Woman
on trial for witchcraft at Salem, Massachusetts
America
has a long, rich, and sometimes STRANGE history.
One of the most bizarre times in the history of
what would become the United States occurred in
Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.
It
all began in late January of 1692 at the home of
Samuel Parris. His daughter and niece, Betty and
Abigail, began exhibiting strange and destructive
behavior. They shrieked throughout the house, had
convulsions and seizures, entered trance-like states
and suffered from high fever. Parris tried desperately
to keep the girls condition a secret, but finally
agreed to contact his physician. Upon examining
the girls, Doctor William Griggs could find nothing
physically wrong with them. He suggested their condition
might be the result of witchcraft. The diagnosis
of witchcraft, while certainly devastating, was
not uncommon at the time. Throughout February, Parris
prayed for the evil forces to release the girls.
The
Puritan townspeople began pressuring the girls to
identify the reasons for their suffering. The girls
named three women as witches. One was a slave named
Tituba who had often told them magical stories from
her native Barbados, another was a peasant mother
named Sarah Good, and the last was an elderly woman
names Sarah Osborne who regularly failed to attend
church. The women were arrested and examined in
the village meetinghouse. During the examinations
the girls described how they had been attacked by
"spectors" of these three women. While
the two Sarah's denied engaging in witchcraft, for
some reason, Tituba confessed! Tituba then claimed
the two Sarahs were also ghosts and had conspired
with her to torment the girls.
Soon,
more young girls began acting in a similar matter
to Betty and Abigail. One of the girls, Ann Putnam,
was the daughter of one of the most influential
families in Salem. Her family's support of her accusations
helped to legitimize the guilt of the "witches".
Other
townspeople soon would be accused of engaging in
witchcraft. The people within the town of Salem
became hysterical. Even Rebecca Nurse, a mother
of eight, would be tried and convicted of witchcraft.
Several girls claimed that Nurse's apparition (ghost)
tortured them and other witnesses linked her to
the unusual deaths of several Salem residents (some
residents of Salem used the witchcraft hysteria
to settle long-standing arguments). She was even
accused of having "teets" (what baby mammals
suckle to obtain milk form their mother). At her
trial, 39 of her neighbors signed a petition stating
she was a woman of propriety (virtue or goodness).
When the jury declared her not-guilty, an uprising
nearly occurred. The audience was horrified that
she was acquitted, and several of the judges were
left unsatisfied or left the bench. The jury was
forced to reconvene and the court brought a confessed
witch by the name of Deliverance Hobbs to the courtroom.
When asked about Hobbs, the nearly deaf Nurse replied
'she was one of us'. After hearing the words of
Nurse, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Nurse
later explained that she had never really heard
the question, and that when saying 'she was one
of us' she meant a co-defendant. Nurse was nevertheless
hanged on July 19, 1692. Other accused witches were
tortured until they confessed. About 25 "witches"
hanged.
