Eli Wills

November 27, 2013

History 146
Final Paper Rough Draft

What started as a game between two little girls put an entire village into hysteria and
ended in the death of a multitude of women and men. The Salem Witch Trials were a dark time
of American history, when a village of incredibly devoted Puritans turned so easily on their own
people just to rid themselves of some supposed sin. This essay will focus on the madness that
occurred in Salem Village between February 1692 and May 1693. It will introduce you to the
background of witchcraft, the village and people of Salem, Massachusetts and finally the hunts
and trails of the alleged witches.
Witchcraft was first seen in Europe in the 12th century. Roots of witchcraft came from
the worship of goddesses; ancient people would worship Venus figurines (which were small
crafted figures resembling women), which have been found all over the world. Around 4000
B.C. goddess worship eventually "came to be portrayed as evil" (Kallen p. 10). By the 9th
century the Christian church ruled Europe and declared that all magic was made to "seduce
innocent people" and if you practiced witchcraft it meant you entered into a formal covenant
with the Devil. The book "Witches' Hammer" was written in 1448 by two Germans and was a
guide to what witches were and how to deal with them. The authors described the entire female
gender as evil and weak, saying it was "no wonder the devil sought them out" (Kallen pg. 11).
This made women the focus of most witch hunts. The first recorded case of witchcraft in North
American history was that of Anne Hibbins (Kallen pg. 24). After Hibbins there were a few more
cases in North America but nothing compared to the havoc that started in Salem.
Salem Village was a part of Salem Town, which is located in what is now the town of
Danvers, Massachusetts. Salem Village was a small farming village that was part of the
Puritans City on a Hill experiment (Devine pg. 54). Salem Village did not have its own
meeting house or preacher until November 11, 1672 and was not able to gain independence from
Salem Town until 1752, which created tension between the two areas and caused "bickering and
disorganization" in the village (Kallen pg. 16). The people of Salem village lived in constant
fear of Indian attacks and were very zealous in their Puritan pursuits.
Puritans also known as Congregationalists were part of the "Church of England" which
broke away from the Roman Catholic Church during the Protestant Revolution (Devine pg. 53).
Accepting the Calvinist notion that God predestined "some to salvation" and "dammed others
throughout eternity", Puritans tried to do as much "good" as they could so that they could ensure
that they were part of "God's Elite" (Devine pg. 53). "Sinners" in Salem Village and in most
Puritan communities were "severely punished" for behaviors ranging from sexual promiscuity to
sleeping during a church service (Kallen pg. 17). Puritans were not fond of Indians and Quakers
at all because they saw them as alien, invasive and malevolent forces (Golden pg. 997).
Everyone in Salem Village, including children were held under strict Puritan morals. The only
books allowed in homes were ones of religious nature, some of which described accounts of
"supernatural natural incidents involving witches spirits and demons" (Kallen pg 21). Girls had
nothing to entertain themselves with, did not attend school and most could not read. Life in
Salem was constricting and repetitious, so when two girls starting having fits and convulsions
which were unexplainable at the time, the whole village broke into madness.
The witch hysteria started when Samuel Parris and his family moved to Salem Village
from Boston in 1698. Parris was to be the new village parson and brought his wife, three
children, niece (named Abigail Williams) and a Caribbean Indian slave couple from Barbados
named Tituba and John Indian, who were said to have "occult skills", to Salem Village (Golden
pg.996). One day Elizabeth and Abigail were playing a game, which was meant to determine
their future husbands occupations, by pouring a mixture of egg whites into a glass of water
(Golden pg. 997). This was considered a practice of divination (a type of magic). It is debated
whether or not Tituba showed the girls how to play the game but, "in either case, this activity
was anything but innocent for two Puritan girls in seventeenth century New England" (Kallen pg.
29). The girls egg whites "surfaced in the shape of a coffin" and historians say the girls felt so
guilty and were so frightened by the result of the game, that it may have caused them to go into a
form of hysteria (many symptoms of hysteria were seen in the Salem girls fits, the most
prominent being; "having beliefs and memories that were not present before and are not based on
reality") (Kallen pg. 26). After the girls fits were made public other girls started acting similar to
Elizabeth and Abigail. In Cotton Mathers' book, "Memorable Providences" written in 1689 and
reprinted in "Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases 1648-1700 by George Lincoln Burr; the girls
fits are described:
"Sometimes [the children] would be Deaf, Sometimes Dumb, and sometimes Blind, and
often all at once. One while their Toungues would be drawn down their Throats; another-
while they would be pull'dout upon their Chins, to a prodigious length. They would have
their Mouths opened unto such a Wideness that their Jaws went out of joint; and anon
they would clap together again with a Force like that of a strong Spring-Lock. The same
would happen to their Shoulder-Blades, and their Elbows, and Hand-Wrists, and several
of their joints.They would make the most piteous out-cries, that they were cut with
Knives, and struck with Blows that they could not bear. Yea and their Heads would be
twisted almost round"
Samuel Parris tried to "treat" Abigial's and Elizabeths afflictions by making them pray,
fast, and by taking them to different doctors. One of which said "The evil hand is upon them; the
girls are victims of malefic witchcraft" (Kallen pg 31). This was not an unusual diagnosis for
seventeenth century doctors because most believed in witchcraft and "considered it as the cause
of many diseases that they did not understand" (Kallen pg. 31). People from all over were
coming to see the "afflicted girls" who after noticing this "interest" in their fits, started to have
them on street corners and in church "but only during lulls" in the services and not during
sermons or prayer (Kellen pg. 31). The girls, at first, had no answer to whom was doing this to
them but the villagers were sure this was Satan's doing. On February 25
th
, 1692 a witch cake
(made of flour and the girls urine), was baked and fed to the Parris family dog (thought to be a
messenger of the Devil) and it supposedly gave the girls the ability to see who was attacking
them (Kellen pg. 32). On February 29
th
, Abigail and Samuel Parris accused and arrested Tituba,
Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn (two poor women who were not liked in the community), on the
charges "that the three had practiced witchcraft against Elizabeth Parris, Abigail Williams and
two other girls by afflicting them with fits and convulsions". A total of ten women in Salem were
considered "afflicted" (Kallen p. 34). Everyone in the village left what they are doing to attend
the first alleged witches trail on March 1st, 1692 where both the Sarah's pleaded innocence but
were both found guilty and sent to Boston Jail. Tituba confessed to being forced into witchcraft
and said there many more witches in Massachusetts.
Tituba's confession really got the village going and villagers started to blame any
unfortunate event or happening (things like cattle dying, strange dreams/visions, sickness or
crops not growing) on witchcraft. Hundreds of women (and a couple men) were accused. Most
did not have any hard evidence against them and were either accused because someone had a
grudge against them or they spoke out against the trails. Whenever a supposed witch or wizard
would walk into the courthouse for their trail, the afflicted girls would start having fits and
scream that the accused were attacking them. These unseen happenings (attacks of the afflicted
and unfortunate events in the village) were considered "spectral evidence". In May 1692, Sir
William Phips (the newly appointed royal governor) set up a "Court of Oyer and Terminer"
which was a type of "emergency court" that "was set up for cases of social disorder on the scale
of revolutions and riots"(Kallen pg. 59). This first royally recognized court (Salem didnt have
a real government until Phips showed up with a new charter) used spectral evidence against
the accused. Robert Calef wrote in his book "More Wonders of the Invisible World":
"And now Nineteen persons having been hang'd, and one prest to death, and
Eight more condemned, in all Twenty and Eight, of which above a third part were
Members of some of the Churches of N. England, and more than half of them of a
good Conversation in general, and not one clear'd; about Fifty having confest
themselves to be Witches, of which not one Executed; above an Hundred and Fifty in
Prison, and Two Hundred more accused; the Special Commision of Oyer and Terminer
comes to a period."
As Calef mentioned, witches who confessed were not executed because their
confession was the first step to moral revival (Kallen pg. 61). People found guilty of
practicing witchcraft and did not confess to it, were brought to Gallows Hill (also known
as Witches Hill). On the way to their deaths they were mocked and followed by a crowd
of villagers (Kallen pg. 71). Nineteen people were hung after being found guilty during
the trails, four or more died in prison and one was pressed to death. Before hangings,
those found guilty would say prayers or give a speech pronouncing their innocence along
with their farewells. These heartfelt speeches along with increasing doubts of spectral
evidence and the recants of some confessors (who told magistrates that their confessions
had been forced from them by officials through the use of physical torture and
psychological pressure) created a large opposition against the trails (Golden pg. 999).

