For more information, visit pem. Subscribe Now. The Magazine. Photograph by Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dinah Cardin October 30, Photograph by Dennis Helmar. During the trials, two dogs were killed based on suspicions of witchcraft. One dog was shot after a girl suffering from convulsions accused the dog of trying to bewitch her.
The second slain dog was actually thought to be a victim of witchcraft whose tormentors fled Salem before they could be tried in court. They were also used for identifying witches in Salem, using the Witch Cake test. If a dog was fed a cake made with rye and the urine of an afflicted person, and it displayed the same symptoms as the victim, it indicated the presence of witchcraft.
The dog was also supposed to then point to the people who had bewitched the victim. Dorothy Good, the 4-year-old daughter of the previously accused Sarah Good, was the youngest to be accused of witchcraft.
According to the warrant for her apprehension, she was called for trial on March 23, , under suspicion of witchcraft after being accused by Edward Putnam. Ann Putnam testified that Good tried to choke and bite her, a claim that Mary Walcott corroborated.
Under pressure from the authorities—and hoping she would get to see her mother if she complied— she confessed to the claims that Sarah was a witch and Dorothy had been witness to this fact. Good was imprisoned from March 24, , to December 10, The Court of Oyer and Terminer was established in June because the witch trials were overwhelming the local jails and courts. It was shut down on October 29, While there was no need to provide evidence for accusing someone of witchcraft—just pointing fingers was enough—spectral evidence was often used during the trials.
To save his wife, the governor stepped in to stop the trials and disband the court of Oyer and Terminer. Unlike the stereotype surrounding witchcraft that indicates that it is primarily done by women, the people of Salem did not discriminate on the basis of gender. John Proctor was the first man accused of witchcraft. Redd was accused of witchcraft in May of by the Salem Village afflicted girls and brought to Ingersoll Tavern in Salem Village for her examination.
Redd was brought to trial in September and executed on September 22, Scott had seven children but only three survived childhood. After her husband died in , Scott was left destitute and forced to beg from her neighbors. This made her unpopular with her neighbors. A member of the Nelson family also sat on the grand jury that convicted her. Scott was brought to trial on September 17 and executed on September 22, He was also a well known fortune-teller and practitioner of English folk magic.
It is believed that his work in the occult led to his witchcraft accusation. Wardwell was accused in September of and arrested and jailed in Salem. Shortly after, his wife and daughters were also arrested. During his examination, he admitted to fortune-telling and dabbling in magic and said that the devil may have taken advantage of him for these reasons. He then confessed to making a pact with the devil but later recanted his confession. Wardwell was brought to trial in mid-September and executed on September 22, Corey had a reputation for being a pious member of the community despite the well-known fact that she had a child out of wedlock in the s.
Martha Corey was also an outspoken critic of the Salem Witch Trials and stated many times that the afflicted girls were liars. When Giles Corey himself was accused of witchcraft and arrested in April, he refused to provide any more information on Martha or himself.
Martha Corey was brought to trial on September 9 and executed on September 22, , just three days after Giles Corey had been tortured to death for refusing to enter a plea. She lived in Topsfield and was considered a pious, well-respected member of the community.
In April of , Mary Easty was accused of witchcraft, arrested but was then released in May. She was accused again, a few days after her release, and arrested. She was examined and indicted on two charges of witchcraft. Easty was brought to trial on September 9 and executed on September 22, He had a reputation for being an angry, violent man and was once charged with murdering his farmhand in He was found guilty but only suffered a fine for his actions.
Many locals, including Thomas Putnam , suspected Corey had paid a bribe for his freedom. In April of , Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft after his wife, Martha Corey , had also been accused and arrested on the same charge. Giles Corey refused to enter a plea in an attempt to prevent his case from going to trial. He reportedly knew he was going to die, either in jail or on the gallows, and wanted to avoid being convicted before he did.
As a result, Giles Corey was tortured for three days in a field on Howard Street in Salem town in an attempt to force a plea out of him.
He died on the third day of his torture on September 19, Elizabeth Proctor Brought to trial on August 5 and found guilty.
She was sentenced to death but the execution was delayed due to her pregnancy. She gave birth in January was released from prison in May, Abigail Faulkner, Sr Brought to trial on September 17 and found guilty.
She was released from prison in March, Mary Post Brought to trial in January, and found guilty. She was sentenced to death but pardoned by Governor Phips. Sarah Wardwell Brought to trial on January 10, and found guilty. Elizabeth Johnson Jr Brought to trial in January, and found guilty. Dorcas Hoar Brought to trial on September 9, and found guilty. She was sentenced to death but never executed. Roger Toothaker Died in jail in Boston on June 16, John Alden Jr.
