Preview

Salem Witch Trial Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
740 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Salem Witch Trial Research Paper
Lillie starks Pd 22/2/17SALEM WITCHTRIALSA HAUNTING REALITY...Sarah Good, Bridget Bishop, Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Howe,Susannah Martin. The list of names that have burned themselves into thehistory of America goes on and on. It all started in Salem, Massachusettsaround spring time of 1692, The salem witch trials. Over 200 would betrialed or accused and around twenty total were hung on the infamousgallows hill. After the European’s paranoia of witchcraft happened thecolonial americas would begin doubting their own people to the point ofexecuting the particularly wrongly accused. Things began after the small town’s first ordained minister took order.His name was Samuel Parris and he was known to be greedy and unlikedby many people. Some people even considered him evil or that he …show more content…
BridgetBishop a woman known for her promiscuity and gossip spreading tonguewent to trial after her accusation. Her third husband Edward Bishopaccused her of witchcraft for being as he said, “a bad wife” and after herconviction on the day June 10th, she was taken to the infamous gallowshill and was hung. Around a month after her execution, on july 19th severalwomen were hung. Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe,Susannah Martin, and Sarah wilds; all hung on the same tree as the otherwitches. After that, there was 5 hangings in august, and in september therewere eight more. Not to mention the several people who would die in prisonor during their trials. Overall 19 were hung and an elderly man was pressedwith stones to death creating twenty official executions. Things changed after governor Phipps of Salem’s wife was accusedof being a witch. He was starting to realize that the things these peoplewere being executed or convicted for were wrong because the evidencewas based off of very spectral things like visions or dreams that

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fremon, David K. The Salem Witchcraft Trials in American History. Springfield: Enslow Publishers, 1999. Print.…

    • 217 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    June 10, 1692 Bridget Bishop , a young women from Salem, was hanged to death. Bridget Bishop what hanged for witchcraft. Two little girls from the town accused Bridget Bishop of making them act weird . At the trial when she was shaking her head to answer the question the girls started to shake and fall onto the ground. They later accused her that her body movement influenced them to shake so she was hung to death. What caused the mysterious superstition of people being witches? one possibility is that Teenage girls accused older woman . Another reason is that little girls were drunk with power and the last one is that poor people were jealous of the rich.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Salem witch crisis was a terrible event where girls were accused of being witches. The people believed that witchcraft was the reasoning behind the excruciating pain some girls were experiencing. The Salem witch crisis lead to 20 people killed, and over 100 in jail. I believe the Salem witch crisis was caused by religious leaders trying to prove the bible has all of the answers. One example of that is Cotton Mather, a religious leader, mentions that many people experienced the horrors of witchcraft for themselves. He also mentions that witchcraft was mentioned in scripture. This supports my thesis because being a religious leader of the Puritans, many people would listen to him. So having said that witchcraft was…

    • 231 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Act Three Questions Directions On a separate sheet of paper, please answer each part of each question asked below. Please use complete sentences and please answer the question as asked. 1. As the act opens, who is being interrogated and on what charge Martha Corey is being interrogated by Judge Hathorne on the charge of telling fortunes (witchery). 2. What is interesting about the dialogue at the beginning of this act What was Miller trying to suggest about the tone of the legal proceedings to follow This indirect dialogue (off stage / only heard, not seen) suggests that although people will talk / be heard, the truth will not be seen / acknowledged. 3. What is Mary Warren now prepared to tell the court Mary Warren is prepared to the court that the girls have only been sporting, or pretending. They honestly have never seen or known a witch and theyve only lied to protect themselves by throwing suspicion on others. 4. What two facts about John Proctor does Ezekiel Cheever feel compelled to reveal to Danforth Ezekiel Cheever feels compelled to tell Deputy Governor Danforth that John tore up the arrest warrant for Elizabeth when Cheever served it and that Proctor sometimes plows on Sunday. 5. What compromise, or deal, does Danforth offer to Proctor What is Proctors response Why does he respond this way Because Elizabeth claims that she is pregnant, Danforth offers to not try her until after shes delivered her child if Proctor will drop the charge against the court that the proceedings have been unjust. Proctor said that he could not accept that plea because his friends wives, who are also innocent, have been charged and they need to be freed. He feels that the truth needs to come out to protect all of the innocent people. 6. How do Hathorne and Parris persuade Danforth to respond to the deposition that lists ninety-one supporters of Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Martha Corey Hathorne and Parris persuade Danforth that all of the ninety-one supporters must be…

