agatha All Along to copy this technique. This is especially true as Agatha All Along will be harking back to classic movies, inciting the sense of nostalgia that WandaVision captured , while also being able to be as fantastical, ridiculous and unexpected as possible.

Will WandaVision’s Next Spinoff Also Copy Its Best Style Technique?

While Agatha All Along has been confirmed to be copying this technique from WandaVision , it's unclear whether the Phase 4 series' second spinoff will also do the same. Agatha All Along was led by WandaVision's Jac Schaeffer, meaning she could have retained some of the same styles and themes from WandaVision very easily . However, Schaeffer is not involved with Marvel Studios' upcoming Vision series , which will instead be run by Star Trek: Picard's Terry Matalas, meaning it could be far removed from WandaVision's original style.

Focusing on Paul Bettany's new white version of Vision also makes it difficult to imagine how the MCU's Vision series could follow this same style. Vision remained one of the few constants throughout WandaVision , as his design is very distinctive. It seems unlikely that the Vision series will be following the development of robotics and technology through the ages, or something to that effect, so it seems more believable that the series won't follow any overly-impressive style techniques . Luckily, Agatha All Along will give us our fill.

Agatha All Along

Agatha Harkness, after the events of "WandaVision," seeks to regain her magical powers. Joining forces with unexpected allies, including the son of an old adversary, she battles new mystical threats while uncovering hidden secrets in the magical realm.

Upcoming MCU Movies

Captain america: brave new world, thunderbolts*, the fantastic four (2025), blade (2025), avengers: doomsday, avengers: secret wars.