What Happened During The Salem Witch Trials - 1300 Words

What Happened During the Salem Witch Trials? The Salem Witch Trials were a tragic time in the history of America. The witch trials officially began in February 1692. In January 1692, eleven-year-old Abigail Williams and nine-year-old Elizabeth (Betty) Parris in Salem Village, Massachusetts, began experiencing fits, including violent distortions and uncontrollable outpourings of screaming. Doctor William Griggs diagnosed the two girls with bewitchment. Puritans believed that a witch must draw an individual under a spell in order to become bewitched; therefore, the girls could not have brought this upon themselves. Soon, they were questioned and forced to name their oppressors. The two girls named the women in which they believed had†¦show more content†¦It was rescinded due to colonists who had contravened many of the charter’s rules. In 1691, Mary and William of Orange, the new King and Queen of England, instead of reissuing the old charter, issued a new one that was more anti-religious. Also, they combined the Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and many more colonies into one. Since the accused witches were considered hazardous prisoners, they were held in the dungeon. They were chained to the walls because the jailers believed that this would keep their spirits from torturing their victims and escaping the jail. During the trials, not everyone in Salem supported the trials or believed in witchcraft. A local farmer, John Proctor, was one of many that ridiculed at the idea of witchcraft in Salem and called the small girls scam artists. Critics were often accused of witchcraft because it was believed that anyone who defended the accused or denied the existence of witches must be one, and were carried to trial. The Salem courthouse is where the witch trials were held. The court handed down its first conviction on June 2, 1622, against Bridget Bishop. She had been accused of witchcraft years before, but had been cleared of the crime. She was accused by five of the oppressed girls, including Mary Walcott, Ann Putnam Jr., Elizabeth Hubbard, Abigail Williams, and Mercy Lewis. These girls declared that Bridget had hurt them physically and tried to get them toShow MoreRelatedIs Witch Trails A Thing Of The Past?923 Words   |  4 Pages Being that the Salem Witch Trails date back to over three hundred years, many people believe witch trails are a thing of the past. However, modern day witch trails are still extremely prevalent. Modern-day witch-hunts are reported to still be happening in Africa, the Pacific, Latin America, even in the U.S. and Europe. According to a New York Times article, within the last fifteen years alone, more than 2,000 Indians have been killed after being accused of witchcr aft. Almost all of the accused haveRead MoreWitch Hunts : The Causes Of Witch Trials In 1692851 Words   |  4 PagesImagine yourself in Salem, Massachusetts, sometime in 1692. What are you imagining? Small houses, one-room schools, or maybe starving people trying to survive a harsh winter? Both of those scenarios probably happened. But I’m focusing on something else, something much more dire. Because in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, witch accusations were happening, and for over a year. Approximately 200 people were accused of being witches. Roughly 20 were killed and about five more died in prison. This is theRead MorePuritans And The Salem Witch Trials978 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction Puritans had many beliefs that affected the Salem Witch Trials, these were based on how the attendance or lack of attendance of the church, how people should behave, social class, and the way the government should be handled. Puritans were English Protestants that came to America in 1630. They sought to reform the Church of England. When they first came to America they settled at Salem, Massachusetts. The main reason the Puritan’s came to Salem was for freedom of religion which they did not haveRead MoreThe Witch Trials : Witchcraft And The Devil Swept Through The Little Salem Village1589 Words   |  7 Pagesterror of witchcraft and the devil swept through the little Salem village. When the trials came about people turned on their enemies and even family turned on other family members with accusations of witchcraft. Throughout this process many people were hung or stoned to death because they were found guilty of having relations with the devil or for not admitting to witchc raft. Many books and articles have been published about the Salem witch trials but most of them were written in different ways by theRead MoreEssay about From Rosie to Lucy747 Words   |  3 Pagestime period during the seventeenth century there were many important sources that have come up missing. Some are just missing and others destroyed. The modern- day historians have the task of trying to find this lost information to determine the facts about the past. Some of the missing facts are about the economic and population problems. The Salem Witch Trials were also some information that had to be studied by the historians. The first question that will be answered is to what extent doesRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials : A Devastating Event958 Words   |  4 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials was a devastating event in which 19 people and dogs were killed due to the cry of witchcraft. The outburst of these events could be blamed on several things. Certain things like economics, medicines and culture have to be taken into account when trying to understand the events of the Salem Witch Trials. People like Franklin Jr. Mixon, Linnda R. Caporael, Dr. Allan Woolf, Elaine G. Brewslaw, and Isaac Ariail Reed take into account one of the three: economics, medicines and cultureRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials : A Day By Day Chronicle Of A Community Under Siege Essay1671 Words   |  7 PagesThe book I have chosen to write about is â€Å"The Salem Witch Trials: A Day by Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege† written by Marilynne K. Roach and published in 2002. Marilynne K. Roach is the president of the Histori cal Society of Watertown and a member of the Watertown Historical Commission board, she also is an active board member and a curator of the Salem Witch Museum. She has multiple books that have been published about the Salem and the trials that occurred in the late 17th and early 18thRead MoreSimilarities Between The Crucible And Salem Witch Trials1079 Words   |  5 Pagesthat explains the story the Salem Witch trials. Arthur Miller, is the author of this play. McCarthyism played a big role in the creation of The Crucible. Many differences and similarities were drawn between the play and the Red Scare. The horrors of history are passed on from generation to generation in hopes that they will never happen again. People look back on these times and are surprised at how terrible the times were. Yet, in the 1950s, history repeated itself. During this time Joseph McCarthyRead MoreMany Years Ago People Have Wonder About Witches And What1348 Words   |  6 Pagesago people have wonder about witches and what they do. Salem, Massachusetts held one of the biggest witch trials in history since 1692 but yet have never found the rea-son why it was started in the first place. Researchers have discovered some information about those witches throughout the years. Still they have not figured out what was the whole rea-son behind the trials in 1692 and after those trials a lot more trials were more secretive unlike the Salem witches tri-als in 1692. New England, homeRead MoreSalem Witches and Ergot of Rye Essay1055 Words   |  5 PagesSalem Witches and Ergot of Rye While researching texts written about the Salem Witch Trials, I found a few authors who published articles and books about the Salem Witch Trials. These authors often showed that the most likely cause of the fits coming from the victims was produced by ergot of rye. However, I could not find much discussion about another important source of the fits’ cause: witchcraft. My goal in this paper is to produce a convincing argument that the victims during the Salem Witch