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Merideth Wardwell Ms. Caruso ENGL 1103 15 February 2012 Salem Witch Trials The Salem Witch Trials began the county Essex of Massachusetts in the Salem Village during January of 1692. Although these trials initially began in Salem Village, the panic became widespread quickly and soon the trials encompassed others towns including Andover, Maine. Throughout these trials one hundred fifty six people were accused and arrested for practicing witchcraft. Out of the accused, nineteen of them were executed and many of them died in the prison of illnesses. Rev. Samuel Parris, his daughter and niece played the largest roles in the beginning of the trials and continued to be the main players throughout the entirety of the trials. The trials began in January of 1692 when Samuel Parris daughter and niece began having fits which could not be explained as epileptic by the town doctor, William Griggs.1 After examining Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris, Griggs diagnosed the two as being under an Evil Hand (Godbeer 179). According to another minister, Deodat Lawson, some of Abigails fits included her acting as if she could fly. It was also said that she spoke deliriously about how she would not take The Book being offered to her, and that the Bible was surely the Divels Book (Lawson 154). News of the girls fits made it across the Salem Village quickly and the people looked to Parris as the reverend for answers. The reverend instructed the town to fast and pray to cure his daughter and niece as well as Ann Putnam who had also become afflicted. Because the girls afflictions werent cured after a month of praying and fasting, Parris instructed the three girls to name their tormenters. Warrants for arrest were immediately issued
Comment [BC2]: You have a few of these in a small space. Work to find different wording to avoid repetition. Comment [BC1]: Take out spaces between paragraphs. Go to Paragraph, then after clicking for double spaced lines, click the box that says Dont add space between paragraphs of the same style.

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for Tituba, the Parris slave; Sarah Good, a homeless woman; and Sarah Osborne, a women who moved to Salem thirty years before. Soon the girls were accusing people from all over the county of witchcraft (Godbeer 179, 180). Once the first three Salem women had been accused by the afflicted girls, the witchcraft epidemic was officially underway. Once the accused had been brought to court for the trials they had two choices. They could plead guilty to being a witch, and be sentenced to jail, or they could plead their innocence and face the remainder of their trials. Those that plead their innocence were often found guilty of witchcraft and executed.2 The Magistrates and ministers had very odd ways of deciding whether or not a person was guilty of witchcraft. One of the ways that was used was to bring the afflicted girls into the courtroom. If they began having one of their fits the accused was then considered a witch because they striking out against the people who had accused them (Godbeer 180). The afflicted girls were transported to wherever trials were being held against witches; resulting in the girls maintaining the spotlight throughout the entirety of the trials.3 Another one of the ways that was used to find out whether or not a person was a witch was the use of a witch cake. This cake was created by Tituba, Rev. Parris accused slave, and her husband. The witch cake was made out of rye meal and the childrens water before being baked in the ashes and fed to a dog. It was said that the dog would then be able to identify a witch after having eaten the cake (Lawson 163). After the hanging of Rev. George Burroughs people began to fear they were guilty of hanging innocent people. A letter was written by Thomas Brattle of Harvard University that challenged the court on points such as Justice Stoughtons reliance on spectral evidence of

Comment [BC3]: Sp.

Comment [BC4]: Make it clearer that the fits werent being seen as witchcraft, but that the fits were supposedly being brought upon them as a result of witchcraft.

Comment [BC5]: Even though you give explanations in the next paragraph, try giving a :because statement to round out this paragraph.

Comment [BC6]: Take out this excess wording.

Comment [BC7]: How did they decide that this cake or dog held these powers?

Comment [BC8]: Introduce this idea. Why was he hanged? Why were people wondering if they were hanging the innocent? Comment [BC9]: Who is this?

