Salem Witch Trials

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Salem Witch Trials

• O Christian Martyr Who for Truth could die When
  all about thee Owned the hideous lie! The world,
  redeemed from superstition's sway, Is breathing
  freer for thy sake today.
• --Words written by John Greenleaf Whittier and
  inscribed on a monument marking the grave of
  Rebecca Nurse, one of the condemned "witches" of
  Salem.

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Witchcraft in Puritan Massachusetts

• June through September 1692
• Executions
• At least 19 men women were hanged
• 1 man pressed to death
• Hundreds were accused of witchcraft
• Dozens languished in jail for months
• Then it ended

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Why did it occur? Why Salem?

• Combination of
• Ongoing frontier war
• Economic conditions
• Congregational strife
• Teenage boredom
• Personal jealousies
• Gender Issues
• Witchcraft?

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Trouble Arrives?

• 1689 Samuel Parris became Village minister
• John Putnam invited
• Parris had been a marginally successful planter
  and merchant in Barbados
• Parris brought his family
• Wife Elizabeth, Betty, niece Abigail Williams,
  Indian slave Tituba

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Tidewater (S) vs. Piedmont (SV)

• Mercantile elite was developing
• Prominent people were less willing to be town
  leaders
• Putnams and Porters were competing for control of
  town and pulpit
• Debate over independence of Salem Village

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Witches Strike

• February 1692
• Betty Parris became strangely ill
• Dashed about, dove under furniture, contorted in
  pain, complained of fever
• Cotton Mather ? Memorable Providences
• Described suspected witchcraft of an Irish
  washerwoman in Boston
• DEVIL WAS CLOSE AT HAND!

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Witchcraft Spreads

• Friends of Betty Parris became similarly sick
• Ann Putnam (11)
• Mercy Lewis (17)
• Mary Walcott (17?)
• Dr. William Griggs failed to cure ? suggested
  possible supernatural causes

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Counter Magic

• Mary Sibley proposed to Tituba
• Bake a rye cake with the urine of the victim and
  feed the cake to a dog
• This brought more suspicion on Tituba
• Had told girls of omens, voodoo, witchcraft

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Meanwhile

• Number of afflicted girls continued to grow
• Ann Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon,
  and Mary Warren (now 7)
• Girls contorted into grotesque poses, fell down
  into frozen postures, and complained of
  biting/pinching sensations
• Affliction was turning into an village obsession

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Witch-hunt Begins

• Between Feb 25-29 arrest warrants for Tituba
• Betty Parris, and Abigail Williams named their
  afflictors
• Stories were remarkably similar
• Ann Putnam and Mercy Lewis began reporting
  witches flying through the winter mist
• Putnam family name gave credibility to
  accusations and impetus to prosecutions

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First 3 Accused

• Tituba
• Indian slave
• Sarah Good
• Beggar and social misfit who lived with various
  people
• Sarah Osborn
• Old, quarrelsome, had not attended church for
  over a year

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First Examinations

• Scheduled for Ingersolls tavern March 1, 1692
• Hundreds showed up so they moved to meeting house
• Girls described the attacks by the specters of
  the accused
• When in the presence of the witches the girls
  fell into a pattern of contortions
• Other villagers provided stories
• Food mysteriously spoiling, animals who were
  deformed after visits from the accused
• Magistrates
• Same questions repeatedly asked of each suspect
• Were they witches?
• Had they seen Satan?
• How, if they were not witches did they explain
  the contortions seemingly caused by their
  presence?
• Guilty until proven innocent?

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A Witch!

• First denied any guilt afraid of being the
  scapegoat
• Claimed she was approached by a tall man from
  Boston
• Devil
• She was a witch!
• And she, Good, Osborn, and two others had flown
  through the air on their poles
• Tituba became a central figure in the affair
• Confession silenced her skeptics ? and led to
  increased vigor in prosecutions

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Why the Hysteria Ended

• Doubts grow when respected citizens are convicted
  and executed
• Accusations of witchcraft include the powerful
  and well-connected
• The educated elite of Boston pressure Gov. Phips
  to exclude spectral evidence
• Gov. Phips disbands the Court of Oyer and Terminer

It were better that ten suspected witches should
escape than one innocent person should be
condemned. -Increase Mather
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Have We Learned the Lessons of Salem?

• What are the lessons?
• Have we had "modern-day witch hunts"?

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http//www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/splashx.ht
ml

• Read the Introduction
• Read the Prologue
• Experience the Trials
• interactive
• Read the Epilogue
• Ask the Expert
• Answer questions on following slide

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Questions

1. What is a witch cake?
2. Describe who were the judges in 1692.
3. Do you find Richard Trasks answer about how
   historians know history satisfactory? Explain.
4. Who is Richard Trask related to?
5. What was the population of Salem in 1692?
6. Combined, how many witches were executed in
   England and New England?
7. Why were two dogs hanged?
8. What is the definition of witchcraft?

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Warrant
Warrant for the arrest of Elizabeth Proctor and
Sarah Cloyce http//www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/proje
cts/ftrials/salem/ASAL_WA.HTM
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Map of Salem
Map of Salem Accusations, households,
etc http//jefferson.village.virginia.edu/7Ebcr/s
alem/salem.html http//www2.iath.virginia.edu/bc
r/salem/salem.html
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Trial Procedure
Procedure used in Salem Trials http//www.law.umkc
.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salemprocedure
.HTM
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Man of Iron
Man of Iron http//www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projec
ts/ftrials/salem/gilescoreypage.HTM
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Death Warrants
Death Warrants http//www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/pro
jects/ftrials/salem/ASAL_DE.HTM
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Youre Accused
Youre Accused http//www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/pro
jects/ftrials/salem/accused21.html
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Socratic Seminar Guidelines

• You are responsible for the seminar.
• Stick to the point currently under discussion
  make notes about ideas you want to come back to.
• Refer to the text when needed during the
  discussion.  A seminar is not a test of memory. 
• Discuss the ideas rather than each other's
  opinions.
• Do not stay confused ask for clarification.
• Don't raise hands take turns speaking.
• Talk to each other, not just to the teacher or
  the leader.
• Listen carefully and respectfully.
• Speak up so that everyone can hear you.
• Do not participate if you are not prepared. 

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Inner Circle/Outer Circle Dialogue
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The outbreak of witchcraft at Salem was simply a
religious hysteria. Assess the validity of this
statement.
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A Salem witchcraft style hysteria could never
happen again. Assess the validity of this
statement.
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What aspects of Puritan culture led them to
accuse, convict, and execute so many individuals
for witchcraft?
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Why have the Salem Witchcraft Trials remained so
memorable?