Salem Witch Trials

It was resolved by the governor in 2001 after much lobbying on the part of a school teacher. All were declared innocent and free three hundred years later.

As is true with many historic events, it is difficult to assign the blame for the start of the Salem Witch Trials to a single person. Abigail Williams, Betty Parris and the other girls who began the accusations must take some of the blame. Samuel Parris bears some responsiblity because he played it up as bewitchment to the masses. The other ministers in Essex County are in a similar boat for not denouncing Parris as out for vengence on the town that had tormented him. Dr. Griggs could have stopped the whole mess in its tracks if he had just diagnosised the girls with a physical ailment, even a made up one, instead of witchcraft.

As far as I know, nobody ever questioned the Salem Witch Trails. The reason for this isprobably because, at the time of the Trials, mostly everybody believed in witches. The colonials believed that if someone got sick, it was because a witch was "bewitching" that person. Most Colonists would go to wits end to prevent an encounter with a witch or wizard. So when the witch trials began, naturally, all the colonists agreed to get rid of the "so called" witches immediately. If there was a person that didn't agree with the trials. Most likely that person would take care in hiding his\her feelings about it. Because, if you think about it, if so many believed in witches and so many wanted them dead and done with. What would happen to a person that told them that they should stop persecuting these men and women of being witches. I think the colonist would most likely think of that person as another witch, trying to stop the killings of his\her fellow minions. So as answer to your question. The person who criticized the Trials would probably be hanged, or served in jail for some time.

EDIT:

Solid reasoning, but incorrect.

Martha Corey, George Jacobs, John Proctor, Mary Easty, Sarah Goode, and George Burroughs never hid their objections and they can all be found on the lists of the executed.

Many of those who spoke out were imprisoned. That fact si often used to defend the theory that the girls' were covering something up or getting revenge. They took down any oppostionto protect themselves.

The Salem Witch Trials is NOT a title for a book. It is the name that describes a witch hysteria, a witch hunt and witch trials that occurred in 1692 in Salem Massachusetts and other towns in Essex County.

For one thing you had to be an outsider of the town or not go to church. (There was two churches. One in Salem village and one in the town.) But mainly the girls had to accuse you. for more information check out, Wicked Girsl at your local library.

Because there is no central government in Wicca there is no "Grand High Witch" in individual groups such as a coven there are High Priestesses and High Priests.

Under British law, the basis for Massachusetts Bay Colony legal structure in the 17th century, those who were accused of consorting with the devil were considered felons, having committed a crime against their government. The punishment for such a crime was hanging.

Of course the childish and religiously driven belief that there were witches and they had special powers to consort with the devil created a large scale mania in a population that was driven by fear of the unknown. Well known clergy of the times preached of the devil and his doings from every pulpit and the people believed. They heaped their fears upon the heads of unpopular people or people who acted in some odd manner who were accused of being witches and tortured and killed in the village square. It is a case study in human Psychology gone wrong, terribly wrong.

I have no idea

There was only one immediate cause of the trials: the affliction of the supposed bewitched. So called witchcraft threatened the church, the government, and the social laws of communities. People viewed witchcraft as a real and legitimate issue, and it was tried like any other crime.

A man by the name of William Phips was royal governor in 1692.

Arthur Miller saw a number of parallels between the Salem witch trials and the Senate hearings during the Red Scare. [2] Miller saw liberals become paralyzed when they saw civil rights being violated and feared that they would be accused, just as the Puritans became fearful of speaking out. The Red Scare, like the witch trials, dominated people's minds. Just as Proctor spoke out against the accusations, Miller believed that individuals could still speak out. Also, people could be excused from the accusations by naming others during the Red Scare, just as the accused in Salem could escape the consequences by naming others. [3] Those who wield power can use similar tactics to try to intimidate others, but people need to use their individual powers to fight back.

The conflict is between religion and common sense. Religion said the girls were bewitched and telling the truth. Common sense they could be lying. In an age before they knew what the common cold was, there was no way they could figure out which was right easily.

In Protestant England and America, witchcraft was considered to be a felony and the punishment for a felony was hanging. On the Continent of Europe, witchcraft was heresy, and the heresy penalty was death by burning.

When a witch laughs it's called cackle. For example, We heard a cackle behind us! It was a witches laugh! All witches laugh like that.

The people who remained in jail were released when they paid their room and board. A slue of lawsuits flowed into the Salem and Boston courts for conpensation and the property of loved ones who were executed.

Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States.

It really isn't. Nineteen innocent people were executed as witches in 1692 and the world avoided the subject until the late 1800s when someone actually wrote about it. The town remained uneasy about it until people became fascinated by magic and they could use their embarrassing history to attract tourists.

The Salem Witch Trials occured because a group of girls, who were bored of their regular daily basis, wanted to entertain themselves. They decided that they would start naming random people, who seemed a bit different from regular Puritans, as witches. Many people who were accused of being witches were sent to Salem Prison or even executed! The girls would not stop until a brave girl named Susanna English, whom knew the circle was lying, spoke out and told that the circle was lying. Soon, this witchcraft madness slowed down and ended permanently.

Nineteen people were hanged. One was pressed to death for refusing to make a plea in court. We know of four who died while imprisoned, but that number may be as high as 13.

1. The accused were not the ones who went mad. The supposedly bewitched accusers went mad.

2. There is no concrete proof there was any poison, but one theory suggests Ergotism, poisoning from ingesting ergot fungus.

Well, there is a bit of family tradition on this one. It goes back at least to the 19th century, and was passed down to me by Dr. Howard M Bradbury, Sr. -- my grandfather.

Mary, of course, was in her late 70's when she was convicted. Her husband, Captain Thomas Bradbury, though also elderly, was one of the colony's most leading and respected citizens -- basically the kind of man who chewed nails for breakfast. That much is in the record, now for the family oral history:

According to my Grandfather, Mary's nephew [unnamed] was a sea captain in Boston. According to the legend, he came up from Boston, got dressed up in a phosphorescent devil's costume, and scared off the jailer!

Now that would probably been Constable William Baker. Was there a bribe? Quite possibly, but we will never know. Given the temper of the times, the concept would certainly have worked!

This story has been told in my branch of the family for over 120 years. If it was not true, perhaps it should have been!

Mark Bradbury Dappert (10th Generation from Capt Thomas and Mary).

I'm a direct line descendant of Thomas and Mary Perkins Bradbury also. My family has always believed that Mary was acquitted of the charges and released, but the official records show that she was freed from the jail by several men, one of whom was thought to be her husband Thomas. The original charges against her were placed by a pair of local men returning home from the local tavern. They claimed that Mary came upon them and turned herself into a "blue boar", chasing them off of her property. She had a son-in-law who was a captain in the local militia who may have played a hand in her release,as well. She was brought to Amesbury, MA, where she lived for a couple of years before she passed away.

The interesting thing about the "Salem Witch Trials" was that they weren't actually held in Salem, but in Topsfield, MA, a small town northwest of Salem that was said to be part of the original Salem land grant.

Mark Thomas Bradbury, native of Newburyport, MA

Very many, actually. Between 150 and 200 people were put in jail on charges of witchcraft. Nineteen were excuted, one was pressed to death and four were confirmed to have died in prison for a total of twenty-four out of 150ish who did not survive. Thus, around 126- 176 people formally accused survived.

Her name was Dorcas Good and she was 4 years of age. She was the daughter of Sarah and William Good.