The Salem Witch Trials

In 1692, the Massachusetts Bay Colony descended into hysteria when young girls in Salem Village claimed to be tormented by witches. Over the following months, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft, 30 were found guilty, and 19 were hanged. One man was pressed to death. The Salem witch trials became America’s most notorious example of mass hysteria and judicial murder.

The Afflicted Girls

In January 1692, Betty Parris (age 9) and Abigail Williams (age 11), daughter and niece of the Salem Village minister, began experiencing strange fits. They screamed, threw objects, contorted their bodies, and claimed to be pinched and bitten by invisible forces.

When a local doctor could find no physical explanation, he diagnosed bewitchment. Under pressure to name their tormentors, the girls accused three women: Tituba, an enslaved woman in the Parris household; Sarah Good, a homeless beggar; and Sarah Osborne, an elderly woman who rarely attended church.

All three were marginalized figures unlikely to mount effective defenses.

Spread of Accusations

Tituba confessed to witchcraft, describing meetings with the Devil and his minions. Her vivid testimony convinced many that a genuine conspiracy of witches threatened Salem. Rather than ending the crisis, her confession intensified it.

More girls began exhibiting symptoms. More accusations followed. The accused now included respectable church members, not just social outcasts. Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, and eventually the former minister George Burroughs were named.

The accusations spread beyond Salem Village to neighboring towns. The prisons filled with accused witches awaiting trial.

The Trials

A special court, the Court of Oyer and Terminer, was established to try the accused. The court accepted “spectral evidence”—testimony that the accused’s spirit had appeared to torment the afflicted, even while their physical body was elsewhere.

This standard was impossible to refute. If an afflicted girl claimed to see your specter attacking her, you could not prove your innocence.

Trial after trial ended in conviction. Bridget Bishop was the first to hang, on June 10, 1692. Through the summer and fall, the executions continued.

The Death of Giles Corey

Giles Corey, an 81-year-old farmer, refused to enter a plea when accused. Under English law, this prevented trial but allowed the court to press him for an answer—literally piling stones on his chest until he pleaded or died.

For two days, Corey was pressed. According to tradition, his only words were “more weight.” He died without entering a plea, his property passing to his heirs rather than being forfeited to the colony.

The End

By autumn 1692, public opinion was shifting. The accusations had reached too far, targeting too many prominent people. Increase Mather, a leading minister, published a critique of spectral evidence.

In October, Governor William Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer. A new court, which did not accept spectral evidence, tried the remaining accused and acquitted most of them. By May 1693, all accused witches had been released.

Aftermath

The Salem witch trials left 19 hanged, one pressed to death, and several dead in prison. Families were destroyed, reputations ruined, and the community permanently scarred.

In the years that followed, jurors and judges apologized. The colony declared a day of fasting and repentance. In 1711, the legislature passed an act restoring the good names of the accused.

Assessment

The Salem witch trials demonstrate how fear, religious fervor, and flawed legal procedures can combine into disaster. The “afflicted girls” may have been genuinely ill, may have been playing a game that spiraled out of control, or may have enjoyed the power their accusations brought.

What is certain is that innocent people died because their neighbors believed invisible spirits could testify against them. Salem has become synonymous with witch hunt, a warning against the dangers of moral panic that remains relevant centuries later.