Edward Bishop Jr. Other victims include two dogs who were shot or killed after being suspected of witchcraft. Most of the Salem Witch Trials victims were women but men were accused and executed too. Although some of the early victims were poor social outcasts from Salem Village, the accusations slowly spread to all types of people from all types of backgrounds, according to the book Death in Salem: The Private Lives Behind the Witch Hunt :. Everyone knew that witchcraft was largely a female perversity, but the reasoning stopped there.
The over one hundred and fifty people singled out for social and legal ostracism over the course of included every age, social echelon, and background: rich and poor, young and old, feeble and sharp-witted. The logic seems to have been that physical contact with an actual witch would draw the evil spirits back out of the victim. The ulterior reasons for their persecution sometimes surfaced at the trial.
Often it was little more than a bad reputation or malicious gossip, repackaged and embroidered over decades. A human frailty or eccentricity might be trotted out as evidence. Due to the large number of accused witches, the prisoners were kept in multiple jails in Salem, Ipswich and Boston. According to the book, A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials , the accused witches were considered dangerous prisoners and were kept in dungeons underneath the jails away from the regular prisoners:.
These were perpetually dark, bitterly cold, and so damp that water ran down the walls. They reeked of unwashed human bodies and excrement. They enclosed as much agony as anywhere human beings could have lived. The stone dungeons of Salem Town prison were discovered in the s in St.
Certainly they were a breeding ground for disease…But accused witches were worse off than the other unfortunates [other prisoners. The dungeons forever changed people and the ones who were lucky enough to survive the prison or escape the gallows often suffered for the rest of their lives. Interior of the old dungeon, old witch jail, Salem, Mass, circa Such is the case with Dorcas Good, the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good who was accused of witchcraft in March of and spent seven to eight months in jail before being released, according to the book The Salem Witch Trials Reader:.
While in prison, the accused were repeatedly humiliated by being forced to undergo physical examinations of their bodies. During the examinations the prisoners, who were mostly elderly, were stripped naked in front of a group of people and their bodies were poked and prodded and any suspicious marks or moles found were pricked with needles.
Upham describes his disgust over this treatment of the prisoners:. The results of the examinations were reduced to written reports, going into details, and, among other evidences in the trials, spread before the court and jury. There they were questioned by a judge in front of a jury, which decided whether or not to indict the accused on charges of witchcraft. The trials were then held in the Salem courthouse which was located in the center of Washington Street about feet south of Lynde Street, opposite of where the Masonic Temple now stands.
This courthouse was torn down in but a plaque dedicated to the courthouse can still be seen today on the wall of the Masonic Temple on Washington Street. The victims were hanged by the neck by a rope tied to a tree. Contrary to popular belief, none of the victims were burned at the stake.
The reason is because English law only allowed death by burning to be used against men who committed high treason and only after they had been hanged until almost dead, quartered and drawn. The English considered it an unacceptable death for women since it involved nudity. Burning at the stake was more popular in countries with a strong Catholic church because it did not involve the shedding of blood, which was not allowed in the Roman Catholic doctrine, and it ensured that the victim would not have a body to take with them to the after life.
Upham for the Peabody Historical Society in During the Salem Witch Trials why were women the main target. Men were accused of bewitchment but the majority was women. In this time men had more power than women they were also more brute and masculine. Women were more vulnerable and because they were very religious it lead to more confessions. Women were not considered equal to men and were underappreciated because, in the bible Eve was the first to take the fruit from the forbidden tree and committed a sin Annika.
Not all women were poor or vulnerable some were accused because they were starting to gain power. Women were the main target of bewitchment because they were thought to be vulnerable and weak, while other women were being targeted for gained too much power and over male dominance.
How did the infamous Salem Witch Trials begin? It all started in present day Massachusetts, as 9 year old Elizabeth Parris and 11 year old Abigail Williams were showing:sudden outburst, fits, and violent contortions. The girls could accuse other because of their upper class social status, others did the same.
One slave who was accused, Tituba, was accused of bewitching girls. To get out of the situation she confessed to the accusations, thinking the case would end when it had just gotten worse, 8 days later she was hung, along with 5 others in the same month. The mass hysteria soon started to spread. Smithsonian Institution, 23 Oct. Dashiell, Beckie. Accessed 18 Mar. Faisal, Muhammad. Digital image. Traditional Witchcraft.
0コメント