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History of the Salem Witch Trials

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The Salem Witch Trials are one of the most infamous events that took place in Colonial America.

The stigma from the trials stayed in the minds of colonists for a couple of generations and had some influence on the way New Englanders viewed the law, due process, and government in general.

During the trials, many colonists were accused of ages that ranged from children to old maids.

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Background

The Puritans arrived in Massachusetts in 1629 with the idea of establishing a "city on the hill" (A quote from John Winthrop).

When they arrived, they entered a New World full of different ideas, cultures, and resources that they left in England. However, they brought many traditions and beliefs from the Old World with them.

Malleus Maleficarum: Published in 1487 and written by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. It became a guide to be used in finding witches, prosecuting them, and figuring out if they had made a pact with the devil. While many theologians at the time discouraged its use and said it was unethical, it remained one of the best-selling books for 200 years.

Goodwin Family of Boston: Several children in the home display serious behavior that causes many to believe it to be of supernatural origin. The situation begins an inquisition that results in the death of Ann Glover, the last person to be executed in Boston on the accusation of being a witch.

Joseph Glanville: An influential voice on the topic of the supernatural, Glanville offered a convincing argument for the existence of demons. He also argued that if one denied the existence of demons, then they inevitably denied the existence of angels and even God.

Cotton Mather: Published "Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions," which documented the Goodwin case.

Exodus 22:18: "Do not allow a sorceress to live." The Puritans used the Bible to establish their laws, and they took this verse seriously.

Salem Witch Trials

Signs of a Witch

The Reverend Samuel Parris arrived in Salem Village around 1691. Salem was known for being contentious and divisive, with many petty quarrels between its inhabitants. 

The colonists had run through 3 different ministers in as many years. It was not long before the colonists began to move against Parris and eventually stopped paying his wage. While these disputes were more personal, they did display a contentious culture around the village.

In February 1692, Betty Parris (9-year-old daughter to Samuel), and her cousin Abigail Williams began to have fits described as abnormal and unfitting for any natural disease.

The girls screamed, threw things about the room, uttered strange sounds, crawled under furniture, contorted themselves, and produced tremendous drama. William Griggs, the town doctor, could not find anything physically wrong with them.

With nothing physically wrong with them and the girls acting out of control, the deduction that was made was that it may be demonic. The girls then started to accuse others, and the first three were easy targets:

  • Tituba - Samuel Parris' slave from Barbados
  • Sarah Good - a homeless beggar known to seek food and shelter from neighbors. She had an appalling reputation.
  • Sarah Osborne - rarely attended church and had caused the church gossips to talk when she remarried an indentured servant. She also tried to control her son's inheritance from her previous marriage, which many in town disagreed with.

Each of these women was kind of an outcast and exhibited many of the character traits typical of the "usual suspects" for witchcraft accusations; they were left to defend themselves.

Brought before the local magistrates on the complaint of witchcraft, they were interrogated for several days, starting on March 1, 1692, and then sent to jail.

In March, others were accused of witchcraft: Martha Corey, child Dorothy Good, and Rebecca Nurse in Salem Village, and Rachel Clinton in nearby Ipswich. Martha Corey had expressed skepticism about the credibility of the girls' accusations and thus drawn attention.

The charges against her and Rebecca Nurse deeply troubled the community because Martha Corey was a full covenanted member of the Church in Salem Village, as was Rebecca Nurse in the Church in Salem Town.

If such upstanding people could be witches, the townspeople thought, then anybody could be a witch, and church membership was no protection from accusation.

Dorothy Good, the daughter of Sarah Good, was only four years old but not exempted from questioning by the magistrates; her answers were construed as a confession that implicated her mother.

In Ipswich, Rachel Clinton was arrested for witchcraft at the end of March on independent charges unrelated to the afflictions of the girls in Salem Village.

More Accusations and Defenders

Sarah Cloyce, Elizabeth Bassett Proctor, Giles Corey, John Proctor (who tried to defend his wife and was then accused), Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Mary Warren, and Deliverance Hobbs were all arrested and examined. Abigail Hobbs, Mary Warren, and Deliverance Hobbs all confessed and began naming additional people as accomplices. 

More arrests followed: Sarah Wildes, William Hobbs (husband of Deliverance and father of Abigail), Nehemiah Abbott Jr., Mary Eastey (sister of Cloyce and Nurse), Edward Bishop, Jr. and his wife Sarah Bishop, and Mary English.

On April 30, the Rev. George Burroughs, Lydia Dustin, Susannah Martin, Dorcas Hoar, Sarah Morey, and Philip English (Mary's husband) were arrested. Nehemiah Abbott Jr. was released because the accusers agreed he was not the person whose specter had afflicted them.

Mary Easty was released for a few days after her initial arrest because the accusers failed to confirm that it was she who had afflicted them; she had been arrested again when the accusers reconsidered. In May, accusations continued to pour in, but some of those suspects began to evade apprehension.

