Eyewitness Testimony Evidence

Eyewitness evidence has always been considering critical information when it comes to court trials and convictions. But how reliable are eyewitnesses? Scientific research has shown that eyewitness’s memories are often not accurate or reliable. Human memory is very malleable and is easily changed by suggestion. Relying on eyewitness evidence instead of scientific data often leads to wrongful convictions. Scientific evidence is much more reliable, and should be more important in court cases than eyewitness evidence.

The Salem Witch Trials was a harsh time in Spring 1692. A time when young girls were accused of witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials included harsh torturing methods for those accused of witchcraft. Torturing methods included swimming test, prayer test, touch test, witch cakes, witch marks, pricking and scratching test, incantations. These were some harsh punishments. Practicing witchcraft was considered a horrible crime on a scale with rape and murder. The 18th century Code of Hammurabi contained punishment against sorcery, and many medieval legal systems listed specific reasons for identifying, trying and even executing suspected witches and warlocks. Since finding proof of evil was no easy task, witch-hunters often went to some particular experiments in their journey to kill accused witches. From awful tortures and terrible dessert dishes to unwinnable trials by ordeal, find out more about unusual tests once used against evil misconduct.

The Salem Witch Trials was a harsh time in Spring 1692. A time when young girls were accused of witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials included harsh torturing methods for those accused of witchcraft. Torturing methods included swimming test, prayer test, touch test, witch cakes, witch marks, pricking and scratching test, incantations. These were some harsh punishments. Practicing witchcraft was considered a horrible crime on a scale with rape and murder. The 18th century Code of Hammurabi contained punishment against sorcery, and many medieval legal systems listed specific reasons for identifying, trying and even executing suspected witches and warlocks. Since finding proof of evil was no easy task, witch-hunters often went to some particular experiments in their journey to kill accused witches. From awful tortures and terrible dessert dishes to unwinnable trials by ordeal, find out more about unusual tests once used against evil misconduct.

(History of the salem witch trials) People cried witchcraft to get revenge on, or get rid of people they did not like or wanted land from, and they didn’t need real proof. The girls that started the Salem witch trials were having “fits” the symptoms of these fits were hiding under furniture, contorting in pain, and fever.(History of the salem witch trials) The salem witch trials started shortly after the first girls experienced fits in the 1600’s.(History of the salem witch trials) The girls used spectral evidence, something that eventually became inadmissible in court because it could not be proven. (History of the salem witch trials) Other evidence was having a “witch’s teat” a mole or blemish on a person’s body, owning a poppet, ointments, and having books on the occult. (History of the salem witch

During the Salem Witch Trials over a six month period over one hundred people were accused of witchcraft and nineteen people were hanged with no hard evidence (Louis-Jacques). Through the witchcraft craze, which lasted hundreds of years, many different methods were employed to prove a witch’s guilt. Salem used a very odd type of evidence, spectral evidence, which required no eyewitnesses and could be easily made up. Contrasted to many witch trials, which had a least some standard of evidence that attempted to prevent an innocent person from being executed. In Puritan Salem religion was important and present in every aspect of their lives, which contributed to the fear that the people felt during the trials. In most witch trials physical evidence was used to prove guilt, however the Salem witch trials used spectral evidence due to increased hysteria in the community.

In 1692, the Salem Witch Trials started due to mass hysteria (Miller, 1124). The witch trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts, when a group of girls were caught dancing in the woods (Miller,1124). In the Puritan society, both dancing and spending time in the woods were considered to be sinful (Miller,1124). They believed that if someone sinned, the devil could enter their life (Witchcraft in Salem [Us History.org].). Witches were the work of the devil, therefore, the Puritans developed tests to determine if they were indeed witches (Witchcraft in Salem [Us History.org].). The tests included repeating the Lord’s Prayer, marks on the body, water tests and confessions (Witchcraft in Salem [Us History.org].). However, once a person was

