The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, most of them women. It all began when a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by witches and accused several townspeople of practicing witchcraft. The accusations quickly spread, leading to a climate of fear and hysteria. The trials were deeply influenced by superstition and religious beliefs of the time. Many Puritans believed that witches were in league with the devil and that their actions could cause harm or misfortune to others.
History of Salem, Oregon
Who has never heard of the city of Salem and its witches? Located just 25 miles north of Boston, is easily accessible from the latter.
When on the road map I realized that this mythical little port city was located so close to my destination, I did not hesitate to add it to my weekend program in Boston. You can also find my very complete article on my suggestions for things to do in Boston as well as the one on six cities in the Eastern USA to visit during a road trip.
From Boston, four modes of Transportation are possible. By car, train, boat or bus. You can find all the information to go to Salem on this site.
Salem, a City of Witches
As I said before, Salem is best known for his sordid history of witch hunts. Although it has a very important harbor past, it is rather the latter that made its fame.
During the colonial period, in 1692, 21 people from Salem and neighboring villages were accused of Witchcraft and executed. Two young girls and their friends began to behave strangely and accused a black slave and two old women from their village of witchcraft.
A collective hysteria began in which some accused others. More than 200 people were imprisoned in the region’s prisons awaiting trial in Salem. Thirty people died in the course of this story. Of these, 21 innocent men and women were executed, mostly by hanging, before a governor finally put an end to these paranoid crimes.
All these people were innocent. Several hypotheses have been made to explain this delirium. One of the two girls who laid the charges later admitted that she had done it for fun.
A dark slice of New England’s history that can still be seen during a visit to Salem.
Interesting Places to Visit in Salem
I’ve only been here a few hours. But here are the various places that I have visited, or not, in Salem and that are worth the detour as much in the history of witches as in the port and historical importance of New England.
The Witches Of Salem
The story of the Salem witches is visible throughout the city. It is a subject that is heavily exploited for its tourist development. Here are some places to visit in Salem to understand the sordid history that made the reputation of this city.
Salem Witch Museum
Salem Witch Museum is the most visited museum in the city. Among the many possible choices, I went to this huge building of Gothic style that piqued my curiosity when I arrived. A huge statue draws attention to the front of the building. Already in “”history of witches”” mode I thought at first that it was one that stood in front of us. But it was rather a question of a great figure in the history of Salem, Roger Conant, the founder of the city.
The museum is not terrible in itself, but it does give a good understanding of the events of 1692. We sit in a dark room where only a red circle illuminated in the center sets the atmosphere of what will follow. Suddenly, a male voice from an audio recording starts.
A light appears suddenly, and its beam illuminates a first scene of the story. A decoration with wax figures appears all around the room, a few meters from the floor. The light beam moves from one scene to another throughout history. We discover the key characters in the story, take part in a trial and the story ends with the heinous crimes of hanging that they were subjected to.
Outside the large hall, a guide explains witchcraft as it was in the past and how it is today, and they also tell us about some plants with powers.
This museum is a good introduction if you don’t know the history of the Salem witches.
An audio recording in French is also available. Ask the front desk. Here is the website of the Salem Witch Museum for more information.
The Witch House
The Witch House, also known as The Jonathan Corvin House, is the only building still present in connection with the history of witches.
This old house, which dates back to the 17th century, belonged to one of the judges, Jonathan Corvin, who condemned people for witchcraft in 1692. This house is very well preserved, and each room allows us to understand part of the way of life of the inhabitants of the time. The architecture, objects and educational documents Project us right into the way of life of these early settlers.
Witch Dungeon Museum
The Witch dungeon museum offers an interactive experience, with actors, of the trials that were raging at the time and which led to the death of several people. There are also replicas of the dungeons of the time that held captive, for nearly a year, those who were accused of witchcraft by their peers.
I didn’t have time to visit the place, but in the logical continuation of the understanding of the history of Salem, it can be interesting to go there.
Despite the drama that has plagued this city, the atmosphere today is quite festive and in connection with the Halloween party. So we can afford to take funny pictures in front of this museum.
Old Burying Point Cemetery
Your visit to the history of the Salem witches should end at the Old burying point cemetery. This cemetery is the place where the victims and key figures of this story are buried. Large, flat stones are placed around the perimeter, in which the names of the innocent victims are engraved.
Salem Witch Trials
Halloween is almost here and all the lawn trimmings with ghouls, ghosts, and goblins are popping up. It is a great time for the kids and parents to “Trick or Treat” their neighbors on this annual event and for a lot of us it was the only time we saw some of them during the year. We look at this as fun time for the kids, but there was a dark side to this in the late 17th century. I am not referring to Halloween directly, but to the hysteria surrounding witches.
During this era, there was a section of Framingham known as Salem’s End. Today, what remains of this Puritan village is Salem End Road, which extends from Oregon Road in Ashland all the way to just short of Framingham State College.
