To ways that people (mostly women) were tested was:
1. A lake would be blest, the the person who was accused would have there hands and ankles tied together then lowered into the lake, if the person floated and lived he/she would be a witch then killed, but if he/she drowned she would be dead then proved that he/she wasn't a witch.
2. The person accused would have to carry a peace of hot coal around the town two times, when finished if the persons hands were burnt then they would be let go, but if they where fine they would kill you.
EDIT:
During the Salem Trials, the accused were not given the benefit of a fair test.
The Touch Test, the afflicted's testimony and the Witch's Teat were the only evidence or tests employed.
The Touch Test, in which the accused would touch the bewitched while in a fit and if the fit ended the agent to cause it had returned to the accused witch by touch, could be rigged because the afflicted could choose to recover if they were faking, which is the most supported theory.
The afflicted could have easily lied.
And the Witch's Teat, a blemish that would not bleed or cause pain is pricked, was ALWAYS fake. The examiners used dull pins.
1.) The town would watch as the accused would recite the Lord's Prayer. If they were truly the devil's servant, they would not be able to say the prayer.
2). If any marks or scars were found on the person's body they were said to be the marks of evil.
Sometimes they would tie the accused witch to a boulder and drop them into water. If they floated, they were a witch and if they sunk they weren't. Of course either way they died.
This is only one of them.
EDIT:
The accused in Salem never underwent the traditional witch tests of Europe. The court would not allow it. The Salem witches were tried by a panel of judges that also served as jury. The evidence and witness testimony, the afflicted's accusations, were brought up and the accused had to defend themselves.
Largely by the presentation of "Spectral evidence" where the accused appeared to the afflicted in a dream and proclaimed their guilt.
They didn't. The traditional witch tests were not employed in Salem. The afflicted girls accused someone and that was the evidence in the trials.
if you have a mole on your back and it does not bleed out they think thats is who they think is a witch or that is how they find out
They happened because the girls claimed to see different people in the town with the Devil and they didn't really test if they were witches.
The Salem witch trials. Increase Mather was too smart and political knowlegdable to believe that there were witches.
They believed that the trials were caused by the fact that there were witches and those witches had to be condemned. They thought that the witches were a sign that Massachusetts wasn't religious enough anymore.
The Trials were conducted in the towns of Salem Village, Salem Town, Andover, and Ipswich. The accused were said to be Witches from the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex, in Massachusetts, New England.
The Court of Oyer and Terminer was the legal body formed by the governor to perform the Trials of the accused witches.
The Salem trials were held in the summer and early autumn of 1692. There were other witch trials in Massachusetts. For example, there were witch trials and hangings in Boston in 1656.
The last of the Salem Witch trials ended in may 1693
Bridget Bishop
The book "Time of the Witches" takes place in early colonial America, particularly in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, during the Salem Witch Trials in the late 17th century.
There were no actual, practicing witches invovled, accused or otherwise existing in Salem during the witch trials.
Bench trials, meaning the judges decided the verdict.
Nineteen.
The Salem Witch Trials were done for religious purposes. (witches- people who work with Satan) McCarthyism was done for political purposes. (communists)
The Salem witch trials. Increase Mather was too smart and political knowlegdable to believe that there were witches.
Around the medieval time. :3. to be exact, 1000-1100 salem witch trials were in that time period... search it up "salem wicth trials"
they where basically people accusing other people of being witches
Nineteen, fourteen women and five men.
They believed that the trials were caused by the fact that there were witches and those witches had to be condemned. They thought that the witches were a sign that Massachusetts wasn't religious enough anymore.