Exemplification Essay: The Salem Witch Trials

From 1692 to 1693, twenty people were executed after being accused of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts, many more died in jail, and around 200 people total were accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Records from the event indicate that the Salem Witch Trials started when a group of young girls began acting strange, claiming they had been possessed by the Devil and bewitched by local villagers. The Salem Witch Trials is a much debated event; historians argue over the motivation and causes behind the trials and executions, not over the proceedings. Each historian approached the Salem Witch Trials with their own brand of logic and interpretation building off of and criticizing the interpretations of their predecessors. No one historical theory can conclusively explain the cause of the Salem Witch Trials because there were too many variables and motivations among the villagers. These historians used the best of their abilities to examine the events of the Salem Witch Trials and the mere fact that there are so many interpretations means there are not certainties when it comes to this historical event. However, a combination of their theories could provide a better picture of the Salem Witch story and the many aspects in determining the outcome of the Salem Witch Trials.

In the court system today, an individual fallen suspect to a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Despite what a person’s familiarity with court proceedings may be, this idea is common knowledge, and essentially logic; if guilt of a crime cannot be proven with factual evidence, one cannot be prosecuted. However, in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, this was not the case. Paralleling today, Salem court proceedings were held to determine an individual’s innocence or guilt, but that is the extent of the similarity. Salem’s crooked, corrupted courthouses sat on a foundation of spectral evidence. Through the duration of the witch trials, innocent people died clinging to the truth, while the noose they hanged from symbolized the “he said, she said” notion that deemed them guilty. The Salem courts were ever-changing and built upon contradiction, corruption, and hypocrisy—this corruption essentially killed each innocent life.

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. These trials began after a group of young girls in Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several other locals of witchcraft. After this broke out a special court convened in Salem to “hear and determine” (Mather 328)

Even though it was a courtroom, spectral evidence was used in many ways. Spectral evidence is when a witness is saying that somebody’s spector or spirit appeared to them in a dream and they are using it to testify against whoever is on trial. When the accusers were having fits and screaming and thrashing in odd ways, the courtroom did not tell them to quiet down, they instead believed that the accused witch in the room was guilty, it was a horrid sight. “(According to the Salem Witch Trials- DBQ)” Document 6- The examination of Bridget Bishop, when she moved her head all of the afflicted moved their head, then she turned up her eyes and the afflicted turned up their eyes. When the accused witch looked or moved a muscle, the accusers magically moved the same muscle. According to Joan Holub’s What Were the Salem Witch Trials? “The girl accusers tumbled to the floor if Bridget happened to look their way, as if her invisible specter had knocked them down.” (Holub 61). Even though the accused witches plead

The largest outbreak of witchcraft in America took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. A group of girls, including the Parris’s Indian slave Tituba, gathered in the Salem village and were attempting to see the future by decoding “messages”. Shortly after this gathering the girls started showing signs of the possessed (pg. 73). To this day people all over America are still amazed with the events that took place in this time. But why is that? The fear of the village fell heavily onto the judicial system, which later made people focus on the proper separation of government and religious beliefs. Mass hysteria broke out amongst the village and many people were being accused, therefore leading to many innocent deaths. Although there could be many theories as to the reason the witch trials in Salem began, there are two points of view that are very commonly shared amongst people. Some believe that the Salem witch trials were women unconsciously searching for power, whereas others believe it was an encephalitis epidemic.

The Salem witch trials, that occurred in colonial Massachusetts, were a hostile part of American history. People lived in a constant state of paranoia and fear. A great number of people were accused of practicing witchcraft, which was thought to be connected to the devil, and some were even executed. Eventually, the colony realized the faults in the trials. By reading the primary sources ‘A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft Chapter II’ by John Hale and Two Letters by Governor William Phips, we are able to discover a wealth of knowledge about the aforementioned trials. The two sources allow the reader to gain insight into how the trials were flawed by showing the nature of the Salem Witch Trials, the evidence used to find the witches guilty, and the role native americans played in the trials. While also exhibiting how primary sources can be a disadvantage in navigating through historical events.

