More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were killed during the hysteria. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Another famous incident from the trials was the case of John Proctor. Which, yes, is a little ironic. Looking back with the perspective provided by modern science, some scholars have speculated that the strange behaviour may have resulted from some combination of asthma, encephalitis, Lyme disease, epilepsy, child abuse, delusional psychosis, or convulsive ergotismthe last a disease caused by eating bread or cereal made of rye that has been infected with the fungus ergot, which can elicit vomiting, choking, fits, hallucinations, and the sense of something crawling on ones skin. The first witch trial occurred because the daughter (Betty Parris) and niece (Abigail Williams) of the local Salem Reverend had become violently ill. Three presidents William Howard Taft, Chester Arthur, and Gerald Ford have been said to descend from one of Salems executed witches or their siblings. Although Giles was a wealthy farmer and Martha was a prominent church member, both of them had pasts they werent exactly advertising to the public. Witch trials had actually been a fairly common phenomenon in Europe during that period. Witchcraft was considered a crime against the church and the state. It was actually the local doctor, likely William Griggs, who first diagnosed the girls as having been bewitched when he couldnt find anything medically wrong with them to explain the strange behavior. Credit where credit is due! When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. This caused her to be accused of conspiring on behalf of the witches, and eventually of being a witch herself. When you think of the Salem witch trials, you probably think of a bunch of confused villagers who didnt know any better, but there is so much more to the story. This evidence was later banned bythe courts, leading to a sharp drop in accusations. 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. When all was said and done, 25 people lost their lives because of the trials. This often led to panicked citizens pointing out their innocent neighbors, adding to the rising toll of victims. In these records you can find the year the accused stood trial, first and last name, town or village where the trial took place, and the outcome of the trial. Linder, Douglas O. 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. The collective delusion of witchcraft took more than a year to loosen its grip on Salem and its surrounding towns. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. What is the legacy of the Salem witch trials? Thanks for your time! Initially, Tituba also claimed to be blameless, but after being repeatedly badgered (and undoubtedly fearful owing to her vulnerable status as a slave), she told the magistrates what they apparently wanted to hearthat she had been visited by the devil and made a deal with him. Ann Putnam testified that Good tried to choke and bite her, a claim that Mary Walcott corroborated. List of People of the Salem Witch Trials. Wikipedia. Even more interesting, the summer of 1692 was a dry one, and coincided with the apparent end of the bewitchments. 10 The Symptoms That Gave Witches Away Make No Sense At All All witches are women, but not every woman is a witch. The dog was also supposed to then point to the people who had bewitched the victim. Photos and Videos See All Videos and Images Related Topics and References Topics witchcraft Here are 10 things you need to know about the notorious witch trials. Not even ministers could escape. The Salem trials also went on to become a powerful metaphor for the anticommunist hearings led by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare of the 1950s, famously in the form of Arthur Millers allegorical play The Crucible (1953). Philip and Mary English Home, Site Of. Salem Witch Museum. Nineteen were hanged, and one-elderly Giles Corey-pressed to death. 9 Things You Might Not Know About the Salem Witch Trials, The world's largest online family history resource - Start now, New England, Salem Witches and Others Tried for Witchcraft, 1647-1697, 6 Unusual Last Names You Wont Believe Exist, The Experience of an Ancestral Home Visit, Discovering African American Heroes in My Family Tree. How many people were killed during the Salem witch trials? The stars of the Salem story were the Puritan community of the Massachusetts Bay colony, a religious groupthat came over to America to escape religious persecution back in England. Parris, whose largely theological studies at Harvard College (now Harvard University) had been interrupted before he could graduate, was in the process of changing careers from business to the ministry. William Phips. Wikipedia. Music Credit: Spirit of the Dead by Aakash Gandhi#List25 #Didyouknow #WitchTrials Check out the top history lists on the internet all in one place. The feud was over the fact that Kazan had named communist sympathizers during his testimony to Congress. Madame de Pompadour didn't just share King Louis XV's bed, she also shared his power. Not all of the accused witches who escaped hanging did so through the mercy of the governor. List three facts about each and three opinions. Salem witch trials, (June 1692-May 1693), in American history, a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted "witches" to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts). Fourteen women and six men were executed for witchcraft, and five others died in prison during the trials. 4. Although Catherine's successor Queen Anne Boleyn suffered an infamously dark fate, Aragon's own life was somehow even more tragic. 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. John Proctors son was born in prison while his wife was imprisoned on witchcraft charges. The next time Giles wanted to attend, Martha objected and prevented him from going. Because of Philip Englishs wealth, he was allowed his freedom during the day and could rent rooms in the home of his jailer for himself, his wife, and daughter. Kyle Climans has been a published writer since 2011. Many parallels have been drawn between the events of Salem and the tactics used by the government during the Red Scare of the 1950s, in which Senator Joseph McCarthy very harshly interrogated and went after anyone suspected of being a communist sympathizer. I wonder if what the prescription is for that. Here are three notable facts about the Salem witch trials: About 42-50 people died being accused of witchcraft over the course of 300 years. 20 wereexecuted (generally hanged) by the prosecutors, and five died while serving prison time. Over the following year many trials were held and many people imprisoned. Spooky stories abound at the Witch House in Salem, Massachusetts. The Salem witch trials of the late 17th century were a formative episode in America's early history, and have remained at the forefront of the national consciousness ever since. Giles had actually been accused and found guilty of murdering one of his farm hands years earlier, but was let off with just a fine! These 10 lesser-known facts about the . Dont feel too embarrassed if you happen to be from Massachusetts, you guys were not the first to do something like this. Far more women than men were among the accused, convicted and executed. Her testimony added fuel to the fire, making the witch hunt spiral out of control. Bishop was known to rebel against the puritanical values of that time. After Governor Phips's wife faced accusations of witchcraft, he outlawed spectral evidence in October 1692. How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials, Order in the Court: 10 Trials of the Century, https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials, Bill of Rights Institute - The Salem Witch Trials, World History Encyclopedia - Salem Witch Trials, Salem Witch Trials - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Salem witch trials - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Tituba: The Slave of Salem. History of Massachusetts Blog, January 2, 2013. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/tituba-the-slave-of-salem/. Ergot causes hallucinations, convulsive fits, and sometimes death, and LSD derives from the substance. However, after the dogs death, the local Minister reasoned that if the devil had possessed the dog, it would not have been so easily killed with a bullet. And the first person executed for witchcraft during the trials was also a woman. This series of prosecutions and hangings of those accused of practicing witchcraft provoked a major backlash, andthe event still haunts us today. Thought to have been built in about 1675, it was the residence of Judge Jonathan Corwin, who oversaw many of the witch trials in 1692. The village itself had a noticeable social divide that was exacerbated by a rivalry between its two leading familiesthe well-heeled Porters, who had strong connections with Salem Towns wealthy merchants, and the Putnams, who sought greater autonomy for the village and were the standard-bearers for the less-prosperous farm families. Photo Credit: https://bit.ly/39AhFc2 By late February 1692, when traditional medicines and prayers failed to cure the girls, the reverend called upon a local doctor, William Griggs. Ancestry has made a home for a piece of that history in its online collection, New England, Salem Witches and Others Tried for Witchcraft, 1647-1697. The grave of Martha Corey, the wife of Giles Corey . Two of the casualties were babies. However, witch trials are not a thing of the past. When Millers The Crucible was produced, it was in the aftermath of his feud with Elia Kazan, the man who had directed his two earlier hit plays All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. Much of the evidence brought agains the witches, at least at first, was called spectral evidence, where people testified to seeing an apparition of the accused trying to inflict harm on them. Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. No other mode of punishment was entertained by the Salem puritans. His sixth great grandson was Walt Disney. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). It was carried out as such by Sheriff George Corwin. The madness of the witch trials eventually resulted in 200 people accused of witchcraft, 140 to 150 arrests for witchcraft, and the hangings of thirteen women and six men.