So what’s the connection between the Salem Witch Trials and Framingham? For that, we have to dig a little deeper. We will start with William and Joanna Towne. William and Joanna (Blessing) Towne immigrated to the Colonies in 1640. They settled in Salem Village, Mass (now Danvers) with their children on a land grant. For our discussion today, I would like to focus on three of their daughters: Rebecca, Mary, and Sarah.
Around 1645, their daughter Rebecca married Francis Nurse, a “tray maker” by trade. The couple had eight children, four boys and four girls. Property boundaries often pit neighbor against neighbor, and the Nurse’s found themselves in a battle with their neighbors, John and Edward Putnam. Adding to the fire was the arrival of the Reverend Samuel Parris. The Nurse family, along with others in the community, protested that the Reverend was not hired properly and joined the “anti Parris” committee seeking his removal. As you probably guessed, the Putnams were on the “pro Parris” committee setting the stage for a major confrontation with Nurse and his committee.
Living in Puritan times it was easy, and probably convenient, to blame a person’s behavior on the influence of the Devil. The Reverend Parris had a daughter Elizabeth (sometimes referred to as Betty), and a niece Abigail Williams, who began to show signs of bizarre behavior. A third child, Ann Putnam (there’s those pesky Putnams again), was a friend of the two girls, and also showed similar symptoms. Reverend Parris was concerned, and finally summoned William Griggs, the local physician, to examine his daughter. Griggs could not find a cause for their affliction and suggested that they were bewitched. What the physician didn’t consider was Reverend Parris brought a slave named Tituba back after a trip to Barbados. Tituba would sit around the circle of girls at night and tell them tales of witchcraft and demons. Coming as no surprise, the girls were profoundly influenced by Tituba’s tales and would often act out with unnatural physical expressions and go into fits.
The stage is now set. Obviously witchcraft is at play here, or at least according to the Reverend Parris. The next step is to indentify the evil influencers. Elizabeth’s aunt, Mary Sibley, ordered Tituba to bake a “Witch Cake.” A Witch Cake is a rye concoction laced with the urine of the afflicted. It is fed to a dog, and if the dog exhibits the same behavior of the afflicted then they are deemed bewitched. I could find no record of the dog’s behavior, but we probably can assume they thought it was affected.
Now that they were considered bewitched, the girls were questioned about the names of the witches. Reluctantly, Elizabeth named Tituba. The other girls named Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good. Sarah Good was an elderly woman who didn’t attend church regularly, and Sarah Osborne was a beggar who uttered strange words to you if alms were not forthcoming. Not a particularly bright thing to do during that era I would imagine.
With the accusations in place, an investigation was in order. Two Magistrates from Salem Town were brought in and during the questioning; Elizabeth, Abigail, and as many as six other girls would scream and tumble in fits on the floor. Both Sarahs maintained their innocence, but Tituba confessed to being a witch. And with her confession, Tituba implicated the two Sarahs saying that along with her they had signed the Devil’s book. With this “evidence,” the three women were sent to a Boston jail.
The accusations of witchcraft did not stop here. In March of 1692, Ann Putnam accused Martha Corey of afflicting her. Shortly afterward, Ann and the girls testified that Rebecca Nurse appeared as a spectre “hovering over and torturing” the girls. The only problem was that Rebecca was a 71 year old woman and generally accepted as a kind and generous soul. She is quoted at the trial: “I am innocent as the child unborn, but surely, what sin hath God found out in me unrepented of that He should lay such an affliction on me in my old age?”
By the summer of 1692 nearly 200 people were convicted of witchcraft. Mostly on “spectral evidence,” or the appearance of the witches in a dream, or in the dark of night. This activity caught the attention of the Royal Governor, William Pheps, who sent his own Court of Oyer and Terminer to preside over the trials. The first person tried under this court was Bridget Bishop. She was convicted and hanged on June 10, 1692. Next on the docket were Sarah Good, Sarah Wilds, Elizabeth How, Susannah Martin, and Rebecca Nurse. Rebecca was originally acquitted of the charges, but the girls went into their rage on the meetinghouse floor again and the charge was brought back for reconsideration. Rebecca’s hearing was failing, and she didn’t respond to a question. The Court took this non-response as an admission of guilt and convicted her. All five women were hanged on June 19, 1692.
Next of the Towne girls, Mary Easty, was convicted of witchcraft and hanged along with seven others on Sept. 22, 1692. Mary petitioned the court and ministers before her death not to save her life, but to stop the bloodshed of innocent people.
