American History: Salem Witch Trials 1692

Salem Pioneer Village is once again open!

The museum underwent a renovation under the supervision of Salem Preservation, Inc. from 2003 until Spring 2008. In June 2009 this living history attraction reopened under new management. On July, 4 they will have a grand opening: visitors "are invited to take part in 17th century song, dance, and games before investigating the new Pioneer Village gift shop. Free period refreshments such as non-alcoholic burnt wine, fruits, and ginger snaps will also be offered at various points within the village. Before leaving, visitors can take home a bundle of fresh herbs from the garden, along with recipes on how to use them."

With Plymouth Plantation being quite overpriced and really out of the way for many tourists who usually include Salem on the list of places to visit when they come to Boston, this newly revamped jewel of Salem's history is a great addition to the city's traditionally strong museum scene.

Museum's website:
Salem Pioneer Village

Your vote will help the Old Town Hall!

American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are pleased to announce that Greater Boston has been selected as the next region for the community-based Partners in Preservation program.

With the public’s input, American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation will give away $1 million in preservation grants in Greater Boston.

Salem Old Town Hall is among the places eligible to receive preservation funding.

Click here to vote for Salem Old Town Hall

Very simple registration. Each person can vote once daily. Make all your votes count!

Because the votes are counted between April 14 and May 17 everybody is encouraged to cast their votes daily. Go to SalemOldTownHall.com to learn how you can make sure that you don't miss a single day of voting.

You can actually see the stones commemorating many of the victims 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.