There were many so called tests that would prove if someone was a witch or not. The most common way was eye witness testimonies which is where someone would tell the council that they saw someone practicing black magic. That would be enough for the accused to be arrested and tried for witchcraft even if they did no such thing. Another way was bound submersion which is where

Contrary to popular belief none of the accused were surrounded by pitch forks and chased to the middle of town to be burned at the stake. There was a form of due process after a male or female was accused. The description on how to seek out a witch is described on the book Maleficavm released in 1496. The characteristics of a witch varied from a witch’s teat to dangerous tests, none the less there had to be concrete evidence. Once a witches teat is discovered it is poked with a needle to test is they would bleed. In addition risky tests such as a floating test were held. If the colonist was to float they were deemed as a witch however if they sunk they were not. Torture was also a common way to get the accused to admit to

Besides testimony, witches were also identified by midwife's examination. If any black marks were found on the accused's body, the mark was often considered Satan's mark and proof that she was a witch.

Some of the tests were near impossible to pass, like the “Witch’s Mark” test. A suspected witch would be stripped and search for any body marking such as a birthmark, a tattoo, a scar, or a mole. If any markings of this sort were found, it was considered a testament to the victim’s ties with the devil, and they were executed. Other tests included the “Swimming Test” and the “Needle Test”. In order to pass the swimming test, a supposed witch would be tossed into a river, and if they floated, they were a witch and should be killed, and if they sunk, they were dead. “Since witches were believed to have spurned the sacrament of baptism, it was thought that the water would reject their body and prevent them from submerging”(Andrew, 1).The needle test was used predominantly in the European witch trials and one of the easiest to fake. It was generally thought that a witch would have a spot on their body that did not feel pain or bleed, and so they would be subjected to being poked with a needle until a spot was found that didn’t bleed. “Witch hunters” or people who were paid to find witches, often used dull needles so they wouldn’t

The young girls who attended the trial would scream and squirm on the floor in the middle of the test. It is easy to see why some did not pass. The second type of evidence employed was a physical exam. Portals through which Satan could enter the body included any birthmarks, warts, moles, or other blemishes. The third type of evidence used was the testimony of witnesses. Even a single witness could testify. Anyone who could attribute his or her misfortune to sorcery by an accused person might help ensure a conviction. The fourth type of evidence was the confession. Confession seems irrational to a defendant who is certain of his or her innocence. Sadly, though, in many cases, confession was the only way to end the torturous trials. A confessor would throw himself or herself on the mercy of the town and court and after promising repentance, they would not be killed (“Witchcraft in Salem”). The fifth and last type of evidence was spectral evidence, meaning spiritual evidence not of this world,.

In the beginning, before the trials ever began or were even thought of was something every witch is greatly aware of, The Inquisition. It was the catholic tribunal's way of exposing and punishing those that they called 'Religiously Unorthodox'. By 430 AD there came a civil code that ordered death sentences and cruel punishments to anyone who believed in something that was supposedly against the beliefs of Roman Catholicism. Sorcery was considered great heresy. Many years later this so-called civil code of the Inquisition was made law and so

A new court was created to hear the witchcraft cases. The judges and magistrates appointed allowed spectral evidence, or testimony of a person accusing another of witchcraft based on dreams and visions. There was little or no hard evidence against any of the accused. Hearsay, gossip, stories, unsupported assertions,

To be a witch was not in itself a crime; what was a crime was to use these powers of witchcraft to cause harm to other people, their families or livelihood. That is why court records list illnesses or deaths of people or animals, supposedly from a curse put on them by a witch. The courts also took great care to make sure the evidence proved the case. It was believed that once a witch had got involved with the devil, his "familiar", in the form of an animal, lived with her and sucked from her body. The accused women's bodies were therefore examined to search for the extra nipple.

The trials usually played out in 3 major steps. At the trials, the woman or man accused would first have to pass a test maybe, saying a Lord's prayer. Next, they would have to do a body checked for warts or birthmarks because people would think that would be a portal for the devil. Last, they would have to