This is The History Junkie's Salem Witch Trials Timeline. It gives the years and approximations of what happened. There is an eerie feeling when one sees the mass hangings.
Prior To The Trials
1688: Ann Glover is executed in Boston for accusations of being a witch. This occurred due to several children in the Goodwin family displaying signs of demon possession.
1689: Cotton Mather publishes "Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions." His book contains the story of the Goodwin Family. Samuel Parris, who resided in Boston at the time of Mather's writings being published, becomes the minister of Salem Village.
1691: Many of the villagers in Salem become dissatisfied with Parris and refuse to pay his salary.
Salem Witch Trials Timeline: 1692
January 20: Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris begin to act similar to what was reported in the Goodwin children. The behavior spreads to Ann Putnam Jr. and other girls around Salem.
Mid-February: Dr. William Griggs begins to assess the girls' symptoms after about two weeks of reoccurring behaviors. He is the first to suggest witchcraft as a possibility.
February 25: Mary Sibly (or Sibley), a neighbor of the Parris family, instructs John Indian, the husband of Tituba, to make a "witch cake" of rye meal and the girls' urine to feed to a dog in order to discover who is bewitching the girls, according to English folk "white magic" practices. She is later called out by Rev. Parris for this, and her expression of regret is accepted by the congregation. Pressured by ministers and townspeople to say who caused her odd behavior, Elizabeth Parris identifies Tituba. The girls later accuse Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good of witchcraft.
February 29: Based on formal complaints from Joseph Hutchinson, Thomas Putnam, Edward Putnam, and Thomas Preston, Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin issue warrants to arrest Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba for afflicting Elizabeth Parris, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., and Elizabeth Hubbard.
Early March: Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba are interrogated by the Magistrates. Tituba confesses and says that her co-conspirators were Good and Osborne.
March 11: Ann Putnam Jr. again shows symptoms of the affliction. Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren also say they have been afflicted.
March 12: Ann accuses Martha Corey of witchcraft.
March 19: Abigail Williams accuses Rebecca Nurse as a witch.
March 21: Martha Corey is examined by magistrates for witchcraft.
March 23: Salem Marshal Deputy Samuel Brabrook arrests four-year-old Dorothy Good.
March 24: Rebecca Nurse and Dorothy Good are investigated by Magistrates.
March 26: John Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, and Rev. John Higginson question Dorothy Good, now in jail
March 28: Elizabeth Proctor is accused of being a witch.
April 3: Sarah Cloyce is accused of witchcraft. She had defended her sister, Rebecca Nurse, previously.
April 11: Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor are examined before Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth and members of the Governor's Council. On the same day, Elizabeth's husband, John Proctor, becomes the first man accused of witchcraft and is jailed.
Early April: An accuser of the Proctors, Mary Warren, admits to lying and accuses the other girls of lying as well. The others deny it.
April 13: Ann now accuses Giles Corey, husband to Martha Corey, of witchcraft. It is also alleged that a man who died at Corey's home haunts Ann.
April 19: Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Giles Corey, and Mary Warren are examined. Deliverance Hobbs confesses to practicing witchcraft. Mary Warren, under pressure and accused now of witchcraft herself, reverses her statement made in early April and rejoins the accusers
April 22: Mary Eastey, who defended her sister Rebecca Nurse, is examined by the magistrates. The magistrates also examine Nehemiah Abbott, Jr., Sarah Wildes, William and Deliverance Hobbs, Edward and Sarah Bishop, Mary Black, and Mary English.
April 30: Former Salem minister George Burroughs was accused of witchcraft.
May 2: examine Sarah Morey, Lyndia Dustin, Susannah Martin, and Dorcas Hoar.
May 4: Four days after being accused, George Burroughs is arrested in Maine and shipped back to Salem for trial.
May 9: Burroughs and Sarah Churchill are examined by magistrates. Burroughs is moved to a Boston jail.
May 10: George Jacobs and his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs are interrogated by the magistrates. Sarah Osborne passes away while in prison.
May 14: The Rev. Increase Mather and Sir William Phips, the newly appointed governor of the colony, arrived in Boston. They bring with them a new charter establishing the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
May 18: Mary Easty and Roger Toothaker are arrested on charges of witchcraft.
May 27: Governor William Phips issues a commission for a Court of Oyer and Terminer and appoints as judges John Hathorne, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop, and Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton.