Finally, there is sister Sarah Cloyes (Clayes, and other spellings). Sarah was also convicted of being a witch and sentenced to prison in Ipswich. But she escaped, or some sources say allowed to escape, to Framingham’s Salem’s End where she was hidden by friends. She was also alleged to have hidden in the “Witches Caves,” in what is now the Ashland Town Forest, to avoid recapture. By this time, however, support for the trials was waning, and by May of 1693 the Governor had pardoned the rest of the accused. Sarah petitioned the court for compensation, and received three gold sovereigns for the deaths of her sisters. Moving closer to our time, the movie “Three Sovereigns for Sister Sarah” portrayed the lives of these three sisters who fell victim to the ignorance and panic of the time.
Steve Leacu for Ashland Directions
Were Witches Really Burned at the Stake During the Salem Witch Trials?
In January 1692, a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts became consumed by disturbing “fits” accompanied by seizures, violent contortions and bloodcurdling screams. A doctor diagnosed the children as being victims of black magic, and over the next several months, allegations of witchcraft spread like a virus through the small Puritan settlement. Twenty people were eventually executed as witches, but contrary to popular belief, none of the condemned was burned at the stake.
In accordance with English law, 19 of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials were instead taken to the infamous Gallows Hill to die by hanging. The elderly Giles Corey, meanwhile, was pressed to death with heavy stones after he refused to enter an innocent or guilty plea. Still more accused sorcerers died in jail while awaiting trial.
Salem Witch TrialsThe myth of burnings at the stake in Salem is most likely inspired by European witch trials, where execution by fire was a disturbingly common practice. Medieval law codes such as the Holy Roman Empire’s “Constitutio Criminalis Carolina” stipulated that malevolent witchcraft should be punished by fire, and church leaders and local governments oversaw the burning of witches across parts of modern day Germany, Italy, Scotland, France and Scandinavia.
Historians have since estimated that the witch-hunt hysteria that peaked between the 15th and 18th centuries saw some 50,000 people executed as witches in Europe. Many of these victims were hanged or beheaded first, but their bodies were typically incinerated afterwards to protect against postmortem sorcery. Other condemned witches were still alive when they faced the flames, and were left to endure an excruciating death by burning and inhalation of toxic fumes.
Many Puritans believed that witches were in league with the devil and that their actions could cause harm or misfortune to others. Accusations were based on spectral evidence, visions, and dreams, rather than concrete evidence. As the trials unfolded, the accused were subjected to unfair and biased legal procedures.
They were denied the right to legal representation, and the burden of proof was placed on the accused, rather than the accusers. The trials were filled with rumors, gossip, and manipulation, as people sought to protect themselves or settle personal grudges. The hysteria eventually died down, and the trials were widely criticized for their injustice and lack of evidence. In 1693, the Massachusetts General Court, the colonial legislature, declared a day of fasting and reflection to apologize for the trials. Surviving victims and their families were compensated, and the convictions were later expunged from the records. The Salem witch trials have since become an infamous chapter in American history. They serve as a cautionary tale about the dangers of mass hysteria, prejudice, and the need for due process and fair trials. The trials have been the subject of numerous books, plays, and films, keeping alive the memory of this dark period in colonial Massachusetts..
Reviews for "The Salem Oregon Witch Trials: A Lesson in Mass Hysteria"
1. Mark - 2/5 - As a history enthusiast, I was excited to read "Salem Oregon Witch Trials," but I was thoroughly disappointed. The book lacks depth and fails to provide any meaningful analysis of the historical events. The author merely regurgitates well-known facts without delving deeper into the trials themselves or examining the societal and cultural context behind them. Additionally, the writing style is dry and often difficult to follow, making it a tedious read. Overall, I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for a comprehensive exploration of the Salem witch trials.
2. Sarah - 1/5 - I found "Salem Oregon Witch Trials" to be a complete waste of time. The author seemed more interested in sensationalizing the events rather than providing an accurate account of what truly transpired. There was an overwhelming focus on dramatic portrayals and exaggerated details, which undermined any historical value the book may have had. Moreover, the lack of reliable sources and references left me questioning the credibility of the information presented. I expected an informative and well-researched account of the Salem witch trials, but this book fell short in every aspect.
3. Brian - 2/5 - I was expecting a captivating narrative of the Salem witch trials when I picked up "Salem Oregon Witch Trials," but I was left disappointed. The book lacked a cohesive structure and often jumped between different characters and events without proper context. It felt like I was reading a jumbled collection of stories rather than a well-researched historical account. Additionally, the author's frequent insertion of their own biased opinions and speculations made it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. Overall, I would not recommend this book to anyone seeking a comprehensive and unbiased exploration of the Salem witch trials.
4. Melissa - 3/5 - While "Salem Oregon Witch Trials" provided an overview of the events that transpired during the Salem witch trials, it failed to provide any substantial analysis or unique insights. The book felt rushed and lacking in depth, potentially due to the limited research conducted by the author. I would have appreciated a more thorough examination of the social and cultural factors that contributed to the hysteria surrounding witchcraft in Salem. Overall, it is an average read for those seeking a basic understanding of the trials, but it falls short for those looking for a comprehensive analysis.