By Sage Nichols

The Witch Trial: The Devil in Salem Village

Map of Salem Village in 1692

The Stereotypical WitchMost people think of a witch having a pointed

nose, dresses in black, wears a black pointed hat, flies on a broomstick and is accompanied by a black catWitches in literature

Wizard of OzMacbethHansel and GretelSnow White

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The Puritan’s and many others in early Europe believed it was a person who could do harm magically.LivestockCropsStormsDiseasesSexual DysfunctionsFamily FeudsMarital DiscordLocal Politics

What was a Witch in the eyes of a Puritan?

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The Malleus Maleficarum, “Witches Hammer”, was written to assist witch-hunters in their efforts of finding and persecuting a witch.

Women were mostly blamed due to their untamed sexuality.

The Malleus Maleficarum

The witch-madness began in the home of the Puritan preacher Samuel Parris.

His slave Tituba told stories of voodoo and spirits to his nine-year-old daughter Betty and her cousin Abigail Williams. They were quickly joined by other girls in the town. The young girls wanted Tituba to tell them scary stories and have their fortunes told.

Witches in Salem

The Possessed GirlsIn the beginning Betty would stare and start

screaming if anyone asked her what was the matter.Abigail ran under the furniture on all fours and

barked like a dog then would fall into convulsions. The members of the church thought that prayer

would heal the two girls, but even at the words, “Our Father,” Betty and Abigail would begin screaming and stamping their feet to drown out the sounds of the holy words. Once in an episode, Betty hurled the Bible from herself

More girls fell under this spell.

Everyone believed something evil had possessed the girls and more villagers came to witness the afflicted girls for themselves.

Reverend Parris would ask them continually, “How did you let Satan in?” or, “Who is using Satan against you?”

Then the accusations began.

“How did you let Satan in?”

Tituba was the reverend’s Indian slave. In everyone’s eyes she matched their idea of the witch.Dark skinMysteriousVoodoo

In February she gave her confession to the judge. Tituba said that the devil and four other women came to her and asked her to serve him.Sarah OsborneSarah Good

First of the accused- Tituba

Soon the girls had the run of the town, pointing fingers and sending those they didn’t like to their deaths. During the trials they would be seen spitting pins and twisting into painful contortions saying the witch was doing it to them. It gave them a sense of freedom that they hadn’t experienced a sort of high. People listened to them and they were now the center of attention. That was reason enough for those girls to lie and cause drama. Puritans were very strict and a girl had even less privileges, but with the witch-madness it gave them a way to let out suppressed behaviors

Freedom

More witches were accused of signing the Devil’s book and doing his bidding. There was barely a person left in the town who hadn’t been convicted.If they gave a confession, they would have

clear but temporary path to freedom.All they had to do was confess to being a

witch, confirm and elaborate the current story of the devil, his book, his evil meetings, and give names of other witches- even if they were already jailed or had been executed.

Confessions of a Witch

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On September 22 seven witches and one wizard were carted off to Gallows Hill. Those executed for witch-craft were not given a proper burial, but were rolled down the hill into a ditch. Family members would have to retrieve the bodies if they wanted to bury them. In the end nineteen were sent to their deaths, only one was pressed to death.

Gallows Hill

The madness finally ended when the fingers were pointed at the governor’s wife and he stopped the trials then. Five years after the Salem Witch Trials, a judge by the name of Samuel Sewall decided to repent his actions over the trials which he had presided. During the annual day of fasting and prayer at Boston’s Third Church, he stood silently as the minister told the congregation that Sewall, “desires to take the blame and shame of it.”

The End

How does a town live down the actions of hundreds of years ago? Do the spirits of those unjustly accused still walk the city of Salem? The memories are too strong to suppress. Recently there have been memorials made to those poor souls and hopefully they can rest in peace.

Salem Now

The people of Salem whole heartedly believed that they were surrounded by witches. People who would do them harm magically and they tried to exterminate them. They were frightened of what they didn’t understand and nineteen people paid the price. But the question still remains was it only the actions of several hysterical girls, who thought that their dabbling in what they believed to be magic, would send them to hell so they accused their neighbors in guilt? Or did something evil come to Salem Village and bring about their mania? That is for you to decide.

Conclusion