Sarah Good was the third victim to be executed in the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts Bay. She was only 39 years old when she died and left a husband and a child behind.
The Salem Witch Trials would become one of the most tragic events in Colonial America.
Family Life and Accusation
In 1692, Sarah Good was remarried after her first husband, Daniel Poole, died in 1682. She remarried William Good, and the couple had two children: Dorothy and Mercy (who died shortly after birth).
She was of lower economic status and an easy target for the young women who were accusing others of witchcraft. Due to her husband's inability to provide, she was reliant on neighbors and others to make ends meet. This also caused her much stress, which she most likely took out on her husband, who, for whatever reason, could not provide enough for his family.
Rumors of Sarah Good practicing witchcraft began to circulate when her husband began to complain to neighbors about her behavior towards him. He said that she "her bad carriage to him," which led to her neighbors accusing her of challenging Puritan values.
Reverend Samuel Parris had also become angry with his lack of payment and began preaching that Satan was among those in the congregation. These sermons, along with his slave Tituba and the fits of rage that would come from his own household would begin to create the initial hysteria.
Witchcraft Accusation
At this time, it was common to use spectral evidence to make claims. Spectral Evidence, if allowed into a court proceeding, is near impossible for the accuser to refute because it can change on a whim.
Good was accused of witchcraft on March 6, 1692, when Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris, related to the Reverend Samuel Parris, claimed to be bewitched under her hand. The young girls asserted they had been bitten, pinched, and otherwise abused.
They would have fits in which their bodies would appear to involuntarily convulse, their eyes rolling into the back of their heads and their mouths hanging open. When the Rev. Samuel Parris asked, "Who torments you?" the girls eventually shouted out the names of three townspeople: Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good.
Her accusation came around the same time as Rebecca Nurse, who was viewed by most townspeople in Salem as an upstanding citizen. If Mrs. Nurse was able to become a target due to the spectral evidence allowed in the courtroom, then Sarah Good would be a much easier target.
Salem Witch Trial
On March 25, 1692, Sarah Good appeared before the court to be tried for witchcraft. She was accused of rejecting the puritanical expectations of self-control and discipline when she chose to torment and scorn children instead of leading them toward salvation.
When she was brought in, the accusers would begin rocking back and forth and eventually throw themselves in a fit of rage. This spectral evidence was believed to be a demonic influence that Sarah Good was using to control them, which was proof of her witchcraft.
During her trial, one of the accusers threw herself into a fit of rage, and upon being "released" from Good's spell, she claimed that Sarah Good had attacked her with a knife and that it broke while Good was trying to stab her. She even produced a piece of the broken knife.
The crowd gasped, but then a young man stood up and told the court the piece had broken off his own knife the day prior, and the accuser had witnessed it. He even was able to produce the knife that broke, which matched the piece the accuser produced.
One would think this would be proof of the lies, and the accuser's testimony would be dismissed. However, Judge William Stoughton only saw what he wanted to see and simply scolded the girl for exaggerating what he believed to be the truth.
Both Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne denied the accusations that were put against them. However, Reverend Samuel Parris' slave Tituba delivered a devastating blow to both Good and Osborne's testimony when she admitted to being the "Devil's servant."
Tituba stated that a tall man dressed all in black came to them, demanding they sign their names in a great book. Although initially refusing, Tituba said, she eventually wrote her name after Good and Osborne forced her to. There were six other names in the book as well, but were not visible to her.
She also said that Good had ordered her cat to attack Elizabeth Hubbard, causing the scratches and bite marks on the girl's body. She spoke of seeing Good with black and yellow birds surrounding her and that Good had also sent these animals to harm the girls.
When the girls began to have another fit, Tituba claimed she could see a yellow bird in Good's right hand. The young accusers agreed.
When Good was allowed the chance to defend herself in front of the twelve jurors in the Salem Village meeting house, she argued her innocence, proclaiming Tituba and Osborne as the real witches. In the end, however, Good was convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death.
During the trial, Reverend Nicholas Noyes pushed her to confess to her sins of witchcraft. She would not, and when the gavel swung down announcing a guilty verdict for Sarah Good, she looked at the judges, including Noyes, and yelled,
I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink
Twenty-five years later, those words would ring true to him as he would die choking on his own blood.
Since Sarah Good was pregnant at the time of her arrest and gave birth to an infant in her cell in the jail in Ipswich, she would not be executed immediately. The infant died before her mother was hanged.
In 1710, William Good successfully sued the Great and General Court for health and mental damages that were done to Sarah and Dorcas, ultimately receiving thirty pounds sterling, one of the largest sums granted to the families of the witchcraft victims.
Return to the List of People Involved in the Salem Witch Trials to Learn More.