Please Note: As this particular set of witch trials is so sensationalized, I did not go into as much detail as I have others
Arguably the most well known of American witch trials are those of Salem in 1692. Several women were accused of practicing dark arts after several young girls claimed they were being possessed by the devil. (History, 2020).
As discussed previously, often outside sources of stress caused hysteria, in this case there were many effects lingering after a British war with France 1689, as well as fears of Native American attacks on the colonies, a recent outbreak of smallpox, and an outstanding fear of outsiders fueled through rivalries and distrust (History, 2020).
In January of 1692, Dr. Williams Griggs attended the daughter of the local minister, as well as his niece. These girls, Elizabeth “Betty” Parris, 9, and Abigail Williams, 11, had begun having terrifying fits of violent contortion and screaming outbursts. Shortly after, Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren, all young girls like Abigail and Betty, began experiencing similar symptoms. Tituba, the Paris’ Carribean slave, was the first to be arrested. Sarah Good, a homeless beggar, and Sarah Osborn, a poor, elderly woman, were next; all were accused of bewitching the children (History, 2020).
Jonathan Crowain and John Hathorne served as magistrates in the questioning of the witnesses. The accusers suffered fits of contortions and screaming throughout the trial. Of the three accused being questioned, only Tituba confessed. She then accused several others of working with her in witchcraft against the children. This served to enlarge the hysteria in Salem. Soon even upstanding members of the church and community were being accused, such as Martha Corey, her husband, Giles, and Rebecca Nurse (History, 2020).
Judges Samuel Sewall and William Stoughton joined the trials and watched together as they convicted and sentenced 19 to hanging. Seven other witches died in confinement. Giles Cory, Martha’s elderly husband, refused to enter a plea during his trial and was crushed to death by stones (History, 2020).
A minister, Cotton Mather, had expressed his concerns with the way witch trials were run throughout the course but he was not listened to. His father, Increase Mather, later joined his son, his status as the president of Harvard College allowing weight behind his words. He urged others to consider witchcraft as any other crime and to allow the same amount of evidence for witchcraft as one would another crime rather than the reliance on spectral evidence; i.e. dreams and visions. He urged courts to consider the weight of ten escaped witches versus one innocent life taken for a wrong conviction (History, 2020).
The governor heeded the warnings and dissolved any courts in which witch trials had taken place. In their places he established successors who swore to not entertain spectral evidence in the courts. By May, 1693, the last of the accused witches were pardoned. In 1697, Massachusetts declared a day of fasting in remembrance of the trials that were now deemed unlawful. Judge Samuel Sewall publicly apologized for the role he had had in the Salem witch trials. The colony of Massachusetts passed legislation and paid financial restitution to families of the accused until 1711 in an attempt to make amends (History, 2020).
Learning Wicca and the Tradition of the Craft 