The Salem Witchcraft Trials

1
The Salem Witchcraft Trials

• Salem Village, Massachusetts
• 1692-1693

2
Events Enhancing the Witchcraft Hysteria

• Puritan religious beliefs predestination, the
  devil
• Small pox epidemic
• Nearby Tribal (Native American) warfare

3
The Beginning

• 1689 Samuel Parris and family move to Salem
  Village Village minister
• February 1692 Betty Parris (daughter) ill with
  strange symptoms
• Ann Putnam, Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott (friends)
  reveal odd behavior as well
• Tituba concocts cake made of urine and rye as
  counter magic
• Late February Tituba, Sara Good, and Sara Osborne
  accused of witchcraft

4
Symptoms of the Victims

• Creating grotesque poses
• Frozen poses
• Biting and pinching sensations
• Claimed to see witches flying in air
• Rotten food
• Animal birth deformities
• Violent Pains
• Speak in gibberish

5
The Arrest
Warrant for the arrest of Elizabeth Proctor and
Sarah Cloyce
6
The Dead

• 19 Convicted witches executed (hanged)
• 4 (accounted for) died in prison 13 more
  possible
• 1 pressed to death
• 100-200 others arrested and imprisoned
• 2 dogs killed as suspected accomplices

7
The End
Autumn 1692 doubts developed Writings of Increase
Mather and Samuel Willard influenced people Order
courts to exclude spectral evidenceguilt from
clear and convincing evidence Public
apologies Sir William Phips 1st Governor of
Massachusetts replaced by William Stoughton who
wanted to clear the land of witches