Research Paper On The Salem Witch Trials Of 1692

Paragraph 1- (Intro) The Salem Witch trials of 1692 were a dark and (prevalent) time for the people of Salem, Massachusetts. During this time, nearly 200-300 people were convicted of witchcraft, and over 60 were officially hanged by the government. This must all be looked at from the colonists’ point of view- they had come from a land where religion was the most important aspect of their everyday life, keeping beliefs close to heart. They took this aspect to the New World, the area inhabited with mysterious other people’s foreign to them, where fears of the devil replaced common fears of everyday life. The floodgates of scapegoating did not truly start, although, until Tituba, a young slave, confessed of witchcraft herself. Many had testified

Although throughout the trials, many people believed the afflicted girls were solely deciding to blame others by themselves, but some researches believe that their parents, in particular Thomas Putnam and Reverend Samuel Parris to name a few, were furtherly pushing the girls against the men and women of Salem and surrounding towns. One of the men that the parents had obviously pushed onto the girls was John Alden Jr, a sailor, son of Mayflower pilgrim John Alden. Alden had stopped briefly in Salem from his trip from Quebec where he had arranged a small prison-break for captured British troops taken at the Candlemas attack in York, Maine. After he was accused, police brought Alden Jr. before a judge to be questioned. From his crimes on the soldiers, his court case slowly inclined to himself being among the many witches that inhabited the land. In court, he describes, “One of these [afflicted girls] pointed several times at [Mr.] Captain Hill, there present, but [he said] nothing; the same accuser had a man standing at her back to hold her up; he stooped down to her ear, then she cried out, ‘Aldin, Aldin afflicted her’; one of the Magistrates asked her if she had ever seen Aldin, she answered no, he asked her how she knew it was Aldin? She said, the man told her so.” Although one can learn that the girls had never met Alden Jr. before, there had been rumors around the colony that “[Alden] had been

Properly named “Court of Oyer and Terminer”, roughly translating to “Hear and Determine”, this court was solely established for the witch trial cases. Not quite after, the total rate of accusations in the next few months surged to over 30, completely overcrowding jails, leading to the construction of jails across the expanse between towns. Bridget Bishop was one of the first to be brought to the new court, accused by 5 of the afflicted girls, all pleading that she physically abused them to sign over themselves to the Devil. Court documents can be read about how she pleaded: “I am [innocent], I know nothing of it, I have done no witchcraft… I am as [innocent] as the child unborn…” Bridget Bishop was later convicted and hanged at a small hill near Gallow’s Hill, making her one of the first official court trial members, yet also one of the first official victims of the