Gretchen A. Adams examines the influences of the Salem (Massachusetts) Witchcraft Trials on the United States society throughout history in her article The Specter of Salem in American Culture (Adams 2003, 24). Adams believes witch-hunts have become a long-lasting “American cultural metaphor” (Adams 2003, 24). She maintains that the story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials haunt the imagination of Americans and has become a “negative” historical symbol (Adams 2003, 24) mentioned time and time again. The quest for an explanation as to why this traumatic event occurred fascinates historians, writers, and amateur investigators. Almost every American has some knowledge of the trials from reading schoolbooks to viewing movies.
n the 1600’s, the town of Salem experienced a mass hysteria that resulted in the death of many innocent civilians that were accused for witchcraft. The town of Salem defined witchcraft as working with the devil: casting spells, singing, dancing, traveling to the forest, where the devil was presumed to be. Although there were no real witches in Salem, the town cried witch on everyone they wished, and the said person would have to go through a trial in court, where the judges were biased and the likely sentence was death by hanging. Neighbors called out neighbors for the slightest inconvenience, in hopes of getting them jailed or worse. Over two hundred people were accused and over twenty were sentenced to death by hanging.
Between 1692 and 1693, more than 200 people became imprisoned due to the false accusations led by Abigail Williams and her assembly of several other Salem girls. Together these girls accused innocent people for involvement in the devil’s work- known as witchcraft-overall about 20 people were trialed and found guilty (The man who made a difference). Even though they were truly innocent, the punishment involved execution by hanging on the scaffold in front of the entire village. Among the twenty people executed remained John Proctor; one of the Salem witch trials most infamous and prideful figures. “John Proctor was the first man to be accused of witchcraft” (1).
(“The Salem Witch Trials”) This quote amplifies how widespread fear can implode such terror and panic erupting in the overall false accusations upon numerous as to the fleeing of outrageous consequences. This everlasting event implores how
The Salem Witch Trials I. From June to September of the 1692 in the small farming village of Salem, Massachusetts, nineteen people were hanged on Gallows Hill for the crime of witchcraft. But as many as thirty-seven (sources conflict as to the exact number) may have died when one factors in the men and women who were hanged, those who died in prison, and the one man (Giles Corey) who was pressed to death. I am writing about this incident because I believe it to be significant to history for two major reasons. Firstly, this incident did not occur in the time or place where one would have expected it.
During the hysteria of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, many people were accused of practicing witchcraft. Therefore, their reputation, was ruined. Other people committed many sins in order to keep their reputation clean in town. For instance, some characters had to lie, fight, and accuse other people of witchcraft which could get the individual out of trouble and keep their hands clean. when a person got accused of being a witch, the person’s reputation would get ruined and the person would go to jail or be hanged.
In 1692, the small town of Salem, Massachusetts became the epicenter of a hysteria that has been remembered and studied even centuries later. This was the time of the infamous Salem Witch Trials, a series of hearings and prosecutions that led to the execution of 20 innocent people, all accused of witchcraft. An elderly man named Giles Cory was pressed to death under a pile of rocks for refusing to testify at the trial. His alleged final words, “More weight,” serve as a chilling testament to the hysteria that gripped the community. The trials began in the spring of 1692 and ended in September of the same year, a period marked by fear, suspicion, and a breakdown of social order.
Escaping Salem asserts the tension to be the conflict between the laws of man and the laws of God. Why it is important is that it illustrates the struggle between the superstitious and the logical over the nature and efficacy of witchcraft that permeates New England culture. As a result, Stamford court magistrates are conflicted in their duty to the law versus their obligation to their community in providing security and comfort from “witches.” Thus, much care is taken with criteria establishing conviction and indictment on witchcraft. Without such criteria, those alleged to commit witchcraft would be at the mercy of the Puritanical mob.
Out of those twenty people there was two infant children that were killed. These were innocent kids who did not know any better. In 1693 a group of young girls made invalid accusations of being possessed by the devil, which was caused by women who were supposedly doing witchcraft. Many people did not think to not believe these young girls. The accusations of these young women caused the deaths of twenty people, as from that day on anyone who did not meet their society’s standards was considered a witch.
The witch-craze was brought upon by a variety of different factors, however, the most prominent factor and one that will be used to build an argument in its favour is judicial torture. This essay will give a brief description of judicial torture, describe some of the significant uses of this form of torture and why it was practised so universally across Early Modern Europe. Using Brian Levack’s The Witch-Hunt of Early Modern Europe, and a variety of other sources this essay will argue that judicial torture was the prime reason for the distinct rise of witchcraft, both the practice and of people being accused. It will further go into detail on why this reason is significantly better than other theories for the rise of witchcraft. Judicial Torture is the use of torture by the state or a judicial figure to gain information from victims and quite often gain a confession.
Content: The Salem Witch Trials is a website which was created and maintained by Douglas O. Linder of the University of Missouri- Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law. This website is only one part of a larger project which focuses on famous trials that date back to 399 B.C (The Trials of Socrates). This website is an archive, however, it still aims to be a teaching resource by providing educational games such as “You’re Accused” and “Salem Witchcraft Jeopardy.” Linder works to create an accurate description of the Salem Witch Trials by using a variety of books, periodicals, videos, and online resources to provide readers with current, up- to- date information. Form: Douglas O. Linder’s greatest strength in his entire Famous Trials database is his uniformity.
The illusion of witchcraft has been around for centuries. Throughout history, men and women around the world have been unjustly tried and accused for such satanic acts. The 1692 Salem Witch Trials, brief but deadly, proved to burn its horrifying image into America’s memory. The trials began in spring and ended a few months later. Even in such a short time, nineteen people were executed and one hundred fifty people were accused of witchcraft.
By May, the jails in Salem and neighboring towns held up to two-hundred accused witches. While in prison, these innocent people were treated terribly. Instead of being in a cell above ground, the “witches” were held down in a dungeon with their arms and legs chained to the wall. According to the jailers, this was so that these dangerous people could not continue to torture their victims from the prison. Of the two-hundred or so people that were imprisoned only ten escaped from the dungeon.
Many know how horrific and cruel the Salem Witch trials were. We’ve learnt about them all our life. We’ve heard about the paranoid people who were accusing others and we’ve learnt of those who supported this, but, we never really learn about the people who were all against this. We never really learned about the people who did good in hopes of helping those accused.
Today, Your Honour we are here to exonerate the wrongfully convicted men and women of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts. Men and women were accused of witchcraft, 19 well respectable people were hung. As we know religion has no place in court, therefore eliminating the conclusion of witchcraft. Leaving us to look for other reasons and motives that appeal to human emotion such a s fear, greed and jealousy. Emotions like this led to the deaths in Salem.
