Witches in Salem

Tyler Baran

Mrs. Quam

English III, Period 7

3 October 2016

Witches In Salem

        A group of settlers from Cape Ann discovered the colony of Salem in 1626 (Queen). Salem had become the second most important town in the area of Massachusetts after Boston. Although the town began to grow rapidly it did not have fertile land and forced people to farm further away from town. Salem has its fame today because of the Witch Trials. The Salem colonists made a huge deal about the Witch Trials because of their strict Puritan rules that forbade witchcraft. What happened in 1692 is a fair example in history of how innocent people have been persecuted.

        Witches in the colonies had become a very frightening thing mainly across Massachusetts and Connecticut. Witchcraft is considered the use of spells, magic, and the calling of spirits (Goodheart). Catholics and Puritans, both very religious groups, had paranoia of the devil, demons, and spirits. If anything strange seemed to happen the colonists would immediately think witchcraft. The people who accused someone would most likely accuse women of witchcraft. Of all of the witchcraft trials, eighty percent of the accused were women. Many believe that women were accused because in the Puritan colony they were “the most dependent people in any community” (Cullen-DuPont).  People in the seventeenth century believed that the great number of witches attributed to the weakness and foolishness of women (Queen). Which also caused women to be more prone to turn to evil thus making it easier to accuse them of witchcraft.

        The Salem Witch Craft trials are arguably the most well know trials. In 1692, a few teenage girls fell into a series of fits. All assumed the Devil was at fault. The three girls questioned by the committee blamed Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn, and Tituba (Queen). Tituba would often show these little girls magic and play fortune-telling games. Soon after, the girls had warrants out for their arrest on February 29, 1692 (Cullen-DuPont). Beginning on March first, judges such as John Hathorne and Jonathon Corwin interrogated these women harshly (Goodheart). Sarah Good swore her innocence but had suspicions toward Osburn still. Osburn, who had also become pregnant, died in jail waiting for the judges to make a decision (Cullen-DuPont). When they tried Tituba she claimed she was innocent at first but then she told the judges that there were five people who threatened her to hurt the children or they would hurt her. She only told the judges two names of the five. She put the blame on Good and Osburn. This caused a huge uproar through out the colony, as there were still three witches out there. Soon the number accused turned from few to hundreds of people (Goodheart). The Salem jails started to fill up with people the accused witches. The first one to be tried was a woman named Sarah Bishop. Sarah was found guilty and hung on June 10, 1692 (Cullen-DuPont). The court was put into recess for eighteen days and came back to put nineteen more people to death for witchcraft. The whole situation came to an end when a new governor, William Phips, suspended the witchcraft court and did not allow any more executions and released the imprisoned people. After the crazy witch-hunt had ended, only few apologized. In the end the state, the church, and important members of the community realized their errors and apologized for killing twenty-four people (Cullen-DuPont).