Salem Witch Trials
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The Salem Witch Trials was different from any other witch outbreak in the world. It lasted longer, jailed multiple suspects, condemned more people, ranged over more territory, and even the government said it was a giant mess and mistake. These trials lasted for 15 months, and came across 24 different communities, resulting in 162 arrests, 54 confessions, 28 convictions, 20 executions, and 5 deaths in jail due to poor conditions.
It started with a few young girls that were staying with Reverend Samuel Parris in Massachusetts. They were staying with the American Indian slave, Tituba. One night, the girls woke up frantically screaming and Reverend Parris blamed Tituba right away. She claims she took the girls out to the woods to sing by the fire, but Reverend turned the whole thing around and said Tituba was making them chant to the devil and was accused of being a witch. The Reverend continuously beat her up, and hit her so many times. He brought her to court to get her out of town. She was only meaning good with the girls, she wasn’t doing any of the things the Reverend said she was doing. She may have been a witch, but she was certainly a nice one. She got interrogated 5 times, which is the most out of any defendant. She was finally done with getting accused multiple times, so she said she, “rode upon a pole and flew through the air,” just to make them stop talking. She was a “nice witch.” She made health potions, not the normal bad potions people make to kill or harm others. She meant well. All she tried to do was help people. They then kicked her out of the town and she was never seen again. Endnotes: I chose to talk about the Salem Witch trials because I think it’s the most common witchcraft story in history. It is the biggest one in the whole New England area. Tituba is also a significant person because it shows she was treated much differently only because of her race. Back then, people did not feel bad for her. Now, more people are starting to, because no matter what she said, she couldn’t get out of being accused. Ray, Benjamin C. "“The Salem Witch Mania”: Recent Scholarship and American History Textbooks." Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 78, no. 1, Mar. 2010, p. 40. EBSCOhost, libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases/authmaine.asp?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=edb&AN=48752340&site=eds-live |