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Article from ABC-CLIO American History

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PDF From Factcite Biography all about Cotton Mather

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Article from Gale Database

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Article from Gale Database

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In January of 1692, nine-year-old Betty Parris and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece of Salem Village minister Reverend Samuel Parris, suddenly feel ill. Making strange, foreign sounds, huddling under furniture, and clutching their heads, the girls' symptoms were alarming and astounding to their parents and neighbors. When neither prayer nor medicine succeeded in alleviating the girls' agony, the worried parents turned to the only other explanation; the children were suffering from the effects of witchcraft. As word of the illness spread, others began to fall ill with the same alarming symptoms. The afflicted complained disembodied spirits were stabbing them, choking them, and jabbing them with pins. Soon names were cried out as the afflicted began to identify these specters. Neighbors, acquaintances, and total strangers were named in the statements and examinations that followed. Over the course of the year 1692, between 150-200 people were jailed for witchcraft. Ultimately, 14 women and 5 men were hanged, one man was tortured to death, and at least five people perished in prison. This was the largest series of witchcraft trials to ever take place in North America, and would be the last large-scale witch panic to take place in the English colonies.

To understand the events of the Salem witch trials, it is necessary to examine the times in which these events occurred. There were the ordinary stresses of seventeenth-century life in Massachusetts Bay Colony; a strong belief in the devil, the recent smallpox epidemic, the ever-present threat of attack by Indigenous tribes and their French allies, boundary and border disputes between neighbors. These factors alone created a fertile ground for fear and suspicion. However, these fears were made worse by a growing factional conflict in Salem Village, rising inflation, and the removal of the Massachusetts Bay Charter in 1684. To many it seemed the Puritan ideal of a "City on a Hill" was slipping away, decades of work suddenly pulled from their grasp. Many wondered if Satan's forces had infiltrated their new land.

When a new charter finally arrived in May of 1692, the growing number of witchcraft accusations prompted newly appointed Governor William Phips to hastily create a special court, the Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to determine), to oversee these cases. As a special court created amidst an ever increasing witchcraft panic, the magistrates made a series unusual procedural choices- the most dangerous being the decision to allow the use of spectral evidence. At this time, some believed witches were able to project a ghostly version of themselves beyond their physical body, which could be sent to torment unsuspecting victims.

The first to be tried by the Court of Oyer and Terminer was Bridget Bishop of Salem Town. Goodwife Bishop was found guilty and hanged on June 10. Eighteen people, from all stations of life, followed her to the gallows on three successive hanging days. Finally, due to a combination of factors, including numerous petitions and letters authored by the accused, their family members, and local ministers, as well as the accusation of individuals from the highest levels of society (including the Governor's own wife!) Governor Phips disbanded the Court of Oyer and Terminer in October.

Trials resumed in January of 1693, this time with a new court, the Supreme Court of Judicature, the same court we use in Massachusetts to this day. This court differed from the first in that it no longer accepted spectral testimony. With this controversial evidence gone, most were found not-guilty and released. Though a few convictions, from both the old and new court, remained, in late January Governor Phips stepped in once again and issued last minute reprieves. The Salem witch trials were over.

As the years passed, some offered apologies for their role in the witchcraft trials and restitution was eventually paid to many of the victims and their families. In 1697, the Massachusetts General Court ordered a day of fasting and prayer in atonement for errors made by the colony, including the witchcraft trials. On this day one judge, Samuel Sewall, and 12 jurors, came forward to apologize for their roles in the Salem witch trials. The other magistrates never admitted there had been a miscarriage of justice, going to their graves believing they did what was best for the colony.

Though a resolution was passed by the General Court in 1711 which reversed the attainder (restored the civil liberties) in the case of many of those condemned in 1692, seven individuals were not included by name, and thus technically remained convicted of witchcraft. In 1945, a bill was introduced into legislature to clear six names, headed by descendants of Ann Pudeator. Twelve years later, a resolution was passed that pardoned "Ann Pudeator and certain other persons." However, these "other persons" were yet to be formally named. Five of the missing names were finally added to the resolve in October of 2001, formally declaring the innocence of Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott, and Wilmott Redd. Unfortunately, one last name, that of Elizabeth Johnson Jr., was missed in the 2001 resolve. Inspired by a talk given by historian Richard Hite, a group of middle school students in North Andover, Massachusetts, took it upon themselves to clear the remaining name. This last case was finally resolved in the summer of 2022.