In January 1693 Phipps ordered a "Superior Court" to deal with the rest of the
accused. This court "found the previous court procedures faulty for allowing spectral
evidence" (Kallen pg. 67). Fifty-two people went on trail and only three were convicted
during this second court (Kallen pg. 67). In May 1693, after "the king's attorney general
questioned the evidence against the condemned", Phipps cleared the jails of 150 alleged
witches grating pardons to all (Kallen pg. 67). Many innocent people who had been jailed
and let free became very finically strained because after they were found guilty officials
confiscated everything they owned and it was not returned to them. In 1702 the General
Court was presented with a petition asking for formal pardons for all the people who had
been convicted, even those who had been hanged (Kallen pg. 82). In October 1710 "the
general court passed an act reversing the convictions of those who were hanged (Kallen
pg. 82). Relatives of those found guilty during the trails petitioned for compensation and
on December 17
th
, 1711 the families got some money to make up for what was stolen
from them. By this time the people of Salem had reflected on what happened during the
hunts and trails and knew they had put innocent people to death. The Judge of the "Court
of Oyer and Myer", Sameul Sewall said he would take the "blame and shame" of his
actions. Even Parris "did admit to being wrong for his role in the trails" (Kallen pg. 82).

The Salem Witch trails demonstrate how unstable and easily manipulated early
Americans were. Early America had social system where not all people were considered
equal. This allowed a few prestigious but prideful men to take their villages Puritan ideals
and use them against those whom they considered below them. These early Puritan
Americans had so much fear of sin and held the higher class in such high regard that an
entire village became completely enveloped in a hype (started and directed by their
officials) that would eventually snowball into something none of them expected when it
started. They also lacked a stable government (England was more concerned about the
French then their colonies during the 1690s), which caused important decisions to be
made too hastily and without credible evidence. In the end Salem Village returned to be
another normal farming land but history will never let it forget its dark past.

Bibliography


Kellan, Stuart A. World History Series - The Salem Witch Trials.
San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999

Golden, Richard M. Salem, Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western
Tradition, Volume Four, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2006. Pg. 996-999

Divine, Robert A. The American Story. New York: Pearson
Longman, 2007.

George Lincoln Burr. Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases 1648-
1700, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1975

Calef, Robert. More Wonders of the Invisible World 1700.
Bainbridge: York Mail-Print, 1972.