Full Answer
What were the court records of the Salem witch trials?
♦ 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.
What are the Salem Witchcraft Papers?
The Salem witchcraft papers: Verbatim transcripts of the legal documents of the Salem witchcraft outbreak of 1692. New York: De Capo Press. ^ Massachusetts Archives Collection, vol. 135, no. 121, p. 108.
Why were some books about the Salem witch trials banned?
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:
How many surviving documents are there from the Salem witch trials?
According to Salem Web , 552 of the original documents from the Salem Witch Trials have survived to the present day. Transcripts of the court proceedings can be found at the University of Virginia and on Salem Trials- Examinations of the Accused .
Are there records of the Salem witch trials?
Numerous newly discovered manuscripts, as well as records published in earlier books that were overlooked in other editions, offer a comprehensive narrative account of the events of 1692-93, with supplementary materials stretching as far as the mid-18th century.
How many victims of the witch trials were there in total?
The number of trials and executions varied according to time and place, but it is generally believed that some 110,000 persons in total were tried for witchcraft and between 40,000 to 60,000 were executed.
What counted as evidence in the Salem witch trials?
Courts relied on three kinds of evidence: 1) confession, 2) testimony of two eyewitnesses to acts of witchcraft, or 3) spectral evidence (when the afflicted girls were having their fits, they would interact with an unseen assailant – the apparition of the witch tormenting them).
Was Dorothy Good hanged?
Dorothy was in custody from March 24, 1692, when she was arrested until she was released on bond for £50 on December 10, 1692. She was never indicted or tried....Dorothy GoodRelativesMercy Good (1692–1692; sister)5 more rows
Where are the primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials?
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.
What happened to the accusers of the Salem witch trials?
More than two hundred people were accused. Thirty were found guilty, nineteen of whom were executed by hanging (fourteen women and five men). One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death for refusing to plead, and at least five people died in jail.
Were there male witches Salem?
During the famous Salem trials of 1692, six men were hanged as witches. Of these,four were related to female witches,and thus their cases support the generalisation that men were secondary targets of accusations. However, two of the men were not related to accused women.
Do witch-hunts still happen?
Witch-hunts are practiced today throughout the world. While prevalent world-wide, hot-spots of current witch-hunting are India, Papua New Guinea, Amazonia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Who was the first witch?
1632 – 10 June 1692) was the first person executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials in 1692. Nineteen were hanged, and one, Giles Corey, was pressed to death....Bridget BishopBornBridget Magnus c. 1632 EnglandDied10 June 1692 (aged c. 60) Salem, Colony of MassachusettsCause of deathExecution by hanging6 more rows
Is spectral evidence still used?
A new court convened in January 1693, to consider the remaining cases; this time, the use of spectral evidence was firmly limited. Almost all of those brought before the court were acquitted; and in May, Phips issued a general pardon, bringing the trials to an end.
When was the last person burned for witchcraft?
Janet Horne (died 1727) was the last person to be executed legally for witchcraft in the British Isles. The Witch's Stone in Littletown, Dornoch. Horne and her daughter were arrested in Dornoch in Sutherland and imprisoned on the accusations of her neighbours.
What happens when someone concludes that a loss, illness, or death had been caused by witchcraft?
After someone concluded that a loss, illness, or death had been caused by witchcraft, the accuser entered a complaint against the alleged witch with the local magistrates. If the complaint was deemed credible, the magistrates had the person arrested and brought in for a public examination —essentially an interrogation where the magistrates pressed the accused to confess.
What was Salem known for?
Salem Village (present-day Danvers, Massachusetts) was known for its fractious population, who had many internal disputes, and for disputes between the village and Salem Town (present-day Salem ). Arguments about property lines, grazing rights, and church privileges were rife, and neighbors considered the population as "quarrelsome." In 1672, the villagers had voted to hire a minister of their own, apart from Salem Town. The first two ministers, James Bayley (1673–79) and George Burroughs (1680–83), stayed only a few years each, departing after the congregation failed to pay their full rate. (Burroughs was subsequently arrested at the height of the witchcraft hysteria and was hanged as a witch in August 1692.)
What evidence was used against the accused?
Much, but not all, of the evidence used against the accused, was spectral evidence, or the testimony of the afflicted who claimed to see the apparition or the shape of the person who was allegedly afflicting them. The theological dispute that ensued about the use of this evidence was based on whether a person had to give permission to the Devil for his/her shape to be used to afflict. Opponents claimed that the Devil was able to use anyone's shape to afflict people, but the Court contended that the Devil could not use a person's shape without that person's permission; therefore, when the afflicted claimed to see the apparition of a specific person, that was accepted as evidence that the accused had been complicit with the Devil.
What was the most infamous application of the belief in effluvia?
The most infamous application of the belief in effluvia was the touch test used in Andover during preliminary examinations in September 1692. Parris had explicitly warned his congregation against such examinations. If the accused witch touched the victim while the victim was having a fit, and the fit stopped, observers believed that meant the accused was the person who had afflicted the victim. As several of those accused later recounted,
How old was Dorothy Good when she was accused of witchcraft?
Dorothy Good was four or five years old when she was accused of witchcraft.
When was the last trial in Massachusetts?