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1692 Salem Witch Trial Education | Salem, MA History

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Examine the times in which the Salem Witchcraft occured by visiting the Salem Witch Museum. Visit the museum in Salem, MA to ask our historians your questions. Learn about the true occurrences by touring the historical monuments/resources in salem and surrounding towns.

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Image from Martha Corey's trial

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Article from ABC-Clio American history database

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Article from ABC-CLIO American History

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ABC-CLIO American History

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Primary source information

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Testimony from Ann's accusations against Rev. George Burroughs

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University of Virginia's Salem Witch Trial archives

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Born in England about 1611, Giles Corey was one of the six men to be executed during the Salem witch trials of 1692. John Proctor, George Burroughs, George Jacobs Sr., John Willard, and Samuel Wardwell were all hanged after being convicted of witchcraft, while Giles Corey was pressed to death with stones for refusing to "put himself on the country," that is, to allow himself to be put on trial. He emigrated from England to Salem and remained there until 1659 when he relocated to Salem Farms, just south of Salem Village. There he owned an extensive plot of land, which resulted in the appearance of his being a prosperous farmer. His personality, reputation and relationships with others however tainted that picture. Although he had become a full member of the Village church and had close ties with the Porter faction in the Village, his reputation as one who lacked consideration for others in the community and as one who lead a "scandalous life," quite possibly had a significant impact on his being accused as a witch. Because of Corey's previous encounters with the law, there was further suspicion of his guilt during the witch trials. In 1675, Corey pummeled and killed a farm worker named Jacob Goodale. He was found guilty of the murder and ordered to pay a substantial fine.

By the time of the trials, Giles Corey was already 80, and was married to Martha, his third wife. On March 19, 1692, Martha was arrested for witchcraft. Giles, for reasons unknown to others, decided to testify against his wife, but eventually tried to recant his deposition, which lead to greater suspicion of his involvement in witchcraft because of the stigma surrounding perjury. One month later, on April 19, 1692, Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft and there was a warrant out for his arrest. There were two primary accusations, one from Abigail Hobbs who during her own confession to witchcraft named Giles and Martha Corey as fellow witches, and one from Exekiell Chevers and John Putnam, Jr., who filed an accusation on behalf of Ann Putnam, Marcy Lewis, Abigail Williams, Mary Walcott and Elizabeth Hubbard.

After his arrest, Giles Corey remained in jail with his wife until his trial on September 16, 1692. He went to the trial and pleaded "not guilty" but simultaneously refused to "put himself on the court" because of his contempt for the court. Corey was not willing to submit himself to a trial by jury that, he believed, had already determined his guilt. Because the court had accepted the testimony of the same accusers in a trial on September 9, and in all previous trials, Giles understood that there was no chance of being found not guilty and that a conviction would be inevitable. In every previous trial when an accused individual had plead not guilty, not a single person was cleared so Giles preferred to undergo "what Death they would put him to" rather than be found guilty of witchcraft and thus put to death. According to English law, Giles was ruled as "standing mute" because he would not be tried by "God and my country." The Court of Oyer and Terminer strictly adhered to the requirement that a defendant "put himself on the country". Because Giles stood mute, he was given the dreaded sentence of peine forte et dure even though this procedure had been determined to be illegal by the government of Massachusetts. It was illegal for two reasons: there was no law permitting pressing, and it violated the Puritan provisions of the Body of Liberties regarding the end of barbarous punishment. In the entire history of the United States, Giles Corey is the only person ever to be pressed to death by order of a court.

There is a strong local tradition Giles Corey refused trial in order to avoid a conviction that would result in the forfeiture of his property to the government. Under English and Massachusetts law, however, conviction could not result in the forfeiture of an estate. However, the George Corwin, the Sheriff of Essex Country illegally seized the property of some of those arrested for witchcraft. Before his arrest, Corey himself was clearly concerned about his extensive estate, and he wrote a will that deeded his land to his sons-in-law William Cleeves and John Moulton. The laws clearly stated that landowners retained the right to give their land to their heirs rather than forfeit it because of a conviction, and apparently Corey knew it. Thus it does not seem likely that Corey refused to go on trial to save his property.

