Abigail William's testimony against George Jacobs, Jr., during the Salem witches trial, now retained by the Massachusetts Historical Society. Simon Bradstreet and Thomas Danforth, the colony's last leaders under the old charter, resumed their posts as governor and deputy governor, but lacked constitutional authority to rule because the old charter had been vacated. Milbourne had to post £200 bond (equal to £31,541, or about US$42,000 today) or be arrested for "contriving, writing and publishing the said scandalous Papers". Preston, VK. The witch trials eventually ended when Salem’s minister and his father urged people to consider the evidence they were presenting. In 1672, the villagers had voted to hire a minister of their own, apart from Salem Town. [81], Traditionally, the allegedly afflicted girls are said to have been entertained by Parris' slave, Tituba. [33] Throughout their daily lives, Puritans, especially Puritan women, actively attempted to thwart attempts by the Devil to overtake them and their souls. [84] A variety of secondary sources, starting with Charles W. Upham in the 19th century, typically relate that a circle of the girls, with Tituba's help, tried their hands at fortune telling. Presumptions whereupon persons may be committed, and, much more, convictions whereupon persons may be condemned as guilty of witchcrafts, ought certainly to be more considerable than barely the accused person's being represented by a specter unto the afflicted; inasmuch as it is an undoubted and notorious thing, that a demon may, by God's permission, appear, even to ill purposes, in the shape of an innocent, yea, and a virtuous man. "[12], In his treatise, Glanvill claimed that ingenious men should believe in witches and apparitions; if they doubted the reality of spirits, they not only denied demons but also the almighty God. Many historians consider the lasting effects of the trials to have been highly influential in subsequent United States history. [95] Judging from the apologetic tone of Cases of Conscience that the moral panic had subsided, Thomas Brattle directly ridiculed the "superstitions" of Salem and Increase's defense of his son in an open letter notable for its openly sarcastic tone. The others were listed only as "certain other persons", phrasing which failed specifically to name Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Wilmot Redd and Margaret Scott. Major Nathaniel Saltonstall, Esq., resigned from the court on or about June 16, presumably dissatisfied with the letter and that it had not outright barred the admission of spectral evidence. Ann Foster, her daughter Mary Lacey Sr., and granddaughter Mary Lacey Jr. all confessed to being witches. Science proved eating contaminated rye bread can result in this disease. The colonial leadership were prominent members of their congregations and regularly consulted with the local ministers on issues facing the colony. When he was upon the Ladder, he made a speech for the clearing of his Innocency, with such Solemn and Serious Expressions as were to the Admiration of all present; his Prayer (which he concluded by repeating the Lord's Prayer) [as witches were not supposed to be able to recite] was so well worded, and uttered with such composedness as such fervency of spirit, as was very Affecting, and drew Tears from many, so that if seemed to some that the spectators would hinder the execution. Although the last trial was held in May 1693, public response to the events continued. The Salem witch trials have generally confirmed the negative stereotypes about Puritans that remain deeply embedded in American popular culture. Bridget Bishop was convicted at the end of her trial and sentenced to death. He was a reluctant church go-er and was an outspoken critic of the Salem Witch Trials. [10][123], The story of the witchcraft accusations, trials and executions has captured the imagination of writers and artists in the centuries since the event took place. Puritan ministers throughout the Massachusetts Bay Colony were exceedingly interested in the trial. [36], In Salem Village in February 1692, Betty Parris (age nine) and her cousin Abigail Williams (age 11), the daughter and the niece, respectively, of Reverend Samuel Parris, began to have fits described as "beyond the power of epileptic fits or natural disease to effect" by John Hale, the minister of the nearby town of Beverly. John Alden (son of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins), William Proctor (son of John and Elizabeth Proctor), John Flood, Mary Toothaker (wife of Roger Toothaker and sister of Martha Carrier) and her daughter Margaret Toothaker, and Arthur Abbott. The first women to be accused of the illicit practice of witchcraft were Sarah Osborne, Sarah Goode, and Tituba. When Lawson preached as a guest in the Salem Village meetinghouse, he was interrupted several times by the outbursts of the afflicted. [39], The girls complained of being pinched and pricked with pins. Suspect Roger Toothaker died in prison on June 16, 1692. The charges against her and Rebecca Nurse deeply troubled the community because Martha Corey was a full covenanted member of the Church in Salem Village, as was Rebecca Nurse in the Church in Salem Town. Villagers also played a key role in ending the trials:“villagers thought that complaints of being tormented by a witch’s “spectra” were not all true and that spectral evidence was not practical enough to prove that someone was a witch”( Shaunak). These tales about sexual encounters with demons, swaying the minds of men, and fortune-telling were said to stimulate the imaginations of girls and made Tituba an obvious target of accusations. In 1957, descendants