The University of Virginia’s online archive of documents relating to the Salem witch trials includes an interactive map of the accusations. Two of the casualties were babies. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure…. His wife, Elizabeth, had been accused of witchcraft and John tried to step in to defend her. The common myth surrounding the witch trials is that victims were actually burned at the stake. He was sentenced to death, and because of the heat wave, was buried quickly in a shallow grave with his chin and foot still sticking out of the ground. All Rights Reserved. There have been many other instances of this kind of phenomenon since—most recently in an outbreak of alleged evil clown sightings across the continent and beyond in 2016. The trials came to an abrupt halt when the Governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft, causing him to immediately order an end to the trials. It can be safely assumed that none of the people accused of witchcraft in Salem actually attacked innocent children with the help of supernatural forces. Ergot is a fungus that affects rye grain in warm and damp springs and summers, something very common in Salem. Please reach out to us to let us know what you’re interested in reading. The way they executed people during the trials was quite unusual. They found it by following clues in an accused witch’s writings and through guesses on where prisoners would be transported. Despite the horrible and senseless loss of life and community divisions that the witch trials caused, some historians believe that the traumatic incident had a silver lining. The Salem Witch Trials: A Day by Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege by Marilynne K. Roach. Ergot causes hallucinations, convulsive fits, and sometimes death, and LSD derives from the substance. The Salem Witch Trials started in the spring of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. While torture and execution are certainly two of the scariest parts of the Salem Witch Trials, another act was just as terrifying for many people – land removal. During the trials, many tests were created to determine if someone was a witch or not. In January 1692 Salem Village was dealing with a lot. Through the loss of 20 lives, the episode continues to warn of the dangers of insularity and isolationism, of intolerance, of religious extremism. The Native Americans were beginning to attack after having members kidnapped into slave… Despite being known as the “Salem” witch trials, some of the trials actually took place in Ipswich and Andover in addition to Salem itself. Thanks for your time! For years, many speculated on its location; it wasn’t confirmed to be at Proctor’s Ledge until 2016. Giles Corey, who was pressed to death for refusing to … So if you are a witch, no need to worry about this ever happening again! Four other people died in prison while waiting for trial. Fourteen of the victims were women and five men, but an unknown number of innocents were injured as well. Three Salem Women: The Stories of Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator and Bridget Bishop. Related Museums/Attractions What happened in the aftermath of the Salem witch trials? For hundreds of years, more witchcraft laws would be written. Fact 1: There is actually an allegorical play inspired by the Salem Witch Trials! No, it doesn’t sound that romantic or comic to me either. Another test involved creating a basic cake out of rye flour and the cursed person’s urine. List25.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program It seems that a shocking number of accusations were made by members of the Putnam family. Records show a total of 200 people were accused, and of those, 140 to 150 were arrested. Arthur Miller, the famous playwright who authored Death of a Salesman, responded to the McCarthy hysteria by writing The Crucible, a play about the Salem witch trials, as a metaphor for what the country was going through in the 1950s. Apparently they felt that giving gifts took away from one’s ability to focus on serious religious thought, and they did not like the pagan origins of some aspects of the holiday. Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but few people know her even darker history. I wonder if what the prescription is for that…. Not that Salem didn’t have its problems to begin with, but the community never fully recovered from the witch trials saga, and the divisions and setbacks to the town’s development continued in the years following the trials. A rational theory about what may have caused the hysteria during the Salem witch trials is that many in the village suffered from ergot poisoning. They were all suffering from mass hysteria, a social and psychological problem common in malnourished, poor, and stressed environments. They took place in a number of cities in Massachusetts Bay Colony in the years 1692 and 1693, but primarily in the town of Salem. Torture to get a confession was also a common practice during the trials. Unlike the others who were hanged, this unfortunate fellow was crushed to death by stones. As a part of our Halloween series this year, since we’ll be mentioning witches a lot, let’s talk about the Salem Witch Trials and how the events that took place do not make any sense. Tituba ultimately survived the saga and was not hanged. The Salem witch trials of 1692 remain a controversial topic in United States history, and it’s one that has a bearing on our own region. Salem Witch Trials Facts: Some Of The Accused Didn’t Proclaim Their Innocence Wikimedia Commons 1878 depiction of the slave Tituba with the children who later accused her of witchcraft. Though some were burned at the stake in Europe, hanging was the popular mode of execution in North America. Some have suggested that the man who was truly responsible for initiating the witch trial debacle was Reverend Samuel Parris, the father and uncle of the afflicted girls. Witch-hunts began in Europe in the fifteenth-century and continued