On or before September 18, 1692, Giles Corey was slowly pressed to death in the field next to the jail. In the literature about Giles Corey's tortuous death, there is reference to his famous last words, "more weight." These words were uttered as a final attempt to expedite his death while also showing that not even imminent death could convince him to go to trial. It is even told that the Sheriff took his cane and pressed Giles' tongue back into his mouth just before he died at the end of the two days of being slowly crushed. On September 18, 1692, Giles Corey was ex-communicated from the Village church so that he would not die as a member of the church. On September 21, 1692, Martha, his wife, was hanged on Gallows Hill. It has been speculated that the publicity surrounding the pressing of Giles may have in fact helped to build public opposition to the witchcraft trials.

In Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, Giles Corey is a prominent character in part because of his unique role in the witch trials. Giles' colorful past, his willingness to be tortured before compromising his own values, and his role in his wife's conviction are the factors which make him such a vibrant character. Although Millers' presentation of Giles Corey in The Crucibleis not purely historical, his place in the witch trials will never be forgotten. Giles Corey did in fact testify against his wife in front of the court, and he seems to have stood mute as an act of dramatic defiance. Henry W. Longfellow's Giles Corey of Salem Farms is another piece of literature that portrays Giles Corey in a strong and powerful manner. In his play, Corey's character is defined by his last conversation with his friend Capt. Richard Gardner. In the play, Giles Corey says: "I will not plead. If I deny, I am condemned already, in courts where ghosts appear as witnesses, and swear men's lives away. If I confess, then I confess to a lie, to buy a life which is not a life, but only death in life. I will not bear false witness against any, Not even against myself, whom I count least...I come! Here is my body; ye may torture it, but the immortal soul ye cannot crush!"

This passage shows why the character of Giles Corey attracts attention not only when examining court documents from 1692 but also the present day literature. Giles Corey will be remembered unambiguously in literature and history because of his act of supreme defiance to the Salem witch trials.

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Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature
An Undergraduate Course, University of Virginia
Spring Semester 2001

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Salem Witch Trial Museum

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Giles and Martha Corey Memorial - Salem Witch Museum

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In West Peabody, on the edge of Crystal Lake, stand two memorial stones for Giles and Martha Corey, executed during the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692.

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Salem Witch Museum info

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The structure located at 348 Lowell Street has long been called the "John Proctor House," even though it is likely not the actual house where John and Elizabeth Proctor and their children lived in 1692. Rather, today it is believed that Proctor's son Thorndike built the house one sees today on the same footprint where his father's house originally stood. Dendrochronology tests reveal some of the wood inside dates to the 1720s. There is a possibility that some of the original structure also remains inside. John Proctor descendants purchased the property and remained living there for close to 200 years after his execution. According to a Salem News article in January of 2019, quoting Kelly Daniell, curator of the Peabody Historical Society, "There were four to five Proctor homes, all in that area that is called Proctors Crossing. You can absolutely call that the Proctor house because generations of Proctors lived and died in that house."

John Proctor, his wife Elizabeth, and their children, plus a 20-year-old servant, Mary Warren, lived on this spot in 1692. Its prime location on the Ipswich Road made it a perfect place for a tavern, which Proctor had received a license to run in 1668. While Proctor and his sons manned the farm, the women in the household looked after the house and tavern.

When the first witchcraft accusations began in the winter of 1692, Proctor's reaction was skeptical. From what we can see in the records, he appears to have been a practical and forward-thinking man, successful in business and hard-working. He was 60, had sired seventeen children (not all of whom lived to adulthood) by three different wives, and was outspoken about his feelings against the witchcraft hysteria.

Shortly after the first accusations and examinations on March 1, Proctor's wife Elizabeth was named as a witch by Ann Putnam Jr. It may have been the adults in the Putnam household who suggested Elizabeth's name. Some neighbors may have been jealous of the Proctors' success. Elizabeth's grandmother, a Quaker midwife from Lynn, Massachusetts, had been accused of witchcraft thirty years earlier. Proctor servant Mary Warren would soon be one of the afflicted herself - did she gossip about her employers? It is impossible to know exactly what brought Elizabeth Proctor into the afflicted girls' sights, but she would be just the first of the Proctor family to be so accused.

