Salem Witch Trials
Witchcraft is a magic belief that has been there for a long period of time. It is believed to bring prosperity and also healing of diseases. In Salem people believed that witchcraft was used to cause some harm like sicknesses, deaths and misfortunes. In 16th and 17th century there was a strong belief in witchcraft which declined at the late 17th century after some executions of 19 people by hanging who were convicted on witchcraft, 100 who were in jail awaiting trials on the same and many more who were to be arrested. There was also one man aged 80 years who was hard-pressed under stones until when he died out of refusal of the trial (Hamrick and Millay 39). Salem Witch Trials occurred in 1692 following fortune telling practiced by young girls as part of their play. The following discussion therefore, is an inclusive of the episode that led to the exercise of the Salem Witch Trials on the historical background.
When the Puritans setters had gone to America, they went along with their old beliefs and traditional ideas. They were afraid on the contracts with the evil spirits which they believed that they came from the devil. The Salem dwellers also believed in witchcraft existence conducted by witches. It all started like a game when Betty the daughter to Rev. Perris and her cousin Abigail with some two of their friends formed a playing circle ( Sutter par 9). They were interested in reading books which contained fortune telling and divine prophesies thus the circle was to practice what they had read. Tituba who was a slave to Rev. Perris joined the circle and could narrate stories with too much of the witchcraft, magic animals, and demons where they all participated in the experiments. The fortune telling was through interpretation of the shape formed by a white egg when dropped in a glass.
Abigail and the cousin Betty were however frustrated with the interpretation to their fortunes in that they became frightened at the same time were upset on the results. On the fortune concerning their future husbands, there was a coffin likeness which was formed by the white egg when dropped in a glass. At this time the family also experienced some economic and social difficulties and as the two young girls expressed their dissatisfactions they portrayed some up normal physical expressions. The unusual behaviors were not as result economic and social difficulties but as a result of disappointments on the fortune interpretations. Rev. Perris thought at first that it was an illness and therefore he called William Griggs who was a physician in the Salem village to examine the girls. The physician did not find any natural cause to this unusual behavior thus concluding that the girls must have been bewitched.
Rev. Parris and his family were determined to keep the condition of her daughter in secret. This was however not possible as rumors spread in the village and in a span of two months some other eight girls started displaying similar bizarre behavior. Rev. Parris feared to lose her daughter while at the same time be accused of witchcraft, thus Salem dwellers demanded for an immediate action by the authorities concerning the cases. This led to the intense questioning of the young girls to give out the names of people who were responsible for their torments. Tituba baked a cake that was meant to help the girls to name the witches behind the Rev. Perris knowledge which was referred to as “witch cake.” The afflicted urine was mixed with rye meal to bake the cake then it was given to a dog. The dog showed some comparable symptoms with that of the afflicted which indicated that they had been bewitched. Tibuka was the first to be named and two other women namely; Good and Osborn (Roach 25).
The strong believe in witchcraft, inflicted a lot of fears to the Salem dwellers as they believed that the witches had power to perform mischief acts that would hurt others. They viewed witchcraft as a way of entering into a strong agreement with the Satan in exchange of assured certain powers to do acts which were evil. They also considered witchcraft being a sin in that it denied the superiority of God. At the same time, it was a crime as witches had powers to call Satan and be in his or her form and perform malicious actions against people. For the suspected case of witchcraft in the two girls, it was then important to conduct a thorough investigation so as to identify the tormentors and be judged accordingly.
The whole reason behind fear of witchcraft on Salem was superstitions and irrational belief as they believed that the deaths of livestock were caused by witchcraft where due to the deficient in scientific knowledge many were convicted. Salem people believed on the power of the devil in controlling people in the acts which were not ordinary. It was hard to manage sicknesses which were complex where Puritans believed that these complex illnesses must have occurred due to the unexplainable events on evil powers. Power craving was another cause of the occurrence of these trials which were prompted by the ignorance and fear. When one had power, it was hard to surrender it thus the afflicted girls had some power in accusing people as witches which led to their condemnation. The community out of their ignorance viewed the afflicted children as innocent to the defense of their puckish behaviors which led to their popularity and enjoyed themselves in that state.
After the arrival of Sir Williams who had been appointed as a governor in 14th May of year 1692, he did put into place a specific court that was purposed to the hearing of witchcraft trials that had clogged the legal systems. The first trial was on Bridget bishop trial case where she was found guilty. The ruling was made where the penalty demanded death sentence therefore she was hung on 10th of June. In 19th June, there were five cases in the court where all the accused women in a total of five were convicted on witchcraft thus the result were the death sentence where their execution took place in 19th July. In 5th August there were some more six cases where also the accused six women were convicted on witchcraft. Their judgment ruling was also not different from the precede as they were sentenced on death penalty where their execution took place on just after one month except for the pregnant woman as they could not terminate innocent life with the convict. Later on early September six people were also convicted where four were hanged, one escaped and the other was granted a stay of execution on 22nd September. The last one to be tried was Giles Cory who was slowly compacted to death (John par 9).
