Transcript The Salem Witch Trials by Ciara Murray

The
Salem
Witch
Trials
The Salem Witch Trials
by Ciara Murray-Jordan & Caitlin Balagula
by Ciara
Murray-Jordan & Caitlin Balagula
How it all started (and ended)…
Once upon a time, there lived three girls who were named
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. On their way to
the annual ball, they encountered an evil mastermind who was
infamously known as the Wicked Witch of the West. She told
them that if they didn’t know why the chicken crossed the road,
she would kill them. And they didn’t know why. So she killed
them. Happily ever after.
THE
END
Sources
(That are 100% NOT made up)
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www.somethingpedia.com
www.stories-that-make-no-sense-and-have-no-point-but-you-read-themanyway-because-theyre-weird.com
SomethingPedia
The Unreliable Encyclopedia
It was early February of 1692. Reverend Parris , a 36-year old
minister in the Salem Village of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, had
recently been watching over as his daughter, Elizabeth Parris and his
niece, Abigail Williams, were acting…strange. VERY STRANGE.
Lately, these two girls had began twisting themselves into inhuman
positions, making odd gestures, and uttering incoherent words. They
had inhuman-like bites and pinches covering their bodies and
claimed to see visions of ghosts and spirits. As a result, Reverend
decided that the girls should have a visit from a physician so-called
William Griggs. At the end of the check-up, the extremely
intelligent doctor came up with the most realistic conclusion of all…
Howdy Folks! Just on my
way to bite some
innocent young Puritan
girls! Don’t mind if I do!
THEY WERE
BEWITCHED!!!
Not
possible.
Absolutely
not
possible.
Stupid unhappy
yellow circle!
It’s obvious my
patients have
been bewitched!
DUNDUNDUNDUNNN
At least, according to Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams, that’s what you’re
supposed to do. They pointed fingers towards three innocent and vulnerable
women who were physically and mentally weak. One of them included
Tituba, a West Indian slave for the Parris family who was considered bizarre by
the town of Salem. The other two elderly women who had a bad reputation
were Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. This was the unfortunate beginning of the
infamous Salem Witch Trials.
Tituba is teaching girls about witchcraft.
As a result of the several other accused witches, the governor ordered that the Court of Oyer and Teminer be
opened. It is currently known as the exclusive trials in which the witches pleaded innocent or, in other cases,
guilty. Although you might think, “Oh, that’s stupid. Why would someone plead guilty if they knew they were
innocent?”, the questions the court asked were extremely physiologically pressuring. Here is a conversation
between the magistrate and Sarah Good during a hearing:
Magistrate: What evil spirit have you familiarity with?
Sarah Good: None.
Magistrate: Have you made no contract with the Devil?
Sarah Good: No.
Magistrate: Why do you hurt these children?
Sarah Good: I do not hurt them. I scorn it.
Magistrate: Who do you imply then to do it?
Sarah Good: I imply no body.
Magistrate: What creature do you imply then?
Sarah Good: No creature. I am falsely accused.
As you can see, although Sarah Good pleaded innocent, the court talked to her as if she admitted that she was a
witch.
On top of asking compelling questions, the people in charge of the court also looked for physical
evidence of being of witch.
The witches supposedly injected puppets, pins and/or sharp objects into their victims’ skin. The
witch would fashion a model of their enemy and poke the objects into that model, causing
inflicting pain on the actual body.
They looked for a projecting body part that the Devil supposedly fed to the witch in the
formation of a small animal. This protruding part was called a witch’s tit.
They checked for supernatural abilities.
They forced the blamed witches to stare at their enemies and looked to see if that caused
seizures.
The witches were told to recite the Lord’s prayer. If there were any mistakes, they could be
charged as a witch.
If the bewitched child was having a fit, the accused witch had to touch him/her in order to see if
the witch could heal the affliction or not.
Random Fact About Hands & Witches
When Mary Eastey, an accused witch, was on trial, she clasped her hands
together. Mercy Lewis’s, one her victims, hands stuck together at the same
time Eastey’s did. She claimed that she couldn’t release them until Eastey did.
+
_____
 GET PREGNANT! Pregnant women weren’t executed after being
named a witch. The Puritans may have been cruel, but they didn’t
believe that a baby should die because of his/her mother being a
witch.
