The Salem Witch Trials

   The Salem witchcraft trials can all be traced back to two young girls, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris. The girls went to a slave woman named Tituba and asked to have their fortunes read. Later, the girls began to exhibit strange behaviour, such as temporary blindness or deafness or periods of uncontrollable screaming.³ The Puritan town of Salem in which the girls lived decided this was the work of Satan. The girls pointed the blame at Tituba, as well as two other women, Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good. Despite Good's insistence that she "was falsely accused," all three were imprisoned.⁴ The two young girls began to blame more and more people as their odd symptoms continued.

   "Twenty-seven individuals were tried for witchcraft between June 2 and September 17, 1692; the 19 who refused to confess were executed."¹ By the end of the hysteria, almost 150 people had been jailed and accused of witchcraft. To be found innocent was nearly impossible. In fact, at one trial in which the jury came back with an innocent verdict, the judge demanded they "deliberate further." They came back quickly with a guilty verdict, and the woman accused, Rebecca Nurse, was executed.³

A woman is accused of witchcraft in 1692.²

   Punishments were severe, despite the fact that many of the convicted were actually devoutly religious people. One man was pressed to death. Another recited the Lord's Prayer while being executed, which was thought impossible under Satanic possession.¹ Some of the victims were burned. However, most of those killed were women, and most of them were hanged.

A woman found guilty of witchcraft is publicly hanged.

   By 1710, most of the names of witch trial victims had been cleared and their families compensated. No one is really sure what caused the bout of hysteria in the Salem area of Massachusetts. Some attribute it to the misogynistic attitudes of Puritanism. About 85% of the accused were women, most of whom did not fit the traditional roles of the society.³ Others attribute it to PTSD due to recent wars or even simple human emotions such as jealousy. But no theory is definite, and it will most likely remain a mystery as to how an entire region went into such panic, costing 20 people their lives.

   Disturbingly, witchhunts are not a thing of the past. In northern Ghana in and around 2005, local women were blamed for many of life's day to day problems, accused of being witches, and killed. You can read more about the issue in Ghana here.



Works Cited

• ¹ "Salem witchcraft trials." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2010.
• ² "Salem witchcraft trials." Image. North Wind Picture Archives. American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2010.
• ³ Loiselle, Brett. "Salem Witch Trials." EBSCOhost. Web. 18 Oct. 2010.
• ⁴ "Salem Witch Trials." The Religion Book: Places, Prophets, Saints, and Seers. p.415-418. ESBCOhost. Web. 18 Oct. 2010.