There were religious conflicts at the time in the US history. Puritans as religious party opposed Catholic Church under the influence of Martin Luther. Puritans also opposed the protestant church which was new in England on their old traditions inclusive of their usage of a common book in carrying out their prayers. Tension grew more as the protestant differed with the catholic teachings. They were against the Holy Cross which was used during baptism, kneeling conducted in honor of the sacrament and the priestly vestments which they used when conducting services. Puritans won in their protesting which latter on led to the emigration of Puritans to Massachusetts. Their main goal governed by their religious beliefs was the promotion of self governance. Massachusetts colony leaders had to be church members who were well-known if one needed to prosper in the regime. Salem was not an exception on the same, it being a small village in the entire colony; it was also governed by the principle contained in the church. Holiday celebrations were extremely forbidden and any form of music with the reasoning of paganism roots (Hamrick and Millay 38). Singing alone of hymns was the only music which was allowed them that only glorified God and not human love or environment.
Salem Witch Trials were all religious witch hound as witchcraft was believed to be a religion by the name Wicca; which was founded on pagans view. It was a pantheistic religion in that it puts it reverence for the physical environment and a strong belief of promoting rights of others and it was also a source of pride to an individual spirituality. Witches however denied any connection of evil caused by the devil contrary to what was believed in Salem (Wilson 11). It had been there before Christianity. On the puritan code of religion, the accused women were viewed as outcast and pagans. For instance Tituba was said to have familiarity in voodoo, Good who was known as a misfit socially by the fact that she begged for a place to live while Osborn had not been present at the church in a period of more than a year. Tituba had confessed out of fear that she had gone to Rev. Parris for Christian counsel where the devil blocked all her good planned ways. By this confession, it thereafter became a central figure where prosecutions were expanded. It was also used to silence any doubts of the most skeptics where the local church ministers inclusive of Rev. Parris started hunting for witches with a great zeal. It can never be denied that the religion played a great role in promoting the Salem Witch Trials (Hamrick and Millay 38).
Since the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials already 19 people had been convicted. An approximated number of 50 people had also confessed that they may receive a lenient treatment. It was necessary for one to confess if he needed to safe his or her life. The reason behind the hung was as a result of the denial of the charge but later on found guilty by the ruling court (Odrowaz-Sypniewska par 8). There were also some 100 people who were in custody awaiting their trials and 200 more people were accused but they had not been arrested. The afflicted girls still continued with their bizarre behavior but some community leaders doubted the ethicality of the methods used in announcement of a witchcraft conviction. In 8th October 1692 Thomas Brattle who was a merchant issued a challenge on the wisdom behind accepting the testimonies of Abigail and Betty together with those who were afflicted afterwards to the Court. The accused were also not allowed to have any defense counsel and they were being tried in chains. It was so strange by the fact that even two dogs in Salem had been executed in relation to witchcraft during trials (Fradin and Fradin 34).
In conclusion, the Salem Witch Trials was however done on errors. There was no valid truth on the evidences that the convicted practiced witchcraft (Burgan 41). One of the girls had bragged to a colonist that the whole intention was for sport thus faking their unusual behaviors and illness. In 3rd January 1693, Governor Phips nullified all the testimonies which were given by the afflicted children, and he strongly prohibited usage of all spectral evidences. As the number of the named witches grew there was now a greater fear that emerged on being falsely named as a witch which led to trials. The opposition grew against the Salem Witch Trials which led into second thought to them that participated. Some even renounced their testimonies as witnesses while Samuel Sewall who was a judge admitted on the errors he had made during the ruling publically in 1697 (John par 16). There were financial reconstitutions which were made to the family members who were related to them that had been executed which amounted into approximate 570 pounds.
It is clearly evidenced that the convicted must have been innocent. One cannot deny whether the children were afflicted or not, but their afflictions were not caused by the accused. Salem Witch Trials serves as a good example of tragic consequences which can never be reversed either when it is caused by religious misunderstandings, family squabbles, and imaginations as a result of fears with no valid root. Even though the prosecutions by hanging were lastly done in 1692 on witches, they left a historical mark that may never be forgotten. The innocent were ruined both economically and spiritually. In fact life cannot be compensated by whichever means. As much as there are rights to have religious rights, such mistakes should never be allowed to happen. There should be the freedom to any religion and in areas where others don’t fit into ones religion then the convincing power should be used to persuade him or her leave his religion and then join the hands together.
Work Cited
Burgan, Michael. The Salem Witch Trials. New York: Compass Point Books, 2005.
Fradin, Judith and Fradin, Dennis . The Salem Witch Trials. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2008.
Hamrick, Craig and Millay, Diana. The Power of Halloween. Ney York: iUniverse, 2003.
John, Uncle. Famous Trials: The Witches of Salem. 10 November 2010. 12 November 2010 <http://www.neatorama.com/2010/10/25/famous-trial-the-witches-of-salem/>.
Odrowaz-Sypniewska, Margaret. The Salem Witch Trials. 9 November 2010. 12 November 2010 <http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/SalemTrials.html.>.
Roach, Marilynne K. The Salem Witch Trials: a day-by-day chronicle of a community under siege. New York: Taylor Trade Publications, 2004.
Sutter, Tim. Salem Witchcraft: The Events and Causes of the Salem Witch Trials. 10 November 2010. 12 November 2010 <http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/salemwitchcraft.html.>.
Wilson, Lori Lee. The Salem Witch Trials. New York : Twenty-First Century Books , 1997.
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