 CONFESS! The Puritans thought that if someone confessed their
sin, it was God who choose how they should be punished. As a
result, they were freed. Yet, as more figured this out, more witch
nonsense was spread through Salem.
 RUN AWAY! Many witches ran from the prisons they were held in.
People did manage this. They included Phillip and Mary English,
Hezekiah Usher, and John Alden.
Dunking was a popular, but dreaded method of torture the
Massachusetts Bay Colony used. It was like a modern-day flag
pole, but instead of a flag, there was an alleged witch trussed to
a wooden chair. The chair was elevated and controlled by
pulling a rope. It was used to force the accused to confess or
give up information. If the person didn’t cooperate, he/she
would be dunked under the water.
Pressing was another gory torture technique the people of
Salem used to cause pain to accused witches. The suspect was
placed under a flat board and it was one a time, covered by
heavy rocks and stones. A famous case involved Giles Cory, a
supposed witch who refused to plead guilty or innocent. After
being pressed for more than two days straight, he still failed to
plead. Therefore, he was killed by the crushing pressure.
The lives of 19 innocent convicted witches ended at the
primary location of execution during the Salem Witch Trials,
Gallows Hill. The deaths took place on four separate datesJune 10, July 19, August 19, and September 22. On the right is
the forlorn death of an accused witch named Bridget Bishop.
She was the first person to be murdered due to the fact that
people thought she was a witch.
Okay, let’s get this fact straight. Burning witches at the
stake was NOT used during the Salem Witch Trials. I
repeat. Burning witches at the stake was NOT used
during the Salem Witch Trials.. This execution process
was only commonly used in European witch hunts and the
Spanish Inquisition.
Over 150 accused witches and wizards were
arrested and imprisoned
19 accused witches and wizards were hanged
4 accused witches and wizards died in prison
I accused wizard was pressed to death
TOTAL OF 24 PEOPLE
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Accused Witch/Wizard
Date of Death
Cause of Death
Bridget Bishop
June 10, 1692
Hanged
Rebecca Nurse
July 19, 1692
Hanged
Sarah Good
July 19, 1692
Hanged
Susannah Martin
July 19, 1692
Hanged
Elizabeth Howe
July 19, 1692
Hanged
Sarah Wildes
July 19, 1692
Hanged
George Burroughs
August 19, 1692
Hanged
Martha Carrier
August 19, 1692
Hanged
John Willard
August 19, 1692
Hanged
George Jacobs, Sr.
August 19, 1682
Hanged
John Proctor
August 19, 1692
Hanged
Martha Corey
September 22, 1692
Hanged
Mary Eastey
September 22, 1692
Hanged
Ann Pudeator
September 22, 1692
Hanged
Alice Parker
September 22, 1692
Hanged
Mary Parker
September 22, 1692
Hanged
Wilmott Redd
September 22, 1692
Hanged
Margaret Scott
September 22, 1692
Hanged
Samuel Wardwell
September 22, 1692
Hanged
Giles Corey
September 19, 1692
Pressed
Sarah Osborn
May 10, 1692
In Prison
Roger Toothaker
June 1692 (Exact Date is Unknown)
In Prison
Lydia Dustin
March 10, 1693
In Prison
Ann Foster
December 3, 1692
In Prison
Why did the Salem Witch Trials End?
There were numerous reasons why the Salem Witch Trials actually came to a close. No one directly pointed out
that there would be no more accusations and hangings. However, the people nowadays can look back and
understand the signs of its end and what they meant. Increase Mather once said, “To take away the life of
anyone, merely because a specter or Devil, in a bewitched or possessed person does accuse them, will bring the guilt
of innocent blood on the land.”
Despite Rebecca Nurse’s kind and saintly personality, she was executed. George Burroughs movingly and
perfectly recited the Lord’s Prayer before he was hanged. Giles Corey stubbornly, yet heroically, refused to
admit if he was a witch or not. These occurrences started to cause the townspeople sorrow and regret towards
the artificiality of the girls’ seizures and the existence od witches.
The “bewitched” girls’ overwhelming number of accusations were becoming a clear sign that they were not
actually under the possession of the Devil.
Lady Phips, the wife of Governor Phips, was accused of using witchcraft on others. However, Phips had
already blamed several others for the same reason.
