In February, 1692, two young girls in Parris household began to show symptoms of bewitchment. Elizabeth “Betty” Parris (9) and her cousin Abigail Williams (11) had fits that were immediately attributed to witchcraft. Soon, other young girls were having fits, too. The first arrested were Tituba (a Caribbean slave that served the Parris’), Sarah Good (a homeless, creepy woman) and Sarah Osbourne (an old, poor woman who wasn’t big on church-going). Good’s four-year old daughter Dorothy was accused. But she was not hanged, because that would have been wrong. Before the hysteria died out, over 200 were accused. 30 were found guilty. 20 were executed. And five died in jail. There are few myths that developed over the years.
- The convicted were burned at the stake. FALSE Witch burning had been common in Europe in places like France, but in England and its colonies hanging was the punishment. All of the hangings occurred on Gallows Hill.
- The executed were all women. FALSE 5 men were executed. About 25% of the accused were male. They were usually related to the “witches” and/or dared to defend them. Two dogs were hanged because they supposedly caused fits. Why was it 75% women? Because of sexism. Women were more sinful than men and easier for the devil to recruit.
- These were the first witch trials in America. FALSE 14 women and 2 men had earlier been hanged in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The first was Alse Young in 1647.
- Giles Corey accepted the punishment of being pressed to death because he wanted to keep his estate from being forfeited to the government. FALSE Corey refused to plead guilty or innocent and the punishment was having large stones places on his body. It took him two days to die. However, it was most likely an act of protest. He apparently didn’t have much of an estate.
- The symptoms were caused by ergot poisoning. FALSE In 1976, historian Linnda Caporael made the provocative claim that the girls’ convulsions and hallucinations were caused by consuming rye bread tainted by the fungus ergot. Since is preferable to blaming something on emotions, the theory quickly gained acceptance. There are some problems with the theory. Vitamin A counteracts ergot poisoning and evidence points to no shortage of Vitamin A in the diets of the girls. Second, other people in the same houses did not show the symptoms. Third, the symptoms were usually situational. The girls would have their fits in the presence of the accused in the courtroom. Otherwise, they behaved normally.
- It all started after Tituba took the girls out to the woods to do fortune telling or summonings of the devil. FALSE Tituba did influence Betty Parris and Abigail Williams with her stories from the Caribbean. But she did not tell her tales around a campfire to a gathering of girls. She did fuel the hysteria by confessing to submitting to the Satan. “The Devil came to me and bid me serve him.” And she ratted out others. Incredibly, she was not even put on trial, much less hanged. The rule was that if you confessed you would not be hanged. That means the 19 that were hanged were executed because they refused to admit they were witches!
- It wasn’t until 1957 that Massachusetts admitted that the trials were a miscarriage of justice. FALSE It is true that the state did not issue an official apology until 1957. But as early as 1711 a law was passed clearing the names of the accused. In 1712, some financial restitution was paid to the families. It was not until 2022 that Elizabeth Johnson, the last person convicted, was exonerated.
So, what caused it? Here are the strongest possibilities. (It may have been a combination of some of these.)
- An influx of refugees from King William’s War stretched the resources of the area and increased tensions.
- Quarrelsomeness was high in the area.
- A feud between the Putnam and Porter families caused others to take sides.
- Religious tensions. Increase Mather and his son Cotton had recently written books on witchcraft so it was on people’s minds. Reverand Parris (Betty’s father) was a strict leader and this increased tensions. Unmarried women and childless women must be in league with the devil. Am I right?
- The accusers were teenage girls. Duh! Why do we need a scientific explanation? They lived in an overly religious world that focused on divine punishment for almost everything fun, but you weren’t punished for play-acting to get attention. Does this sound like play-acting? Making strange noises. Crawling under furniture. Flapping your arms. Throwing things. Seeing apparitions of adults you didn’t like. Becoming calm if the accused touched you. (So much for ergot poisoning.)
https://time.com/6220728/salem-witch-trials-hocus-pocus-2-myths/
https://www.rd.com/list/salem-witch-trials/
https://www.chowdaheadz.com/blogs/news/5-common-myths-about-the-salem-witch-trials
https://allthatsinteresting.com/salem-witch-trials-facts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials
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