During the time period of 1691 to 1692 the town of Salem, a small thriving community within the Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony, was struck by widespread hysteria in the form of witch trials. The way these trials and accusations played out are historically unlike any other witch trials found in European and American history. Historians have pointed to a number of economic, political, and social changes of the then existing institutions throughout the Massachusetts Bay area to be the cause of the Salem witch trials, along with the direction they took. If studied closely however, it becomes apparent that the main cause for the Salem witch trials can be found in the way the people of Salem viewed and

The hysteria, craze, trials, and deaths, still rest an unsolved case. The theories of politics, rivalries, religion and the “circle girls” seem the most believable, in my eyes. However, as the happenings in Salem village still continue to mislead and amaze not only historians, but many others, the witch trials lie a great turning point for Salem, and the lives of many; let alone

Another, but highly unbelievable theory is that witchcraft actually existed. Twenty people and along with two dogs were executed for the crime of witchcraft in Salem. One person was pressed to death under a pile of stones for refusing to testify. While many people in the period believed that witches had supernatural powers given to them by the devil, many of the better-educated people acknowledged that witchcraft was practiced, but any spells that were cast only had power in the minds of the witch and those that thought themselves bewitched (Krystek). Cotton Mather, a respected Puritan minister who was there the time of the trials, wrote an account of them for the governor. His essay clearly shows that he believed that some of the people who were hung in Salem were indeed guilty of using black magic to torment the "afflicted" girls (Krystek). To see if anyone was a so called “witch”, physical evidence was considered. Any birthmarks, moles, warts, or other blemishes were seen as possible portals through which Satan could enter a

The events which took place in Salem in 1692 could be described as awful and unjust. 19 innocent people were hanged, another person pressed to death and 4 others died in jail. Witches or Wizards are what they called these people, people who made pacts with the devil. The idea of witches provoked fear into the puritan fundamentalist society. Further more, two young girls, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, were said to have been acting strangely.

The Salem Witch Trials take place between the years of 1692 and 1693 (Blumberg 1). Within the Village of Salem, Massachusetts a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil, but who would do such evil witch-like things to young girls? A special court was set up to hear out the cases of those who were accused (Blumberg 1). Although 200 people were accused, 20 of those were killed without proper proof that they were the ones performing witchcraft (Historystaff.com 1). Basically if you weren’t “normal” you were considered a witch and were sent to prison. For example, if a person wore dark colors, acted irregular, weighed less than

During early 1692, in Essex, Massachusetts, a group of girls began to practice “conjuration with sieves and keys, and peas, and nails, and horseshoes”. By February, the adults tried to put into words what was happening to their children: “odd postures,” “foolish, ridiculous speeches”. Local physician William Griggs warned Reverend Samuel Parris, father of two of these girls, that he suspected the “Evil Hand” or more specifically, “malefic witchcraft”. As a result of this bizarre occurrence, rumors and assumptions spread rapidly across the area of Salem Village. The legal system was unkempt and clearly unprepared for something so baffling. As a result, the trials were conducted aimlessly and disorderly, without consideration of the persecuted. Throughout countless records, evidence was slim and weak. This was just the beginning of what is known as the Salem Witch Trials. Due to an unorganized legal system, The Salem Witch Trials exposed Puritan society as unprepared, unlawful, and unethical.

This evidence was called spectral evidence, spectral evidence is evidence from an invisible world that is not existing. This type of evidence was caused by people saying they saw them in their rooms in the shape of an animal most of the evidence was used. Real evidence was usually throw out, since it would disrupt the case and then they would also be accused of being a witch.

Salem Witch Trials: Casting a spell on the people Today, the idea of seeing a witch is almost inconsequential. Our Halloween holiday marks a celebration in which many will adorn themselves with pointy black hats and long stringy hair, and most will embrace them as comical and festive. Even the contemporary witchcraft religious groups forming are being accepted with less criticism. More recently, the Blair Witch movie craze has brought more fascination than fear to these dark and magical figures. So, it becomes no wonder that when our generations watch movies like the Crucible, a somewhat accurate depiction of the Salem Witch Trials, we are enraged and confused by the injustice and the mayhem that occurred in 1692. For most, our egocentric

Many people know of the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692 spilling over into the year 1693. But for those who do not know, the Salem witch trials were a series of trials against men, women, and children accused of being a witch and or practicing witchcraft. In “The Devils Snare: The Salem Witch Trials of 1692” by Mary Beth Norton, the author recollects the stories of real life accounts of those accusers and the accused in Salem during that time. Mary Beth Norton explains the Salem witch trials differently than other books and articles by giving wide-ranging background on incidents leading toward the trials and how events in history were related to the trials.