May 31: Hathorne, Corwin, and Gedney examine Martha Carrier, John Alden, Wilmot Redd, Elizabeth Howe, and Phillip English. Alden and English later escape from prison and do not return.
Prosecution and Convictions Begin
June 2, 10: Bridget Bishop is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. She was hanged on June 10.
June 16: Roger Toothaker dies in prison
June 28-July 2: Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes are found guilty of witchcraft
July 19: All five women are executed by hanging.
August 3-5: Martha Carrier, George Jacobs Sr., John Willard, George Burroughs, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor are all found guilty of witchcraft.
August 19: All the above are executed. Elizabeth Proctor survives the day because she is pregnant.
September 6-16: Dorcas Hoar, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeater, Martha Corey, Mary Bradbury, Mary Easty, Samuel Wardwell, Wilmot Redd, Mary Parker, and Margaret Scott are all found guilty of witchcraft.
September 17: Abigail Faulker Sr. is tried and found guilty. Margaret Scott, Wilmot Redd, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, and Abigail Faulkner are sentenced to hang. Abigail Faulkner is given a temporary stay of execution because she is pregnant. Rebecca Earnes, Mary Lacy Sr., Ann Foster, and Abigail Hobbs plead guilty to the charges and await sentencing.
September 19: Giles Corey refuses to be tried before God and Country and is pressed to death.
September 21: Several ministers successfully petition the Court to postpone Dorcas Hoar's execution to give her time to repent.
September 22: Martha Corey, Mary Eastey, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Margaret Scott, Wilmot Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker are hanged. Mary Bradbury has escaped and is not hanged.
October 3: Reverend Increase Mather denounces the use of spectral evidence.
October 6: 8 children are released on bail
October 12: Governor Phips writes to the Privy Council of King William and Queen Mary, saying that he has stopped the proceedings and referring to "what danger some of their innocent subjects might be exposed to if the evidence of the afflicted persons only did prevail," i.e., "spectral evidence."
October 29: Phips prohibits further arrests, releases many of the accused from prison, and dissolves the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
December 16: An act is passed for the establishment of a Superior Court of Assizes and General Gaole Delivery to convene in January and prosecute the remaining people in custody.
Salem Witch Trials Timeline: 1693
January 4: Sarah Buckley, Margaret Jacobs, Rebecca Jacobs, and Mary Whittredge are tried and found not guilty.
January 5: Job Tookey and Hannah Tyler are tried and found not guilty.
January 6: Mary Marston, Elizabeth Johnson Sr., and Abigail Barker are tried and found not guilty.
January 7: Mary Tyler is tried and found not guilty.
January 9: Rebecca Johnson is cleared by proclamation.
January 10: Sarah Wardwell is tried and found guilty. Her two daughters, Sarah Hawkes and Mercy Wardwell, are tried and found not guilty.
January 11: Elizabeth Johnson Jr. is tried and found guilty. Mary Black is cleared by proclamation.
January 12: Mary Post is tried and found guilty. Mary Bridges Sr., Hannah Post, Sarah Bridges, and Mary Osgood are tried and found not guilty. Thomas Farrar Sr. is cleared by proclamation.
January 13: Mary Lacy Jr. is tried and found not guilty.
February 1: Sarah Cole (of Lynn), Lydia Dustin, Sarah Dustin, Mary Taylor, and Mary Toothaker are tried and found not guilty. Lydia Dustin is not released because she is unable to pay her jailer's fees.
February 3: Jane Lilly cleared by proclamation.
February 21: Governor Phips writes to England that fifty-three people have already been cleared, failing to be indicted by grand juries or found not guilty at trial and that he has vacated the death sentences of those who have been sentenced to be executed.
March 10: Lydia Dustin dies in custody.
April 25: John Alden is cleared by proclamation.
May 10: Susannah Post, Eunice Frye, Mary Bridges Jr., Mary Barker, and William Barker Jr. are tried and found not guilty. Sarah Cole, Dorothy Faulkner, Abigail Faulkner Jr., Martha Tyler, Johannah Tyler, Sarah Wilson Sr., and Sarah Wilson Jr. are cleared by proclamation. A grand jury fails to indict Tituba.
May 11: William Hobbs is cleared by proclamation.
By the end of 1693, the tide had changed, and the witch trials were coming to a close. Later in her life, Ann Putnam stood before the church and asked for forgiveness for her part in the witch trials.
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