salem witch trials

Fear of Devil-worshipping and witchcraft swept through Salem, Massachusetts, like a plague. During the years of 1692 and 1693, more than 200 people—men, women, and even children—were accused of witchcraft (Blumberg). Words of friends, neighbors, and even complete strangers put many people's lives in danger. Nineteen people were hanged, one person pressed to death, and four known deaths occurred in prison. 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. It was 1689, according to Blumberg, when Reverend Samuel Parris became the first ordained minister of Salem Village. The attempt to search for a new minister had failed, since the town of Salem had split to form small outskirts known as Salem Farms and the original Salem Village, and several Reverends and ministers before Parris were opposed against, or strongly disliked by the people. Parris answered to the call of ministry and moved to Salem Village with his wife, daughter Elizabeth "Betty" Parris, age 9, niece Abigail Williams, age 11, and his Barbados slave, Tituba and her husband John (Gribben). Gribben wrote about Parris's daughter and niece spending time alone with the Barbados slave, Tituba, while unattended by any other adults. Parris trusted the slave for he had known her since he had bought her, and she was lazy and petulant. Parris did not see Tituba as a threat and left the girls in her watch many times. As time passed, more girls would come and spend time with the Barbados slave. Tituba would tell the girls stories about Barbados, and of the witch doctors that lived there. The girls were interested and asked many questions concerning the topic of magic and witches. Tituba, who hardly believed in sorcery herself, had given in and showed the girls how to break an egg, so just the egg white would be suspended in a bowl of water to show who their future husbands would be. These lessons