In early 1692 there was a 9-year-old girl named Elizabeth Paris who began having fits, violent spasms, and screaming outbursts. She was the daughter of the minister of Salem Village of the colony of Massachusetts. Soon after that, several more girls started having the same symptoms. A doctor diagnosed them as having been bewitched. The girls accused three women in the community of bewitching them. One woman confessed, to save her life, and the other two denied being witches. Bridget Bishop was the first to be found guilty and was hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem Town.
Many communities in the 1960s believed that the devil could come into your heart and try to lure you away from God. The leaders in these communities thought they had to intervene and stop it from happening. After the first hanging, people became crazy, and somewhere between 150 and 200 people were accused of witchcraft. The Governor of Massachusetts appointed a special court to hear all the cases of witchcraft. Spectral evidence was allowed, which is evidence based on dreams and visions. Nineteen people total were hung for being found guilty of witchcraft, fourteen women and five men. Seven more died in jail due to poor conditions.
By May of 1693, the Governor put a stop to the special court and witch the trials after his wife was accused of witchcraft. He forgave all the accused people at the end of 1693. In January 1697 the Massachusetts General Court decided that the witch trials were unlawful and apologized for what happened. In 1711 the accused were restored their rights. In 1957 the state of Massachusetts formally apologized for what happened.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials
https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials
Questions:
Have you ever heard of the Salem Witch Trials?
Do you believe in Witches and Witchcraft?
Do you ever think something like this could happen again in the United States?
Replies
I agree that this whole thing happened because people were paranoid and scared. I also hope that we have learned from our mistakes and this would never happen again.
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