Unfairness In The Salem Witches By Rosalyn Schanzer

The Salem Witch Trials started in 1692 and ended in 1711. The Salem Witch Trials were the period of the Puritan religion’s belief in witches in Salem, Massachusetts. The trials started with Betty Parris and her orphaned cousin Abigail Williams, when the girls began to contort their bodies, crouch beneath furniture and speak words that don’t make sense. When the girls were diagnosed as bewitched, it led to the witchhunt called the Salem Witch Trials. In Rosalyn Schanzer’s Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, the Salem Witch Trials were not fair because of the accusers, the judges, and the evidence.
Accusers
In Rosalyn Schanzer’s book, The Salem Witch Trials was a period of unfairness that started with the accusers. While

In the Court of Oyer and Terminer, most of the judges were malicious in the trials against the accused witches. They unheeded family members of the accused’s pleas, and also condemned innocent people. The text states, “His witches were so cruel and bloody, said the pastor, that it was the judges’ duty to use every weapon in the book--including spectral evidence--to see that they were hanged.”(Schanzer 77), which shows the ruthlessness of the people and the judges. Also, the book says, “Several of the judges had served together on the Maine frontier as councillors or officers during the Second Indian War.”(Schanzer 77), which also means they could have had a grudge against Reverend George Burroughs, because he came out of the attacks without a scratch. Finally, the text has a list of the judges and their occupations, which says, “Samuel Sewall- Harvard graduate from Boston, educated for ministry; merchant and militia officer in the Second Indian War, Nathaniel Saltonstall-Harvard graduate and wealthy gentleman from Haverhill; active militia officer for Essex County during the Second Indian War; justice of the peace, Peter Sergeant- Wealthy Boston gentleman without a profession, Wait-Still Winthrop-Boston physician and active militia leader in the Second Indian War, attended Harvard but did not graduate, Jonathan Corwin-Wealthy merchant and military advisor from Salem; a magistrate during the

The judges allowed spectral evidence to be used in court, which means that they could use accusations from the Invisible World, such as they could claim that an accused’s apparitions had appeared or that the accused’s specter had pricked them. The text states, “to be sure, a number of people had always been leery about the use of spectral evidence in court, and a few brave souls were not afraid to say so out loud. But when the new court was formed, these skeptics were in the minority. The majority still agreed with Willard; spectral evidence provided unvarnished proof that someone was a witch.”(Schanzer 77), which shows that most people believe that they should believe in things they cannot see, which led to the innocent being accused and condemned. Also, the text states, “Spectral evidence. This was testimony by a victim that they were “visited” by some demon, perhaps while sleeping.”(The DBQ Project), which is the definition of spectral evidence. Finally, the text states, “ A woman named Goodie Bibber testified that the specter of Rebecca Nurse had pricked her with pins in the courtroom, but Nurse’s daughter Sarah testified that she had watched Bibber slip the pins out of her own dress and stab herself with them.” which shows that the accusers were wrong in their ways. Finally, on page 90 and 91, the text says, “At the trial of Sarah Good, one of the afflicted fell into a Fit, and after coming out of