The Salem Witch Trials
To understand the Salem Witch Trials, we first need to
establish our cast of characters:
Rev. Samuel Parris: Pastor of the church in Salem
Village, Massachusetts (very rigid and accused of being very greedy)
Tituba: slave of Rev. Parris, from the West Indes
William Phipps: newly appointed Governor of Massachusetts
Cotton Mather: influential New England pastor and author –
pastor of Boston’s North Church
Increase Mather: father of Cotton Mather, President of
Harvard
Summary: In 1692, near Salem, Massachusetts, the behavior of some
young girls caused concern among the people of a Satanic influence. A hysteria of witchcraft erupted, and by the
time the smoke cleared, over 200 people had been imprisoned and some 20 people
had been executed.
Background: There were numerous instances in Europe of
witch-hunts, among both Catholics and Protestants, resulting in tens of
thousands of executions from the 1300s to the end of the 1600s in areas of
Europe including Scotland, France, and Germany.
Public executions of accused witches were said to cleanse the community
of evil. The very learned and respected
Cotton Mather made a study of the witchcraft of Europe and published a book in
1684 about the subject. It was widely
believed and taught that there would be a dramatic increase in witchcraft as a
predecessor to the return of Christ. As
a result, the late 1600s saw a number of accusations of witchcraft in Groton,
Cambridge, Hartford, and Boston, as well as occasional public trials and executions
for the crime.
Politically and culturally, Salem and Salem Village had
recently received a large influx of refugees from King William’s War in New
England. The large number of additional
people placed a great strain on the available resources and led to an
undercurrent of resentment between the established citizens and the newcomers,
which “good Puritans” would not have openly displayed. In addition to this, Reverend Parris lamented
constantly about the lack of a good, spiritual foundation among the people of
Salem Village – and blamed the lukewarm attitude on Satan’s influence among the
people.
In January of 1692, Reverend Parris’ 9-year-old daughter
and 11-year-old niece became violently ill, emotionally distraught, had
periodic seizures and screaming fits.
Others in the town began exhibiting similar symptoms, including at times
seeing visions of the Devil or of demons.
A local doctor examined them and diagnosed “bewitchment.” After extensive questioning, the girls accused
Parris’ servant Tituba, a homeless beggar named Sarah Good, and a poor elderly
woman named Sarah Osborn of bewitching them.
The latter two ladies proclaimed innocence, but Tituba
confessed to the witchcraft. She said, “The
Devil came to me and bid me serve him.”
She described vivid images of black dogs, red cats, yellow birds, and
spoke of a ‘black man’ who compelled her to sign his book. All three women were jailed. This began the witchcraft hysteria. Sarah Good’s four-year-old daughter was even
questioned, and her childish answers were considered to be a confession.
In May of 1692, Governor Phipps appointed a special
commission to look into the charges of witchcraft. The first person they examined was an older woman
named Bridget Bishop. She proclaimed
innocence, but her defense did not help her.
She was the first one hanged.
Accusations were traded back and forth. Over 200 arrests were made, and overwhelmed
the judicial system. In once case, a
visiting minister arrived in late March.
He saw a 12-year-old girl named Abigail Williams “hurried with violence
to and fro in the room” and “sometimes making as if she would fly.” He quickly reported this to the Governor’s
court, a hearing ensued, and the young girl began naming names. One name was Martha Corey, who was
imprisoned. She responded that her accusers
were “poor, distracted children,” but to no avail.
One controversy surrounded the use of “spectral evidence”
– testimony about dreams and visions. If
an accuser claimed to have a dream of an individual trying to get them to sign
the Devil’s ‘book’, the testimony was considered to be valid evidence. Cotton Mather, and later his father Increase
Mather, wrote letters to the Salem Village prosecutors strongly discouraging
the use of spectral evidence, but their pleas were largely ignored, even as
Increase Mather’s own wife became accused of witchcraft.
The accusations and trials continued until they were
halted by the Governor in October of that year.
By that time, nineteen people had been executed by hanging and one by ‘pressing’
– placing a plank on his chest and piling the plank with large rocks until he
was crushed to death. Over fifty people
actually confessed to witchcraft, likely in an effort to avoid execution. By the following May, the Governor had issued
a pardon to all accused witches remaining in prison.
After the trials and executions, all of the judges but
one publicly confessed their error and guilt.
On January 14, 1697, the General Court of Massachusetts ordered a day of
fasting and soul-searching in response to this event. In 1702, the same court declared the trials
unlawful, and in 1711 the colony passed a bill formally restoring the rights of
those who were accused and paying 600 Pounds to the heirs of those who were executed.
Ultimately, what caused this? This event could be attributed to mass
hysteria, a phenomenon which is well-documented in other circumstances. It could also be a reaction to the influx of
so many people at once, and the competing demand for resources. In 1976, an article appeared in Science
Magazine hypothesizing that ‘ergot’ may have been an underlying factor as
well. Ergot is a fungus which thrives in
climates similar to that in Salem Village in the 17th century, and
can be found in rye and wheat grasses, which were staples in the Puritan diet
of the day. Toxicologists say that
eating ergot-contaminated foods can lead to muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions,
and hallucinations.
Heroes and villains: As the local minster, Samuel Parris
was given much blame. The trial
magistrates were assigned blame as was Cotton Mather, who wrote defending the
judges. Cotton was later denied the
Presidency of Harvard College after his father stepped down – largely based on this
incident. Cotton and Increase Mather,
though, did make great efforts to limit the scope of the proceedings.
Carden, Allen, Puritan Christianity in America, Baker
Book House, 1990.
Christian History Magazine, Issue 41 (Vox XIII, No 1).
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