    • 1850 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris became ill, and when the children’s health did not improve, the village doctor William Griggs was called in to help. He swiftly diagnosed the girls with bewitchment and the famous witch trials of Salem took off. Salem had recently had an epidemic of Small Pox and had always had a strong belief in the Devil. These two factors added with the constant fear of attack from warring tribes caused the villagers to be suspicious and constantly on edge. More than 150 men and women were arrested as the girls kept accusing more and more people of the source of their pain and hallucinations. Bridget Bishop was the first of the arrested to be tried in court. She was found guilty, and as witchcraft was then punishable by death, she was hanged. Gallows were set up in the town square just for the hangings. During the three days after the first hanging, 13 women and 5 men were hanged until Governor William Phipps disbanded the gallows in October 1692. In all, 19 men and women were hanged, one man was crushed to death, and several others died in jail (History of Salem).…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Norton aims to explain the Salem Witchcraft Crisis in a way that has never been done before. She has decide to take a historical approach to illustrate the heinous acts committed towards these people, majority women in 1692. Her argument is that she is going to use her own narrative to tell the “true” story of what really happened during this period. “My narrative builds on the research and interpretations advanced in prior works on Salem; at the same time, it disagrees with many aspects of those interpretations. In addition to studying the trials, as have most other historians, I examine the broader crisis that produced the trials.” Norton’ main thesis is clearly stated in the introduction of the book, but the question remains, will she achieve that goal?…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    When people think about The Salem Witch Trial, the first thing that comes to mind is “oh it 's just a bunch of wannabe witches being killed.” But in reality they were innocent people being accused by a bunch of little girls trying to get got of trouble. People were very suspicious and paranoid about everything back then-if a few people in the village suddenly became ill, it was because of a "witch". Remember, they had no science to explain anything, so they had to make up stuff that seems ridiculous to us today. They feared what they didn 't know and understand, therefore seeking any kind of solution . . . in this case their fear led to The Salem witch…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Rosalyn Schanzer´s Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, extreme disorder in civilization took place due to massive amounts of unjust witch accusations. In early 1692, mass chaos struck Salem Village, Massachusetts. In a ravenous sprint to gain revenge and play a game of kill-or-be-killed, approximately 200 people were accused of witchcraft. 20 of these were executed. Families turned on each other, civilians accused one another of unimaginable things, and all because of two girls. Betty Parris and Abigail Williams who together accused a staggering portion of the innocent so called ´witches´. Many people question the motives of these two. It is hard to imagine two young girls under the care of such a high public figure…

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Salem Witch Trials were events that took place in the Salem Village between June and September of 1692. Hundreds of people were being accused of practicing Witchcraft and were put on trial. At least 20 people were executed. Victims of witchcraft were said to have Fitts, the act of screaming, throwing things, and outburst of gibberish. It was a strong belief that the devil could give certain people or “Witches” the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. This was one reason of that witchcraft trials became an outbreak in the Salem community.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In a plain meeting house in 1692 a woman stands before her judges. She is accused of tormenting innocent girls with an unseen evil. Standing there, the poor woman is ridiculed in front of her whole town. She is surrounded by people accusing her of witchcraft based only on the hallucinations of attention-hungry schoolgirls. It makes us wonder was there no justice? It did not matter; superstition got the best of them. Eventually these superstitions claimed twenty-five lives, shattered the community, and forever shaped the American social conscience. The combination of fear and superstition in Salem in 1692 caused a devastating witch-hunt, leading us to cry out for some old-fashioned justice. There…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    These people were called witches and were prosecuted heavily until about the end of the 15th century. In Salem Massachusetts the witch infamous witch hunt was partly caused by a new unpopular reverend named Samuel Parris. In 1692 when his daughter and niece began having fits it was easy for him and his daughters to blame it on witchcraft. Another child named Ann Putnam also began experiencing fits, the three girls blamed these fits on witchcraft and claimed they could see the devil. The first three people the girls accused was: Tituba, a Caribbean slave; Sarah Good, a homeless woman; and Sarah Osborne, a widowed poor woman. It was easy for the towns people to believe these three women were witches because they were at the bottom of the society. From here the court demanded the women confess, or they would hang. Tituba was the first to confess to save her own life. This confession caused the townspeople, and the people of the court, to truly believe that witchcraft was real and in the town of Salem. This enabled the three girls to accuse anyone in the town they liked. In turn it enabled Parris to tell his daughter and niece who to accuse, and he was able to rid the town of his…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS

    • 622 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Salem Witchcraft Trials began in the 1690’s in Salem, Massachusetts and then later spread to other parts of New England. These trials resulted in the execution of about 20 people, most of them women, and innocent people. Hundreds of other individuals including men, women, and children were accused; dozens were kept in prison without trials, and a couple even died in prison. A wave of hysteria spread all over Massachusetts, when a group of girls began to display an odd and bizarre behavior. Over hundreds of years, historians have been trying to elaborate a conclusion and explain why Americans in the seventeenth-century became so committed to the idea of satanic rituals and scheming. There are many different interpretations of the Salem Witchcraft Trials, some of which include, ergot, lack of sunlight, and hysteria.…

    • 622 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Named after the holy city of Jerusalem, Salem was founded in 1626 by English merchants who took advantage of the natural harbor and the abundant fishing the area provided. Fear of Devil-worship and witchcraft swept through Salem, Massachusetts, like a plague. During the years of 1692-1693, more than 200 people, men, women, and even children, were accused of witchcraft. Words of friends, neighbors, and even complete strangers put many people’s lives in danger; 19 were hung, 1 pressed to death, and 3 including 1 infant died in jail awaiting trial. The accusations, the trials, the executions, and the events leading up to and after the deaths, kept Salem Massachusetts, on its toes in this mass paranoia.…

    • 3273 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Salem Witch Trial Theories

    • 2287 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The Salem Witch Trials were a series of infamous events that demand an explanation for their occurrence. The trials that took place in 1692 caused neighbors in the community of Salem Village in the colony of Massachusetts to turn on one another out of paranoia, accusing one another of witchcraft. According to Carol Karlsen, a longtime author of the subject, nineteen people were hanged and about 200 others were imprisoned (40). A few theories have been offered in order to explain the root of this mass hysteria. The theories in question need to be examined to see which holds the most credibility.…

    • 2287 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    <i>Why do you hurt these children?<br>I do not hurt them. I scorn it.<br>Have you made no contract with the devil? <br>No!</i><br><br>Mr. John Hathorn, a Judge involved in the witchcraft case of Sarah Good, then asked all of the afflicted children to look upon her and see if this was the person that had hurt them so. They all gazed at Goody Good and said that this was the person that tormented them—presently they were all tormented.<br><br>Puritanical beliefs had all of Salem truly believing that witches rode on broomsticks across the sky every night alongside the devil himself. They believed that these mere humans could send their "specter" out and haunt the children of their town. Proof of their belief follows, in an excerpt from Cotton Mather's Memorable Providences:<br><br>Go tell Mankind, that there are Devils and Witches; and that tho those night-birds least appear where the Day-light of the Gospel comes, yet New-Engl. has had Exemples of their Existence and Operation; and that no only the Wigwams of Indians, where the pagan Powaws often raise their masters, in the shapes of Bears and Snakes and Fires, but the House of Christians, where our God has had his constant Worship, have undergone the Annoyance of Evil spirits. Go tell the world, What Prays can do beyond all Devils and Witches, and What it is that these Monsters love to do; and through the Demons in the Audience of several standers-by threatned much disgrace to thy Author, if he let thee come abroad, yet venture That, and in this way seek a just Revenge on Them for the Disturbance they have given to such as have called on the Name of God.<br><br><b>Rebecca Nurse</b><br>Goody Nurse was a highly regarded, pious pillar of the community who unfortunately could not withstand the power of hysteria. There were many reasons that Rebecca was accused, but it was mostly the hatred exhibited towards her by the Putnam family. She was against Samuel Parris as Reverend of the Salem Town Church, while the Putnam…

    • 2008 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays