History of the Salem Witch Trials

The central characters of the Salem witchcraft episode are the so-called "afflicted children" responsible for most of the accusations and much of the spectral evidence testimony presented against the victims. They are often referred to as children because---with the exception of two individuals---all of this group were under the age of twenty at the time the episode began.
Why were children regarded as reliable sources of intelligence about suspected witches? Quite simply because, in English tradition, there was a long-standing precedent of using children to identify likely suspects.

In her book, A Mirror of Witchcraft, historian Christina Hole, mentions English villages during the Cromwelliam era which used children with "spectral sight" as witch-finders. Some of these children became quite famous in their own time and their activities were published in contemporary accounts of the English witch hunts of the 1650's.

Closer to New England, bewitched children had been used as sources of supernatural information in the famous Hartford witchcraft trials of the 1660's, and in the popular, published Cotton Mather account of the Goodwin children and Mary Glover in Boston in 1688.
The first two "afflicted" persons were Parris' daughter and neice, nine-year-old Elizabeth "Betty" Parris and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams. After days of displaying characteristics of aberrant behavior including claims of sharp pain, paralyzation, choking, crawling under furniture, staring-into-space, making non-sensical noises and crying out, they were prayed over by Reverend Parris and several local ministers. When this failed to cure them, the local physician, Dr. William Griggs was called in to examine the girls. His diagnosis was that their malady was of a spiritual nature. They were under the "evil hand" of witchcraft.

Ultimately the group of "afflicted" would grow to include many more children. All of these would claim to be "tortured, wasted, pined and consumed" by the spells and invisible specters of local residents who were witches. Altogether, the "afflicted children" would accuse over two hundred individuals, most of whom would escape prosecution. Nearly fifty would save their lives by confessing to the crime of witchcraft, and begging the community's forgiveness.(This group would be asked to turn "state's evidence" and help the court ferret out more suspects.) Twenty would lose their lives through the actions of Salem's Court of Oyer and Terminer, nineteen by hanging and one (Giles Corey) by the torture of pressing.

Besides Elizabeth Parris (9) and Abigail Williams (11), the other afflicted children included: Elizabeth Hubbard (18); Mary Warren (17); Mercy Lewis (19); Mary Walcott (16); Elizabeth Booth (16); Elizabeth Churchill (20) and Susannah Sheldon (18). Three middle-aged women were also adult participants as afflicted witnesses to spectral evidence. These were Ann Putnam, Sr., Gertrude Pope and Sarah Bibber.

A number of scholars have explored the essential nature of social conflict which may have played a significant role in the Salem witchcraft episode. This is the famous conflict between the Porter and Putnam families of Salem Village. What is strange about this community division is that both of these families shared many common characteristics.

Both families were established in the Salem community during the 1640's and both had come from the same general region of England. (see: Boyer and Nissenbaum, Salem Possessed, pp. 110-132.)Both families produced five sons in the first generation after settlement. In both cases, only three of these sons survived to adulthood in both families.

Finally, both families moved to Salem Village at the approximately the same time and prospered, acquiring huge amounts of farmland and becoming the prosperous leaders of the Salem Village community.

In spite of these similarities, the Putnams and the Porters were located at opposite ends of the spectrum of Salem Village society, each providing leadership to two rival factions. For the purpose of our study of the witchcraft episode it is important to note that the Putnams were strong supporters of Reverend Samuel Parris and led the pro-Parris faction while the Porters were the leaders of the anti-Parris group in Salem Village.

While the Putnams occupied positions of leadership within the Village church and did whatever was necessary to support Parris through official channels, the Porters led their faction by less obvious methods. They were, what Boyer and Nissenbaum describe as "behind-the-scenes men", rarely taking an open stand against Parris, but always striving to have him removed.

It is not too surprising therefore, that when the witchcraft episode reached the public stage and the community is drawn into the crisis, the Putnam family are prominent in aiding Reverend Parris in his campaign to discover the minions of Satan in the Village community.

In Robert Calef's "More Wonders of the Invisible World"(London, 1700),this contemporary observer noted that "that family of the Putnams,... were the chief prosecutors in this business". In fact, Boyer and Nissenbaum quantify the Putnam involvement,"Ann Putnam, the twelve-year-old daughter of Thomas Putnam,Jr.,was by far the most active of the afflicted girls, and a total of eight members of the family,..., were involved in the prosecution of no less than forty-six witches."

The more secretive and cautious Porters were inclined throughout the episode to oppose those who were promoting the witchcraft trials, but did so understandably, "cautiously and by indirection." (see: Boyer and Nissenbaum, "Salem Possessed", pp.115-16) While they were not able to stem the tide of anti-witchcraft sentiment during the first six months of 1692, by September, the Porters began to help shift public opinion in their favor and against Parris and the Court of Oyer and Terminer. This was aided by pressure brought to bear by other prominent individuals like Thomas Brattle and Robert Calef who force the governor to move the Court away from Salem to Boston by the fall of 1692.

Ultimately, the Porters and their faction, by 1696, will succeed in driving Reverend Parris out of his pulpit and Salem Village entirely. In the post-witchcraft era of Salem Village the new minister, Reverend Joseph Green is largely successful in at least bringing about a truce in the conflict between these two rival factions and their leading families---the Putnams and the Porters.

Prior to the return of newly appointed Massachusetts governor, Sir William Phips and the accompanying new provincial charter, no trials could be held for capital crimes in the colony. For this reason, between February 29 and May 25, 1692, pre-trial examinations were conducted by two, Essex County civil magistrates, Hon. John Hathorne and Hon. Jonathan Corwin.

The purpose of these hearings was to sift through the various accusations being made by the afflicted children and determine if there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial. If a trial was needed, the accused witch would be held in jail until the arrival of the new governor and charter. For this reason there were no convictions or executions between February and May.

Upon the return of Governor Phips, and the formidable Boston cleric, Reverend Increase Mather,on May 14, 1692,
steps were immediately taken by the colonial government to create a special court to try the numerous (over 50) pending witchcraft cases.

On May 25 a Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to determine) was commissioned by Phips. The presiding Chief Justice of this court was Deputy Governor William Stoghton. The six Associate Justices of the Court of Oyer and Terminer were: Samuel Sewell, William Sargent, Waite Winthrop and John Richards, all of Boston. To these were added Bartholomew Gedney of Salem and Nathaniel Saltonstall of Haverhill. By June, 1692, Nathaniel Saltonstall resigned his judicial appointment. His place was quickly filled by Hon. Jonathan Corwin, the same magistrate who had conducted the pretrial examinations prior to the governor's arrival in the colony.

What is interesting about the composition of the bench of the witch trial court is the overwhelming presence on Bostonian justices, with only Bartholomew Gedney, and later, Jonathan Corwin representing Salem.

The Shakespearean reference characterizing the Salem witch trials as the "worst" historical event, certainly might be reasonably argued by some. In a sense, the trials of 1692 were the most outrageous travesty of justice to befall the Puritan community. It involved hundreds of falsely accused individuals and over twenty related deaths by execution, torture and unjust imprisonment.

Were there other events which exceed the Salem trials in their overall social impact and negative effect? Unquestionably, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

The New England Puritan community was devastated on a far greater scale by the tragic and deadly King Philip's War conflict which raged during 1675-1676. During this disasterous event, thousands of native people and colonial settlers were displaced, entire native villages and frontier towns were destroyed and abandoned, and hundreds lost their lives.

As with the trials of 1692, the Puritan ministers reasoned that this event was an outpouring of divine wrath upon a community which had turned its back upon its mission to establish a "city upon a hill" and had broken its covenant with God.

In actuality it represented the last organized effort by an alliance of New England tribes of native people to drive the English colonists back from the frontier and stem the westward expansion of settlers. Besides the ruthless slaughter, the King Philip's War was noted for the inhumane and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Many colonists were taken to French Canada and sold, while many natives, including the "praying Indians" of Natick and elsewhere,were forcibly confined in detention centers located on islands in Boston Harbor.

To the Puritans, the greatest difference between the threat of the King Philip's War and the Salem witchcraft outbreak was the perceived enemy. In the former crisis, the "enemy" was visible and could be confronted directly and killed by conventional means, while in the latter, the enemy was insidious, invisible and of a spiritual nature. For this reason the Salem trials may have left a more devastating effect upon the collective subconscious of the Puritan community than the threat of King Philip (Metacomet) and his hundreds of warriors.

One of the most widespread misunderstandings about the Salem episode is the belief that the condemned victims were burned-at-the-stake. While this form of execution was commonly practiced in continental Europe in cases of witchcraft and heresy, it was much less common in England. This is especially true after the reign of Mary "Bloody Mary" Tudor who attempted to bring Roman Catholicism back to her nation by a ruthless persecution of Protestants in the mid-1500's.

In 17th century New England, however, there is no existing record of anyone being burned-at-the-stake. Those individuals found guilty and executed for witchcraft were hanged.

One would like to think that this method of execution was used in an effort to provide a more humane form of death than being burned alive. In actuality, the customary method of hanging in the 1600's was the so-called "short-drop", and it was excruciating.

In this method the victim would be forced to ascend a ladder under a projecting branch of a tree. A rope and noose would be tied to the branch overhead then the noose placed around the neck of the condemned standing upon a rung of the ladder. The ladder would then be turned or pulled out from below, leaving the victim suspended from the branch by the rope.

In this method of public execution, the condemned died of gradual strangulation over a period of several minutes. It was often used to execute persons guilty of murder, grand larceny, piracy and other serious anti-social behavior.

In this way each of the nineteen victims of the Salem episode died a slow and agonizing death. Unfortunately, they lived over a hundred years before the development of the more rapid and humane "long-drop"---an execution method incorporating a gallows with trap door designed to quickly drop the victim several feet, snapping the neck of the condemned person.