Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

639 Words3 Pages
The buildup that lead towards the Salem Witch Trials was of much tension. Due to a recent small pox outbreak, constant threat of Indian attacks, and a lasting rivalry between the Puritan Salem Village and Salem Town, something had to give with the villagers. That is what caused the Salem Witch Trials, the villagers’ enmity towards their neighbors and their aversion to outsiders. The first bewitchment occurred on January 9, 1692, when 9 year old Elizabeth Parris and 11 year old Abigail Williams started going insane. They would have fits of violent contortions and sporadic screaming. From then on the accusations of bewitchments only increased until early 1693 when May Phips released all those imprisoned on witchcraft charges. When 9 year old…show more content…
The accused witches were brought before the judges Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne. The young girls who were bewitched were in the courtroom the entire time, screaming and convulsing the entire time. Good and Osborn both pleaded not guilty but Tituba confided that she and many other witches were working with Satan against the Puritans. After that several of the accused witches named more witches, the local justice system became overwhelmed. In May of 1692, William Phips, the governor of Massachusetts, ordered for a special Court of Oyer and Terminer to be used specifically for witchcraft cases in the Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex counties. John Hathorn, Samuel Sewall, and William Stoughton were judges for the court and on June 2, 1692, they convicted Bridget Bishop bewitchment and eight days later she was hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem Town. Another five people were hanged that July, another five in August, and eight were hanged in September. Furthermore seven convicted witches died in jail and Giles Corey, husband to an accused witch, was pressed to death by stones after refusing to enter a

More about Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

Open Document