until the mid-eighteenth. Haunted Town Due to its association with the supernatural and the haunted, Salem is now a popular destination for... 3. The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. Miller’s famous play about the Salem witch trials is called The Crucible…but what is a crucible anyway? If they floated, they were a witch but if they sank, then they weren’t. Why a dog? One of the most famous victims of the trials was a prominent woman in the local community named Martha Corey. Which, yes, is a little ironic. King William's War (war in the America colonies against the French) ended with many people having to be relocated so there were many strangers moving into town. Several episodes of the original Bewitched TV series were actually filmed on location in Salem. With this test it was believed while the inflicted person was having a fit, if the witch touched them, the fit would stop. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible played a large role in popularizing many of the details of the Salem witch trials and dramatizing facts that he uncovered in historical records. Often, these trials would be heavily weighed against the accused, and as such, many saw the writing on the wall and confessed. Other proof was the “touch test,” where if a witch who cursed someone touched the cursed person in the midst of a fit, theit fit would stop. In one case, highly successful farmer Giles Corey was accused by three women of witchcraft. Salem Witch Trials Top Facts Salem is one of the spookiest towns in the US, and one of the best Halloween destinations. The Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony followed their religion strictly. Additionally, he is an accomplished scriptwriter, having written the successful AA Meeting series for the stage and the award-winning film Depth of Pyaar. Despite their obvious Christian commitment, the early American Puritans actually banned Christmas in the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1659, deeming it a sacrilege. Credit where credit is due! Naturally, this only added fuel to the fire, scaring many people, and causing them to accuse others of witchcraft as well. Many were brought before judges and sentenced to death with little to no evidence against them except for the baseless testimony of others. These historical trials began in May 1692 and spanned around 15 months, taking place in villages in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Published in 2002, this book explains the details and the events of the Salem Witch Trials as they happened. Get the best viral stories straight into your inbox! The brutal trials all started because of these two girls. This became especially true for George Burroughs, the first and only minister during the trials to be accused of witchcraft. In the midst of all this religious and political controversy, there was also a major racial incident. The phrase “witch hunt,” commonly used to refer to an unjustified or falsely conjured-up prosecution, is thought to originate as a reference to this time period in American history. One theory about what caused the Salem Witch Trials is that many in the village suffered from Ergot poisoning. Before vaccinations were made available against After a while, many accused others of witchcraft. Quite a lot! Part of the escalation of the Salem trials included investigators literally going door to door and asking homeowners to rat out any suspected witches in their midst. Salem witch trials - Salem witch trials - The trials: On May 27, 1692, after weeks of informal hearings accompanied by imprisonments, Sir William Phips (also spelled Phipps), the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, interceded and ordered the convening of an official Court of Oyer (“to hear”) and Terminer (“to decide”) in Salem Town. Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 57 Blood-Curdling Facts About Horror Movies, The Jaw-Dropping Life of Josephine Baker, The Black Pearl Of Paris, Eleanor Of Aquitaine Was England’s Fiercest Queen—Until Her Brutal End, Grandiose Facts About Marie Antoinette, The Doomed Queen, Scandalous Facts About Catherine The Great, The Scarlet Empress, These People Shared The Worst Moments Of Their Lives…And They’re Utterly Brutal. So, they’d have the accused touch those having fits to see if the fits would stop. Curiously, another form of evidence brought forward by accusers was “spectral evidence.” That’s right, a testimony of people claiming witches appeared to them in spirit or ghost form. Honestly, after reading a bunch about the “trials,” I still do not really understand what happened or why it happened. Don’t feel too embarrassed if you happen to be from Massachusetts, you guys were not the first to do something like this. Fun Facts. A common source of “evidence” against the accused was the “Devil’s Mark.” It was believed the devil would make a pact with a witch by leaving a mark on their skin. Get ready to pull out your history books as we bring you the most DISTURBING facts about the Salem Witch Trials. Another famous incident from the trials was the case of John Proctor. _g1.classList.remove('lazyload'); Setting the scene. The Salem Witch Trials were a difficult and dark chapter in the history of the United States of America. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. The place many of the accused were hung and executed is called Gallows Hill. So if witchcraft wasn’t really happening in Salem, what actually caused those girls … If you ask most people, they’ll tell you that Salem, Massachusetts drew out the unfair and brutal trials of so-called witches for years. Catherine of Aragon was King Henry VIII’s first wife and longest-lasting Queen of England. When all was said and done, 25 people lost their lives because of the trials. All Rights Reserved. “Life, woman, life is God’s most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it.” —Arthur Miller, in The Crucible. Miller did not approve of this, and this was one of the things he tried to criticize allegorically through his depiction of the Salem events. Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password. Children were not allowed to play games or tell stories. Usually, it would lead to bizarre and fanatical confessions. The community, beleaguered with hardships already, then overreacted. Although Catherine's successor Queen Anne Boleyn suffered an infamously dark fate, Aragon's own life was somehow even more tragic. Giles Corey, the man who later was also accused of being a witch and pressed to death. This only added to the brewing hysteria. These trials happened … This was merely the beginning. © Copyright 2021 by Factinate.com. They’d feed the cake to a dog and if the dog showed the same symptoms, then witchcraft was proven. No clan is left untouched, and even families that seem happy and normal on…. Picture … The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 make the town famous. In one case, a girl accused a neighbor’s dog of bewitching her. People believed that misfortune was punishment from God for being bad. The danger, of course, was drowning if they left the suspect in the water for too long. if ( localStorage.getItem(skinItemId ) ) { trials was the existence of a smallpox outbreak. While Miller maintained that he kept everything historically accurate, some have noted that he made changes to the real record for the sake of the play. We often hear terrible stories of the Salem Witch Trials, and certainly, some members of the modern Pagan community toss out the Salem case as a reminder of the religious intolerance that has existed for centuries. Two dogs were even hung, for supposedly giving people the evil eye! The panic and fear over witches hiding amongst the colony began when two young girls, Abigail Williams and Betty Parris, developed strange symptoms including having fits and screaming in pain at mysterious moments. } The conditions were awful, the prisoners were forced to do labor, and if they couldn’t afford meals, they were only given bread and water. An important minister in Boston named Increase Mather was one of these objectors, stating that “It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than that one innocent person should be condemned.”. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. 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. Not everyone bought into the validity of the trials. In a heavily agrarian society, not having land essentially thrust you into extreme poverty. Despite the Salem witch trials occurring centuries ago, researchers only just found the execution site for the trials in 2016. The truth of the matter is that Several residents were accused of being witches and subsequently executed. Right before the witch trials took place, a smallpox outbreak spread through the town of Salem. At that point, the dog would reveal the witch. Like we said before, dogs were suspect of potentially being linked with the devil or being the devil himself. Back then, it’s doubtful many of the villagers in Salem understood what was really happening. 25 Disturbing Facts About The Salem Witch Trials, Source: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/what-options-did-an-accused-witch-have-in-salem/, Source: http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people?group.num=&mbio.num=mb4, https://people.ucls.uchicago.edu/~snekros/Salem%20Journal/Hysteria/ElbertDLukeR.html, Source: https://allthatsinteresting.com/abigail-williams, Source: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist257/saraelena/final/identification2.html, Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-witchs-cake-3528206, Source: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ma-salemcourt/, Source: https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/religion/overview/witchcraft/, Source: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/animals-in-the-salem-witch-trials/, Source: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-curse-of-giles-corey/, Source: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/salem-witch-hunt-trump-tweet/, Source: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-witch-trials-victims/, Source: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidence/1501/, Source: http://www.on-a-limb.com/2015/09/5-things-about-the-salem-witch-trials-that-surprised-me.html, Source: https://www.factinate.com/things/42-wicked-facts-salem-witch-trials/, Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2690652, Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-bootcamp/201009/mass-hysteria-can-strike-anywhere-anytime, Source: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/martha-corey/, Source: http://www.ushistory.org/us/3g.asp, Source: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/where-is-the-real-gallows-hill/, Source: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/george-jacobs-sr-salem/, Source: https://historicipswich.org/2015/03/25/ipswich-and-the-salem-witchcraft-trials/, Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-the-salem-trials-2562897, Source: http://time.com/4543405/connecticut-witch-trials/, https://www.thoughtco.com/european-witch-hunts-timeline-3530786, 25 Incredible Photographs Of A Mars Rover’s Journey, Top 25 Best Things to Watch on Apple TV Plus, 25 Best and Surprising Ways To Experience Music, 5 Best Keurig Coffee Makers of 2021 – Review & Buying Guide, 5 Best Enzymatic Cleaners of 2021 – Reviews & Buying Guide, 5 Best Business Strategy Video Games of 2021 – Review & Buying Guide, 5 Best Bladeless Fans of 2021 – Review & Buying Guide, 25 Awesome Things Your Handwriting Says About You, 25 Oldest Scams in History that People Still Try Today, 25 Craziest Discoveries Made by Ordinary People, 25 Obnoxiously Expensive Celebrity Purchases That Seem Over The Top.
Guitar Chords For Forever, Round Eared Rabbit, Reddit Paxful Amazon, Red Skins Nz, 24 Roadside Assist Brunei, Orange Goblin Vinyl, Sky Sports Sunderland V Oxford, Square Stock Forecast 2022, Coventry City At Wembley, Bu Indoor Track,