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prisoners and possessed children (Wilson 40). During this the afflicted girls were still accusing people of witchcraft. Soon it got to the point that not even Justice Stoughton could believe were guilty. Of the accused were Reverend Samuel Willard and even the governors wife. After Increase Mathers was accused he responded by writing Cases of Conscience. In this he states that is better that ten witches be free than one innocent person being condemned and executed. On October 29, 1692 Governor Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer. And on November 25 a superior court was created by Salems general court to try the rest of the prisoners.4 No spectral evidence was allowed in the superior court. By the beginning of 1693 forty-nine of the fifty-two remaining prisoners were acquitted and the other three were pardoned. Because some were unable to pay prison fees, they remained behind bars until April of 1693. Tituba was eventually sold to another master because Samuel Parris refused to pay her prison fee (Wilson 43). There was much speculation about what allowed the trials to occur. Many people attribute it to the time period and the lack of knowledge the people of the time had of medicine and about the world in general. However, Godbeer believes that current events of the time and the Puritan religion as a whole is what allowed for the Witch Hunt of 1692 (Godbeer 182). Events such as the Metacomets War, oppression from Great Britain, plagues and attacks by Quakers and Native Americans are attributed to allowing the people of Salem to believe that demons were in existence, thus allowing them to believe in witchcraft (Godbeer 189).5 The Puritan religion was largely attributed to the hysteria of 1692. The Puritans of Salem circled their lives around their religion. Here the social and political life centered about the various settlements and these settlements were organized into congregations, this allowed the ministers to have an extraordinary amount of influence on the laws and even the executions of

Comment [BC10]: Make sure to put quotation marks around the whole phrase you quote, rather than just one word.

Comment [BC11]: What are you trying to say here? Comment [BC12]: Who is this? Introduce him. Comment [BC13]: Why does this matter? Comment [BC14]: Begin a new paragraph when you begin a new idea.

Comment [BC15]: This idea seems to come out of nowhere. Reintroduce it in order to include it.

Comment [BC16]: You already mention this above. Work to combine similar ideas.

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the 17th century (Sawyer par 12). Puritans did not believe in predestination as did the Calvinists. Instead they believed that to live by their faith they must fear God above all else. Puritans believed that they were always at a constant battle with evil and the natural elements. As with most religions the devil played a major role in the lives of the Puritans. However, they believed that the devil must be exorcized from their lives by way of repentance (Sawyer par 15). The Salem executions were their way of cutting all ties with the devil. The Puritans took literally the references in the bible to witchcraft and complied with the Mosaic Law of the Book of Exodus when hanging the accused (Sawyer par 20). And until the accusations got to be too crazy, the people of Salem did not think that they were hanging innocent people. The Salem Witch Trials ended in early 1693 after the superior court was created. What was started simply by a minister trying to understand the fits that daughter and niece began having turned into mass hysteria of entire colony. Because of the influence that clergy had on towns in the late 17th century Rev. Samuel Parris and the afflicted girls remained to be the main players of Trials. The Puritan belief in the need to cut all ties with the devil attributed heavily to the reasoning behind condemning and executing the accused witches.
Comment [BC17]: Merideth, Your paper certainly covers the main ideas surrounding the trials and it is obvious that you have a great deal of knowledge on the subject. However, as you work to revise, work on slowing down with some of your information to explain it a bit more. There are many ideas in your 5th paragraph than jump from one to the next without introduction or explanation. Also, I would suggest that you work to show the difference between the ideas that you mention in the last sentence of your paper and the ideas you mention about why they decided to stop the trials and hangings. Gove more of a connection. This will help you to bring about a stronger conclusion, as well. Although you use your endnotes to talk about your story, you seem to give only a cursory glance at the ideas. Use the endnotes to detail some of your ideas. Use the endnotes as brainstorming. Elaborate upon some of them and even add endnotes so you can allow your concept to come together. Im looking forward to seeing what youll do in your concept! -Ms. C

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Works Cited Godbeer, Richard. The Devils Dominion Magic and Religion in Early New England. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Print. Lawson, Deodat, et al. Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. 1914. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1968. Print. Sawyer, Thurman and George Bundren. Witchcraft, Religious Fanaticism and Schizophrenia Salem Revisited EarlyAmerica.com. Archiving Early America, 1995. Web. 21 February 2012. Wilson, Lori Lee. How History Is Made: The Salem Witch Trials. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1997. Print.

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1. Just as in the real trials, I believe I will have Samuel Parris be the minister in my novel. His daughter will be the one that accuses Samuel Wardwell and his family of witchcraft. 2. Samuel Wardwell was the last person killed in the trials by hanging. There will be a scene where he pleads his innocence to the courts. 3. In the court scene the girls will come into the court and begin having one of their fits. Like in my research they will begin beating themselves up by biting etc. 4. Because Samuel Wardwell was the last person hanged it means he must have been tried in the superior court. 5. In the book by Godbeer I found that Samuel Wardwells family had recently converted to Quakerism which must have made the leaders of Salem and Puritanism angry, which could have been a cause for them to be accused of witchcraft. Whether this is the real case or not, it will probably be what I use in my novel for the reasoning.