ipl-logo

Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

1063 Words5 Pages

In Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, tensions were elevated. Many of the Massachusetts colonists experienced satanophobia, or the fear of Satan, for many years. This fear became heightened after three girls, 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris, 11-year-old Abigail Williams, and 11-year-old Ann Putnam began showing strange symptoms: extreme outbursts of screaming, violent contortions, and uncontrollable fits. But there were several other girls who showed similiar signs; they were all known as the 'Afllicted Girls'. After Elizabeth Parris's father questioned the doctor about her condition, the doctor came to the conclusion that the girls were bewitched since he found nothing physically wrong with them. Later, two of the girls named the women they believed …show more content…

This was a special type of court in English law established specifically to hear cases that are extraordinary and serious in nature.The courts designed to prosecute the accused women did not adhere by the rule 'innocent' until proven guilty; if you were accused, you were automatically deemed a witch. The evidence used against the accused included testimonies from other people, watching them going through their fits, or their own confession. Recanting led to an even harsher punishment to force them to admit their …show more content…

Although his death was gruesome and cruel, it strengthened the growing opposition to the Salem Witch Trials. The trials and executions continued; however, colonists began to doubt that so many people could actually be guilty of witchcraft, fearing many innocent lives were being taken. Local clergymen began speaking out against the witch hunt and tried to persuade officials to stop the trials. If they could not stop the trials, they at least wanted to make the trials more valid and fair. They thought is was too easy to falsify evidence and send an innocent person to their doom. Increase Mather concluded that, "It would better that ten suspected witches may escape than one innocent person be condemned.” Questioning the validity of the trials helped bring about the end of the Salem witch

Show More
Related
505 Words | 3 Pages

This trial went over all the witches accused and the accusers. This trial proved the lack of information that was found before proving someone guilty of witchcraft. Many innocent people died because of uncareful investigation. This special trial ended on October 29, 1692. Years later, in 1696, Cotton Mather apologized publicly to all the Salem citizens of his foolish mistake in having the idea to start the Witch Trials.

Read More
618 Words | 3 Pages

Living in Salem in the summer and spring of 1692 would’ve been an extremely hectic experience, especially if you were a married woman with another woman who wanted your man. Many people were put to death in the months between June and September, and had it not been for a mass hanging, it might have continued for who knows how long. The accusers of the Witch Trials were mainly jealous women who were out for the man(or land) of an accused woman, but that was not always the case. Some men(boys, really) accused others of being witches for the reason that a.) they wanted their land, or b.)

Read More
1099 Words | 5 Pages

By the end of the witch trials, she would accuse sixty-two people. However, it wasn’t totally her fault; the standards put onto children were immense, and this was her way of relieving the

Read More
745 Words | 3 Pages

The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day.

Read More
1066 Words | 5 Pages

The Salem Witch Trials; Madness or Logic In Stacey Schiff’s, List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials and Shah Faiza’s, THE WITCHES OF SALEM; Diabolical doings in a Puritan village, discuss in their articles what has been debated by so many historians for years, the causes of the Salem Witch trials. Schiff and the Faiza, purpose is to argue the possible religious, scientific, communal, and sociological reasons on why the trials occurred. All while making word by word in the writer’s testimony as if they were there through emotion and just stating simply the facts and theories. They adopt the hectic tone in order to convey to the readers the significance, tragedy, logic, loss, and possible madness behind these life changing events,

Read More
1469 Words | 6 Pages

Accused, trial, guilty, executed, devil, jury - the news spreading around Salem, Massachusetts was deathly. Starting with women, and then expanding to men, there were accusations of witchcraft encompassing the whole town. The arraigned did not stand a chance against the court. The accused witches went through one of the most arduous times of all people in Salem; however, after a well-abounding amount of trials, the cases were closed and the issue was solved. “It was the darkest and most desponding period in the civil history of New England.”

Read More
1277 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
510 Words | 3 Pages

The courts in Salem made a lot of rash decisions based in religion and not enough evidence. Many people were hanged in The Crucible. The people were hanged because they were “witches”. The courts in Salem did not have any fool proof evidence of the existence of witches, but they believed in it anyway.

Read More
780 Words | 4 Pages

In January 1692 a group of young girls started to behave really strange. The first ones of the group were the Reverend’s daughter Elizabeth Parris and his niece Abigail Williams. They experienced symptoms like suffering “fits”, unexplained screaming, trance-like states, barking like a dog, uttering peculiar sounds, anxiety and disappearing into the woods in the middle of the night and dance a “black magic” dance. Soon after that five other girls started developing the same symptoms. Since none of them got better a doctor was called after a while to take a look at them.

Read More
548 Words | 3 Pages

Some judges were believers in witchcraft and “presumed all accused guilty before their trials began” (Dickinson 940), depicting unfairness for those who were going to be tried. Inclusively ministers who “contributed so much to the common madness” (Dickinson 940) exhibited no help for a peaceful proceeding and ending toward the cases of witchcraft. Overall, one can better understand the Salem witch trials through comprehending that the result of the cases was affected by the input of society and the superiors of the

Read More
612 Words | 3 Pages

The Truth: In Salem, Massachusetts during 1692, the Salem witch trials started which became one of the famous trails in American history. A group of girls in the village came forward saying they were possessed by the devil and then proceeded to claim local woman of witchcraft. In January of 1692, a girl name Elizabeth and Abigail started having fits. A doctor was brought in to figure out was wrong with the girls and the doctor blamed the witchcraft for the girl’s conditions. Then soon other girls like Ann Putnam started to experience the same condition as Elizabeth and Abigail.

Read More
790 Words | 4 Pages

“The majority of those housed below were in, mentally or physically not witches. The conflict of the Salem Witch Trials was the false accusation that people were hung for. The compromise was when the village accused the major's wife of being a witch, he stopped the trails very fast since the trials had to stop the fuel for the people to kill was

Read More
1137 Words | 5 Pages

The problems with the Salem witch trials The late 1600s was a time of mass hysteria due to witchcraft. The Salem witch trials happened because of this. The Salem witch trials were a series of trials and prosecutions of innocent people accused of witchcraft. People who were accused were either thrown in jail or executed. Most people in a town had been accused or been accused of witchcraft by the end of the trials.

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

The Witches were able to project themselves as innocent beings before attack an unsuspecting victim. Of course, the only sources Mather’s had to back up his arguments were his spiritual faith, the Bible, and court

Read More
435 Words | 2 Pages

It was a series of hearings before local magistrates, which led to county court trials to persecute people accused of witchcraft. Trials took place against the theocratic, Puritan British colony where the church ruled in civil matters.

Read More

More about Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document