Although the last trial was held in May 1693, public response to the events continued. In the decades following the trials, survivors and family members (and their supporters) sought to establish the innocence of the individuals who were convicted and to gain compensation. In the following centuries, the descendants of those unjustly accused and condemned have sought to honor their memories. Events in Salem and Danvers in 1992 were used to commemorate the trials. In November 2001, years after the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the trials, the Massachusetts legislature passed an act exonerating all who had been convicted and naming each of the innocent. The trials have figured in American culture and been explored in numerous works of art, literature and film.
Who was the first person to be executed for witchcraft?
The earliest recorded witchcraft execution was that of Alse Young in 1647 in Hartford, Connecticut, the start of the Connecticut Witch Trials which lasted until 1663. Historian Clarence F. Jewett included a list of other people executed in New England in his 1881 book.
What was the Salem Witch Trials?
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.
Where did the Salem Witch Trials take place?
Context & Origins of the Salem Witch Trials. 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.
What did Cotton Mather say about 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.
Who led the witch hunts in Salem?
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.
What is the fungus in Salem?
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.
How many documents did the Witches trial have?
“The fact that we only have nine documents in her case is really remarkable,” said Margo Burns, a historian specializing in ...
Where was the Salem Witch Trials auctioned?
An original, extremely rare document from one of the Salem witch trials in 1692 just went up for auction at Christie’s in New York.
When did the Salem Witch Hunt end?
It would be the last day of executions that year, as public opinion had begun to turn against the trials, which would end for good in 1693. Burns, who was the associate editor of 2009 book “Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt,” told HISTORY that of the nine original documents to have surfaced from Scott’s trial, two are in the Essex County Court ...
Who was the witness who accused Scott of torturing her?
Among the other witnesses who testified against Scott were Frances Wicom, the 17-year-old daughter of a prominent leader in the Rowley community, and Sarah Coleman, who accused Scott of torturing her by “pricking, pinching and choaking of me.”. Frances’ father, Captain Daniel Wicom, appeared as Scott’s chief accuser, ...
How much did the Caren deposition cost at Christie's?
The deposition was among over 100 items from the Caren Collection in the Christie’s auction; a second Salem-related item, an advertisement for Cotton Mather’s account of the trials published in The Athenian Mercury in December 1692-January 1693, went for $1,375.
What are the primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials?
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 ...
Who wrote the Salem Witch Trials pamphlet?
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.
What is the book A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft about?
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. A Modest Inquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft by John Hale.
What was Mather's collection of papers?
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.
When did the Salem Witch Trials get banned?
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:
Where are the Salem Village records?
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.
Who hurt the afflicted girls in the Salem Witch Trials?
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.
Overview
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than two hundred people were accused. Thirty were found guilty, nineteen of whom were executed by hanging (fourteen women and five men). One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death for refusing to plead, and at l…
Background
While witch trials had begun to fade out across much of Europe by the mid-17th century, they continued on the fringes of Europe and in the American Colonies. The events in 1692–1693 in Salem became a brief outburst of a sort of hysteria in the New World, while the practice was already waning in most of Europe.
In 1668, in Against Modern Sadducism, Joseph Glanvill claimed that he could p…
Timeline
In Salem Village in February 1692, Betty Parris (age 9) and her cousin Abigail Williams (age 11), the daughter and the niece, respectively, of Reverend Samuel Parris, began to have fits described as "beyond the power of epileptic fits or natural disease to effect" by John Hale, the minister of the nearby town of Beverly. The girls screamed, threw things about the room, uttered strange sounds, cra…
Legal procedures
After someone concluded that a loss, illness, or death had been caused by witchcraft, the accuser entered a complaint against the alleged witch with the local magistrates. If the complaint was deemed credible, the magistrates had the person arrested and brought in for a public examination—essentially an interrogation where the magistrates pressed the accused to confess.
Primary sources and early discussion
Puritan ministers throughout the Massachusetts Bay Colony were exceedingly interested in the trial. Several traveled to Salem in order to gather information about the trial. After witnessing the trials first-hand and gathering accounts, these ministers presented various opinions about the trial starting in 1692.
Deodat Lawson, a former minister in Salem Village, visited Salem Village in Ma…
Aftermath and closure
Although the last trial was held in May 1693, public response to the events continued. In the decades following the trials, survivors and family members (and their supporters) sought to establish the innocence of the individuals who were convicted and to gain compensation. In the following centuries, the descendants of those unjustly accused and condemned have sought to honor …
In literature, media and popular culture
The story of the witchcraft accusations, trials and executions has captured the imagination of writers and artists in the centuries since the event took place. Their earliest impactful use as the basis for an item of popular fiction is the 1828 novel Rachel Dyer by John Neal.
Many interpretations have taken liberties with the facts of the historical episode in the name of literary and/or artistic license. As the trials took place at the intersection between a gradually dis…
Medical theories about the reported afflictions
The cause of the symptoms of those who claimed affliction continues to be a subject of interest. Various medical and psychological explanations for the observed symptoms have been explored by researchers, including psychological hysteria in response to Indian attacks, convulsive ergotism caused by eating rye bread made from grain infected by the fungus Claviceps purpurea (a natural substance from which LSD is derived), an epidemic of bird-borne encephalitis lethargica, and slee…