Later on in life, the afflicted girls came across an elderly woman. They immediately went into one of their
spasmodic fits. Another by-passer told them to take it somewhere else. Proceeding this event, the girls
coincidentally(or not), stopped accusing others for their supposed bewitchment.
Now, since I told you the end of the Salem Witch Trials, you think this extremely weird, but
beautiful, PowerPoint presentation is over.
WELL IT’S NOT.
What might have really happened to the afflicted girls is not 100% definite. Here are the two main things
historians believe could have happened to the girls:
They could have possibly injected ergot poisoning, a fungus that grows on grain. The Puritans ate rye
bread and the fungi could have somehow contaminated the bread, causing the girls to take the
poison in and become stricken with the seizures.
They could have possibly been amazing actresses. People say that, in the beginning, they were just
looking for attention from others. However, after the first three arrests of “witches” were made,
that’s when they acknowledged their real power. Yet, they couldn’t stop. Otherwise, they would be
condemned for accusing people of felonies that they never committed. So, they continued on with
their fits, causing the arrests of many and the deaths of 24.
On January 15, in the colony of Massachusetts, the one judge and 12 Salem jurors
begged for forgiveness on a day we know as Day of Humiliation. (Don’t you think
we should have more of those?)
Samuel Parris, one of the causes of the whole witch hunt, was kicked out of Salem.
(Cough, “Epic,” Cough, “Fail”)
Only one of the alleged victims of witch craft, Ann Putnam, openly accredited her
disturbing role in the death of many innocent people. In 1706, the pastor read her
statement aloud. “It was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me at that said
time…I desire to lie in the dust and earnestly beg forgiveness.”
The Devil
made me do
it!
Despite people’s genuine forgiveness, most of the pardoned “witches” lived the
rest of their lives in poverty with tainted reputations.
Eventually, everyone died.
This is Sarah Good’s,
one of the accused
witches, graves.
This is exactly what
the accused witches in
Salem DIDN’T look
like.
Nice
tights,
dude!
This is the Court of Oyer and
Terminer.
We would like to honor this
beautiful presentation that we
did to all the innocent people
America lost because of some
silly, stupid, and false
accusations made by SOME
people. (Yeah, I’m talking to
you Ann Putnam. No
excuses.)
Anyway, so yeah
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Picture URLs
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http://rufiojones.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/casper2.jpg
http://culturefest.wikispaces.com/file/view/frowny_face.gif/214550062/frowny_face.gif
http://newsimg.ngfiles.com/222000/222386_spaceman.jpg
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/salem/images/people/tituba.jpg
http://th07.deviantart.net/fs42/PRE/f/2009/092/c/f/Cute_Devil_by_Sinovera.jpg
http://www.crcna.org/site_uploads/uploads/osjha/mdgs/MDGHANDS.jpg
http://disney-clipart.com/Halloween/Mickey/Halloween-Minnie-Mouse-Witch.jpg
http://whx8pq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p04_I_DZWLN2J-TYwC-LhRCXloJyAT6SegK4iRbmCbuHHlCfAq0Pj4c3C3-il-rpEE0XkhQ92dQYUECqZnLlbg/CLIPART_OF_10919_SM.jpg?psid=1
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1d/Giles_Corey_restored.jpg
http://coryfamsoc.com/resources/articles/images/Sal_hang.jpg
http://www.cuttingedge.org/Inquisition_13_Burning.jpg
http://www.justsymbol.com/images/no-entry-8.gif
http://www.clipartpal.com/_thumbs/pd/holiday/halloween/R_I_P_gravestone.png
http://www.glogster.com/media/5/18/21/35/18213502.jpg
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http://threadandthrum.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/puritanwoman.jpg.
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http://www.halloweenexperts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/salem41-226x300.jpg
http://www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/halowen/witch01.gif
http://russeyfamily.com/court.jpg
http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00M/00MCjx-37906484.JPG
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/salem/images/noblemartyr1.jpg
(Real) Information
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Sources
The Salem Witch Trials Edited by Laura Marvel
The Devil on Trial by Philip Margulies & Maxine Rosaler
http://www.magicalcat.com/H_salem_witch_trials.htm
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
http://www.medievality.com/water-torture.html
http://www.life123.com/holidays/halloween/witches/witch-tests.shtlml
http://home.comcast.net/~burokerl/burning_at_the_stake.htm
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/story/story.html
THE END.