Multiple warrants were issued before John Willard and Elizabeth Colson were apprehended; George Jacobs Jr. and Daniel Andrews were not caught.

Until this point, all the proceedings were investigative, but on May 27, 1692, William Phips ordered the establishment of a Special Court of Oyer and Terminer for Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex counties to prosecute the cases of those in jail. Warrants were issued for more people. Sarah Osborne, one of the first three persons accused, died in jail on May 10, 1692.

Warrants were issued for 36 more people, with examinations continuing to take place in Salem Village: Sarah Dustin (daughter of Lydia Dustin), Ann Sears, Bethiah Carter Sr. and her daughter Bethiah Carter Jr., George Jacobs, Sr. and his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs, John Willard, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Abigail Soames, George Jacobs, Jr. (son of George Jacobs, Sr. and father of Margaret Jacobs), Daniel Andrew, Rebecca Jacobs (wife of George Jacobs, Jr. and sister of Daniel Andrew), Sarah Buckley and her daughter Mary Witheridge.

Also included were Elizabeth Colson, Elizabeth Hart, Thomas Farrar, Sr., Roger Toothaker, Sarah Proctor (daughter of John and Elizabeth Proctor), Sarah Bassett (sister-in-law of Elizabeth Proctor), Susannah Roots, Mary DeRich (another sister-in-law of Elizabeth Proctor), Sarah Pease, Elizabeth Cary, Martha Carrier, Elizabeth Fosdick, Wilmot Redd, Sarah Rice, Elizabeth Howe, Capt. John Alden (son of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins), William Proctor (son of John and Elizabeth Proctor), John Flood, Mary Toothaker (wife of Roger Toothaker and sister of Martha Carrier) and her daughter Margaret Toothaker, and Arthur Abbott. When the Court of Oyer and Terminer convened at the end of May, the total number of people in custody was 62.

See a Full List of People involved in the Salem Witch Trials

Court of Oyer and Terminer

The Court of Oyer and Terminer convened in Salem Town on June 2, 1692, with William Stoughton, the new Lieutenant Governor, as Chief Magistrate, Thomas Newton as the Crown's Attorney prosecuting the cases, and Stephen Sewall as a clerk. Bridget Bishop's case was the first brought to the grand jury, who endorsed all the indictments against her.

Bishop was described as not living a Puritan lifestyle, for she wore black clothing and odd costumes, which was against the Puritan code. When she was examined before her trial, Bishop was asked about her coat, which had been awkwardly "cut or torn in two ways." 

This, along with her "immoral" lifestyle, affirmed to the jury that she was a witch. She went to trial the same day and was convicted. On June 3, the grand jury endorsed indictments against Rebecca Nurse and John Willard, but they did not go to trial immediately for reasons which are unclear. Bishop was executed by hanging on June 10, 1692.

Immediately following this execution, the court adjourned for 20 days (until June 30) while it sought advice from New England's most influential ministers "upon the state of things as they then stood." Their collective response came back dated June 15 and composed by Cotton Mather:

  1. The afflicted state of our poor neighbours, that are now suffering by molestations from the invisible world, we apprehend so deplorable that we think their condition calls for the utmost help of all persons in their several capacities.
  2. We cannot but, with all thankfulness, acknowledge the success which the merciful God has given unto the sedulous and assiduous endeavours of our honourable rulers, to detect the abominable witchcrafts which have been committed in the country, humbly praying that the discovery of those mysterious and mischievous wickednesses may be perfected.
  3. We judge that, in the prosecution of these and all such witchcrafts, there is a need of a very critical and exquisite caution, lest by too much credulity for things received only upon the Devil's authority, there be a door opened for a long train of miserable consequences, and Satan get an advantage over us; for we should not be ignorant of his devices.
  4. As in complaints upon witchcrafts, there may be matters of inquiry which do not amount unto matters of presumption, and there may be matters of presumption which yet may not be matters of conviction, so it is necessary that all proceedings thereabout be managed with an exceeding tenderness towards those that may be complained of, especially if they have been persons formerly of an unblemished reputation.
  5. When the first inquiry is made into the circumstances of such as may lie under the just suspicion of witchcrafts, we could wish that there may be admitted as little as is possible of such noise, company, and openness as may too hastily expose them that are examined and that there may no thing be used as a test for the trial of the suspected, the lawfulness whereof may be doubted among the people of God; but that the directions given by such judicious writers as Perkins and Bernard [be consulted in such a case].
  6. Presumptions whereupon persons may be committed, and, much more, convictions whereupon persons may be condemned as guilty of witchcrafts, ought certainly to be more considerable than barely the accused person's being represented by a specter unto the afflicted, inasmuch as it is an undoubted and notorious thing, that a demon may, by God's permission, appear, even to ill purposes, in the shape of an innocent, yea, and a virtuous man. Nor can we esteem alterations made in the sufferers, by a look or touch of the accused, to be infallible evidence of guilt but frequently liable to be abused by the Devil's legerdemains.
  7. We know not whether some remarkable affronts given to the Devils by our disbelieving those testimonies whose whole force and strength is from them alone, may not put a period unto the progress of the dreadful calamity begun upon us in the accusations of so many persons, whereof some, we hope, are yet clear from the great transgression laid unto their charge.
  8. Nevertheless, we cannot but humbly recommend unto the government the speedy and vigorous prosecution of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious, according to the direction given in the laws of God and the wholesome statutes of the English nation, for the detection of witchcrafts.

The first and last points were the most controversial and caused the court to overlook the six points in between. In response to the letter written by Mather, Major Nathaniel Saltonstall resigned from the court around mid-June.

He was angry that the admission of spectral evidence was allowed to be admitted in trial. Saltonstall was one of the only men to condemn the trials from the beginning.

More people were accused, arrested, and examined, but now in Salem Town, by former local magistrates John Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, and Bartholomew Gedney, who had become judges of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Suspect Roger Toothaker died in prison on June 16, 1692.

From June 30 through early July, grand juries endorsed indictments against Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor, Martha Carrier, Sarah Wildes, and Dorcas Hoar. Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, and Sarah Wildes, along with Rebecca Nurse, went to trial at this time, where they were found guilty.

All five women were executed by hanging on July 19, 1692. In mid-July, the constable in Andover invited the afflicted girls from Salem Village to visit with his wife to try to determine who was causing her afflictions.

Ann Foster, her daughter Mary Lacey Sr., and granddaughter Mary Lacey Jr. all confessed to being witches. Anthony Checkley was appointed by Governor Phips to replace Thomas Newton as the Crown's Attorney when Newton took an appointment in New Hampshire.

In August, grand juries indicted George Burroughs, Mary Eastey, Martha Corey, and George Jacobs, Sr.. Trial juries convicted Martha Carrier, George Jacobs, Sr., George Burroughs, John Willard, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor.

Elizabeth Proctor was given a temporary stay of execution because she was pregnant. On August 19, 1692, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs Sr., George Burroughs, John Willard, and John Proctor were executed.

Robert Calef described the execution of George Burroughs in his book More Wonders of the Invisible World.

Mr. Burroughs was carried in a Cart with others through the streets of Salem to Execution. When he was upon the Ladder, he made a speech for the clearing of his Innocency, with such Solemn and Serious Expressions as were to the Admiration of all present; his Prayer (which he concluded by repeating the Lord's Prayer) [as witches were not supposed to be able to recite] was so well worded, and uttered with such composedness as such fervency of spirit, as was very Affecting, and drew Tears from many, so that if seemed to some that the spectators would hinder the execution. The accusers said the black Man [Devil] stood and dictated to him. As soon as he was turned off [hanged], Mr. Cotton Mather, being mounted upon a Horse, addressed himself to the People, partly to declare that he [Mr. Burroughs] was no ordained Minister, partly to possess the People of his guilt, saying that the devil often had been transformed into the Angel of Light. And this did somewhat appease the People, and the Executions went on; when he [Mr. Burroughs] was cut down, he was dragged by a Halter to a Hole, or Grave, between the Rocks, about two feet deep; his Shirt and Breeches being pulled off, and an old pair of Trousers of one Executed put on his lower parts: he was so put in, together with Willard and Carrier, that one of his Hands, and his Chin, and a Foot of one of them, was left uncovered.

September Hangings

The Salem Witch Trials continued into September 1692 with more accusations, indictments, and executions. Martha Corey, Giles Corey, Mary Easty, Mary Parker, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmot Redd, Margaret Scott, and Samuel Wardwell Sr were executed on September 22.

This was the largest execution of witches in America's history. These executions created more doubt in the people of Salem since some of them were upstanding citizens and were known for their piety.

The September hangings turned the tide of public opinion and began to draw more attention from the clergy in Boston. The spectral evidence that was being admitted was becoming more criticized, and they stopped relying on it. In January 1693, five people were indicted and found not guilty.

Grand juries were held for many of those remaining in jail. Charges were dismissed against many, but sixteen more people were indicted and tried, three of whom were found guilty: Elizabeth Johnson Jr., Sarah Wardwell, and Mary Post.

When Stoughton wrote the warrants for the execution of these three and others remaining from the previous court, Governor Phips issued pardons, sparing their lives. In late January/early February, the Court sat again in Charlestown, Middlesex County, and held grand juries and tried five people: Sarah Cole (of Lynn), Lydia Dustin & Sarah Dustin, Mary Taylor, and Mary Toothaker.

All were found not guilty but not released until they paid their jail fees. Lydia Dustin died in jail on March 10, 1693.

At the end of April, the trials were over. The sentiment had flipped, and spectral evidence was no longer permitted in the courtroom. Families would spend generations trying to clear their families' names from these false accusations.

A memorial was made in 1992 for those what was unfairly executed.

Salem Witch Trials: Online Resources