Do witches walk among us? The history of the Salem Witch Trials

What mental images does the word “witch” conjure up for you? It is an old, stooped over woman with a hideous wart on her nose wearing a ratty black dress and a black pointed hat? Is she carrying a broomstick? Or perhaps she’s clutching a black cat or a cauldron of bubbling green liquid? Chances are your perception of witches has been influenced by a combination of television, film, books, plays, and even Halloween costumes.

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There’s certainly been no lack of depictions of witches in popular culture; television shows such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Wizards of Waverly Place coupled with films like Hocus Pocus and Harry Potter, have all added to the characterization of witches and their magical powers, such as the ability to levitate, cast spells, and shapeshift into animals. Most people today would readily agree that witches don’t exist. But, throughout history, witches were believed to be a real and present danger to society, as evidenced by the Salem Witch Trials held in the late seventeenth century in Salem Village, located in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England.


Beginning between 1620 and 1630, Puritans, a persecuted Christian minority from England, traveled to the Americas in order to freely practice their faith. The Puritans settled in New England, which is located in the Northern United States. Life in New England was difficult. The weather was bleak and cold, and many settlers died of diseases. Because of their hardships, Puritans found structure and comfort in their religion and church, whose strict laws guided daily life. Communities were small and tight knit, so when anything unusual took place, it was not a secret for long. The events of the Salem Witch Trial transpired in one such Purtain village, Salem Village, which was poor and agricultural. There was a notorious feud between two families, the Porters and the Putnams, which, in turn, divided the village into those who favored the Porters and those who favored the Putnams. In 1689, Samuel Parris, a merchant turned pastor, arrived in Salem Village to preach in the village church. He brought along with him his wife, three children, his niece, and two slaves. Parris’ preaching style and ideology soon created division and disagreement in an already tense village. But, things were only about to get worse.

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In January 1692, Parris’ daughter, Betty, who was 9, and his niece Abigail, who was 11, began to act strangely. They screamed uncontrollably, threw things, writhed, made unusual sounds, and complained that they felt like they were being pinched, bit, and stabbed by needles. While a modern-day analysis of Betty and Abigail’s behavior may point to a number of illnesses, one interesting explanation was that the girls had perhaps eaten a rye product that had been contaminated with ergot fungus, which, when consumed, causes vomiting, choking, and hallucinations. However, when the erratic behavior began to spread to other girls and women in the village, concern mounted. The village doctor, unable to find a cure, declared that the girls had been afflicted by an evil, supernatural force.

Betty and Abigail claimed that Tituba, one of Parris’ slaves, had cursed them. Two other vulnerable women in the village, Sarah Good, a beggar, and Sarah Osborn, an old, feeble woman, were also blamed. Tituba, likely to evade the punishment of the Parris family, confessed that she had indeed made a deal with the devil and had even signed the devil’s book. She admitted that when she signed the book, she had seen Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn’s names as well as several names of others in the village. 

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Tituba’s shocking confession sparked mass hysteria in Salem Village. Soon, everyone was a target of witch accusations. Wives were turning against their husbands, daughters against their mothers, sons against their fathers. Social class offered no protection, with respectable figures in the community also being denounced as witches. Overall, the general trend was that the accused were considered enemies of the Putnams, while the accusers themselves were Putnam family members, supporting the argument that the witch hysteria was fueled in part by the Putnam/Porter rivalry.

The utter madness in Salem Village was so great, it attracted the attention of the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who ordered a special trial to take place to resolve the witch allegations once and for all. Seven judges were sat on the court, and the accused were given no legal representation. The accusers, meanwhile, continued the hysteria in court, even going so far to say they were being tortured by evil spirits sent upon them by the accused! Bystanders who realized the lunacy of the entire trial were fearful of speaking out, lest they themselves be accused of being witches. Ultimately, if a person accused of being a witch confessed, they were spared. If they insisted they were innocent, however, they were jailed or executed. In all, 19 “witches” were hung, 14 women, 5 men, as well as 2 dogs.

After the Salem Witch Trials had concluded, many judges and villages regretted their actions and felt guilty. Years later, most of the victims were exonerated from their crimes, and retribution was paid to the families of those who were killed during the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were an important reminder of the danger of rumors and senseless hysteria. Today, visitors can visit Salem, Massachusetts to learn more about the city’s history and remember those who were lost in a particularly dark time of American history.  


References:

https://www.salem.org/tours/

https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials

https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials/The-trials

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/colonial-america/colonial-north-america/a/puritan-new-england-plymouth

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/07/the-witches-of-salem


VOCABULARY

Conjure (v.)-to think up, to brainstorm

Stooped over (v.)-bent over

Ratty (adj.)-torn

Clutching (v.)-holding, grabbing something

Cauldron (n.)-a big pot

Depictions (n.)-images

Levitate (v.)-to fly

Persecuted (v.)-to be targeted or hunted (often by another group)

Bleak (adj.)-dark, hopeless, joyless

Tight-knit (adj.)-very close

Transpired (v.)-to happen, occur

Notorious (adj.)-famous, but in a negative context

Feud (n.)-dispute, disagreement

Writhed (v.)-to shake, spasm, oftentimes in a lot of pain

Hallucination (n.)-sensations, people, or other things that are not real, but you believe they are

Erratic (adj.)-unpredictable, without reason

Vulnerable (adj.)-weak, easily picked on

Mounted (v.)-to grow, increase

Feeble (adj.)-weak, old, frail

Hysteria (n.)-madness

Denounced (v.)-to betray

Lunacy (n.)-madness

Spared (v.)-to not be accused of or punished for something

Exonerated (v.)-to be free from guilt

Retribution (n.)-money paid to victims to apologize for a wrong action taken


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A Texas native, Bianca Navia is currently in her junior year at Arizona State University, pursuing a dual major in Political Science and Global Studies. She is most passionate about international affairs, diplomacy, foreign languages, traveling, and teaching. A fun fact about her? She’s the oldest of four sisters in a big Cuban-Italian-American family!


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