of the six people who had been wrongly convicted and executed but who had not been included in the bill for a reversal of attainder in 1711, or added to it in 1712, demanded that the General Court formally clear the names of their ancestral family members. According to the Salem Witch Museum, they are: Bridget Bishop; George Burroughs; Martha Carrier; Martha Corey Learn more about the Salem witch trials in "Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials" by Marilynne K. Roach. Many villagers stopped hunting for witches because they had lost friends and family during previous trials. She was accused of attracting girls like Abigail Williams and Betty Parris with stories of enchantment from Malleus Maleficarum. [32] Overall, the Puritan belief and prevailing New England culture was that women were inherently sinful and more susceptible to damnation than men were. Montague Summer. In 1692, 19 innocent men and women were suspected of witchcraft and hung. All five women were executed by hanging on July 19, 1692. "[4], At the 300th anniversary events in 1992 to commemorate the victims of the trials, a park was dedicated in Salem and a memorial in Danvers. They used the white of an egg and a mirror to create a primitive crystal ball to divine the professions of their future spouses and scared one another when one supposedly saw the shape of a coffin instead. Robbins, Rossell Hope. Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin and Sarah Wildes, along with Rebecca Nurse, went to trial at this time, where they were found guilty. A memorial park was dedicated in Salem which included stone slab benches inserted in the stone wall of the park for each of those executed in 1692. They felt that innocent people were being executed and wished to end the witch-hunt. [128] Some modern historians are less inclined to focus on biological explanations, preferring instead to explore motivations such as jealousy, spite, and a need for attention to explain the behavior. "[86], Tituba's race has often been described in later accounts as of Carib-Indian or African descent, but contemporary sources describe her only as an "Indian". [69] His refusal to plead is usually explained as a way of preventing his estate from being confiscated by the Crown, but, according to historian Chadwick Hansen, much of Corey's property had already been seized, and he had made a will in prison: "His death was a protest ... against the methods of the court". But those witches who were convicted? ( Log Out /  Evidence tends to support the theory that this was the primary cause of Salem’s witchcraft mania. John Alden by proclamation. After the event, four out of six Goodwin children began to have strange fits, or what some people referred to as "the disease of astonishment." 1 The Examination of Bridget Bishop, April 19, 1692. The record books of the time do not note the deaths of any of those executed. [28], Prior to the constitutional turmoil of the 1680s, the Massachusetts government had been dominated by conservative Puritan secular leaders. Massachusetts Archives, Vol. "[13], The trials were started after people had been accused of witchcraft, primarily by teenage girls such as Elizabeth Hubbard, 17, as well as some who were younger. These symptoms fuelled the craze of 1692. [96], Samuel Willard, minister of the Third Church in Boston[97] was a onetime strong supporter of the trials and of spectral evidence but became increasingly concerned as the Mathers crushed dissent. News of Mather's charter and the appointment of Phips as the new governor had reached Boston by late January,[20] and a copy of the new charter reached Boston on February 8, 1692. The villagers did try to end the trials, through their efforts did not help. [98] Writing anonymously to conceal his dissent, he published a short tract entitled "Some Miscellany Observations On our present Debates respecting Witchcrafts, in a Dialogue Between S. & B." As soon as the bodies of the accused were cut down from the trees, they were thrown into a shallow grave, and the crowd dispersed. [42], Sarah Osborne rarely attended church meetings. It was the deadliest witch hunt in the history of colonial North America. During the proceedings, objections by Elizabeth's husband, John Proctor, resulted in his arrest that day.[47]. Let's see how you would have faired in Salem, Massachusetts, in the late 1600s. In the following centuries, the descendants of those unjustly accused and condemned have sought to honor their memories. How did it end? The manifestations attributed to the disease quickly became associated with witchcraft. Hoffer, Peter Charles. Though, what caused the end of the infamous trials? [124], Many interpretations have taken liberties with the facts of the historical episode in the name of literary and/or artistic license. The law of the Salem Witch Trials is a fascinating mix of biblical passages and colonial statutes. The Salem Witch Hunt. Another lose-lose proposition. [37] Glover, of Irish Catholic descent, was characterized as a disagreeable old woman and described by her husband as a witch; this may have been why she was accused of casting spells on the Goodwin children. On June 18, 1689, the villagers agreed to hire Parris for £66 annually, "one third part in money and the other two third parts in provisions," and use of the parsonage. In the beginning the trials spread like wildfire, but later the news began to slowly die off. This doesn't seem to square with Lawson's account dating it around March 8. Their earliest impactful use as the basis for an item of popular fiction is the 1828 novel Rachel Dyer by John Neal. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials.