The Salem Witchcraft Trials Of 1692 To 1693

The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 to 1693 was composed of a series of hearings as well as prosecutions of people, mostly young women, who were said to exhibit unusual behavior in Salem, Massachusetts. This behavior was classified as “witchcraft” and those who practiced it were claimed to be possessed by the devil. The idea began when a number of young girls started to take part in fortune-telling games, but the Puritan society on Massachusetts saw these abnormal events to be a sin, and decided that those who took part in it would be punished for doing so. Even though the behavior of these young women is synonymous to that of a rebellious teenager today, at the time it will seen as though they were consumed by a greater being. The witch trials were brought on in the Massachusetts colony when in 1692, 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams, who were the nieces of the
minister of Salem Village started having uncontrollable outbursts of screaming and started acting violently. They were brought to a local doctor, but soon other young girls started to show similar symptoms. Arrest warrants were soon given out to those who were accused of “bewitching” these young women, but that did not end the issue. The women were brought to court and asked to confess to practicing witchcraft, but they had also mentioned that there were a number of other witches who were servicing the devil against the Puritans. This brought upon a series of trials that took place in order to eradicate those who posed a threat to the Puritan way. Moving on, the people on Salem were distraught upon hearing the news of witches among the community. They truly believed that these witches were sent by the devil and their sole goal was to disturb the Puritan way of life. Many Puritans greatly began to favor the witchcraft trials for this reason. When those who were accused of practicing witchcraft were in court, those who decided to confess were given the death penalty and were hung. The first conviction was against a women named Bridget Bishop, who was hung on June 10th, 1692, in Salem. Five more people were hung in July, and then another five more in August. In addition, in September, 8 more were hung, and 7 other accused witches who were kept in jail had also died. Finally, some girls who were innocent had still signed confessions that they were witches because they had realized that they had been put in a dreadful condition, and they also knew that there was nothing for them to do to save their own lives since they had already been accused and were not able to prove their innocence due to unfair circumstances.
The account that was mentioned in the passage states, “…[they] said anything and everything which they desired, and most of what we said was but in effect a consenting to what they said.” This indicates that the women in the account were forced to confess, which may or may not be true, but it shows that they really did not have any options once they were sent to court. In the end, the Salem witchcraft trials was later declared as a tragedy and the court deemed the trials as unjust and those involved formally apologized. The guilty verdicts against the women were annulled, but this did not change the fact that many women had died in the painful trials. The legacy of the witchcraft trials remained in Salem for centuries to
come.