We know Mary Warren's family once lived in Salem, near the waterfront, because Mary would soon accuse a Salem neighbor, Alice Parker, of witchcraft. Parker and her husband lived on the edge of Salem Harbor. Years before, when Mary Warren was a child, Alice Parker had asked Warren's father to help harvest her hay. Perhaps Alice's fisherman husband was away at sea and couldn't do the job. When Warren failed to help, Parker angrily stormed to his house and said he "had better he had done it." Young Mary Warren didn't forget the altercation, because both her mother and sister became ill shortly thereafter. Goody Warren died, and Mary's sister became deaf, and eventually stopped speaking. Mary Warren blamed Parker for her family's losses. The Warren family disappeared from the records, and Mary, who may have been an orphan by 1692, was now a servant for the Proctors.

By late March, Mary Warren had attended examinations in Salem Village, despite John Proctor's efforts to keep her focused on her work. It is speculated that he may have beaten her. Proctor would say publicly that he felt all of the accusers would come to their senses if they were thrashed. His words would come back to haunt him.

Elizabeth Proctor was arrested on April 10. Accompanied by her husband, she was examined in the Salem Town meetinghouse on April 11. Many of the afflicted, including Abigail Williams, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and John Indian, had now accused her of witchcraft. Despite her claims of innocence, the afflicted writhed and twisted and screamed in Elizabeth's presence. By the end of the examination, which was attended by dignitaries from Boston, including Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth, John Proctor was also accused of witchcraft. Both Proctors were held for trial in Boston jail.

A convicted person's possessions were confiscated by the authorities according to the law of the day, ostensibly to help pay for the prisoner's jails costs and to support their family. Robert Calef's contemporaneous account in More Wonders of the Invisible World described what happened here at the Proctors' home: "...the sheriff came to his house and seized all the goods, provisions and cattle that he could come at, and sold some of the cattle at half price, and killed others, and put them up for the West Indies; threw out the beer out of a barrel, and carried away the barrel; emptied a pot of broth, and took away the pot, and left nothing in the house for the support of the children."

Mary Warren, vacillating between accuser and accused, was herself arrested and jailed on April 18. She accused both of her employers of witchcraft by the 20 th. John Proctor's son Benjamin was accused on May 23, his son William and daughter Sarah on May 29.

An interesting accusation was lodged by Joseph Bayley, the brother of Reverend James Bayley (the first minister of Salem Village, from 1672-79). Joseph told of being tormented as he and his wife Priscilla, the daughter of Captain John Putnam Sr., rode by the Proctors' house as they traveled from Newbury to Boston on May 25. Bayley claimed to see John and Elizabeth in a window and by the door, even though they were both in Boston jail. He experienced pain in his chest, head, and stomach. He was rendered speechless and felt he was followed by something unseen on the return trip.

As the date of the trials of John and Elizabeth Proctor approached, John wrote a letter on July 23 to five Boston ministers in which he described jail conditions and the treatment of prisoners. He asked that the trials be moved to Boston. His request was not granted. Two petitions in support of the Proctors, from neighbors in Salem and Ipswich, were also presented. They too had no effect.

The trials went on as scheduled on August 2. John and Elizabeth were both convicted of witchcraft, largely on spectral evidence. Elizabeth received a stay of execution because it had been discovered that she was pregnant.

John Proctor was hanged, along with Reverend George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs, and John Willard on Proctor's Ledge at Gallows Hill on August 19. Although it is not definitively known where the remains of the deceased were interred, a 2019 Smithsonian Channel documentary revealed that historians speculate that Proctor's body may have been retrieved from the hanging site by family members. He may have once been buried on the edge of his property, land that belongs to the Peabody High School today.

Elizabeth Proctor remained in jail until May of 1693. The last signs of her in the records are an "intent to marry" notice, to a man named Daniel Richards, in 1699, and she is also named in her father's will as Elizabeth Richards.

Mary Warren disappeared into history after the trials were over.

John and Elizabeth Proctor were among the people whose names were cleared of the charges of witchcraft in 1711. The Proctor family received £150 in restitution for their sorrow.

John Proctor arrived in America from England when he was three years old, settling with his family in Ipswich, MA. He married his first wife Martha (maiden name unclear) circa 1652. The couple had four children, only one of whom, Benjamin, lived to adulthood. Martha died in childbirth in 1659. In 1662, Proctor married Elizabeth Thorndike, with whom he had seven children. At least two died before reaching adulthood. The Proctors moved to the western side of Salem Town, aka Salem Fields or the village of Brooksby, in 1666, first leasing fifteen acres and then the adjoining 300-acre farm from the illustrious Emanuel Downing. (Downing was one of the earliest settlers of Massachusetts Bay Colony. His son, Sir George Downing, was in the first graduating class from Harvard College, and would later see Downing Street in England named after him. Emanuel's daughter Ann was the wife of Governor Simon Bradstreet. She was the first published poet in America.) The property included a house on the Ipswich Road. A tavern license was issued in 1668. Elizabeth died in 1672. Proctor married for the third time, to Elizabeth Bassett, in 1674. Elizabeth's roots were in Lynn, MA, where her Quaker grandmother was Goody Burt, a midwife and suspected witch. The couple had six children by 1692, one of whom died. Elizabeth was pregnant with their seventh child during the witchcraft trials.

Additional note: The hanging place had no name in 1692. The general area is identified as "Gallows Hill" on a map of Salem in 1700 that was based on the research of Sidney Perley in the early 1900s. An X marks the spot labeled "Probable Place of Executions." The execution place, today named "Proctor's Ledge," was purchased by Thorndike Proctor in the early 1700s, according to Kelly Daniell, curator of the Peabody Historical Society.

Additional note: John Proctor is a main character in Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible. The Crucible, a powerful allegory about McCarthyism disguised as the story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials, is fiction. Miller incorporated some real names and facts and created an intimate affair gone wrong as one explanation contributing to the terrible events of 1692. In Miller's work, Proctor is 30 and is romantically involved with 17-year-old Abigail Williams. In real life, of course, Proctor was 60, Williams was 11, and the two may have not known each other at all before the hysteria escalated. One needs to separate fact from fiction, and try to discover the real man as revealed in the remaining trial records, and not confuse him with the romantic character from Miller's play.

One element of Miller's play depicts John Proctor and his neighbor to the west, Giles Corey, as friends. The truth seems to be a little less definitive. The two had a litigious relationship, suing each other multiple times. Proctor accused Corey of setting fire to his house (it would turn out one of Proctor's sons was careless with a lantern). Corey accused Proctor of selling liquor to Natives from his tavern. And yet, the two men also appear to have shared a drink on occasion.

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John Proctor lived in this house in 1692 with his wife Elizabeth. Both John and Elizabeth were accused of practicing witchcraft in 1692, and were sentenced to execution by hanging. Proctor Brook is a stream that runs behind the house. Plan your visit today to see the home for yourself.

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From Encyclopedia.com

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Proctor, JohnBorn: 1632 England Died: August 19, 1692 Salem, Massachusetts Farmer, tavern owner, and accused wizard Source for information on Proctor, John: Witchcraft in America dictionary.

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Salem Witch Museum

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Mary and Isaac Easty Home, Site of - Salem Witch Museum

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Mary Easty was one of three women living in the Topsfield area in 1692 who was executed for witchcraft.

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Salem Witch Museum

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Hathorne showed particular interest in the accused witch Reverend George Burroughs. Previously, Reverend Burroughs had been the minister in Salem Village, starting in 1681. Only lasting three years, Burroughs left the village, most likely as the result of the sporadic and inconsistent salary and the factionalism around his ministry. Judge Hathorne wasn't the only one who focused on George Burroughs - Cotton Mather also believed Reverend Burroughs was the "king of the witches," working to bring the colony down from within. Hathorne, along with Judges Stoughton, Corwin, and Sewall, examined Burroughs at Beadle's Tavern after the reverend had been retrieved from Maine.

Hathorne, whose father had been a Salem magistrate, was born in 1641, married at 33 and had six children. Hathorne had experienced several deaths in his family, including those of his three brothers, which left him the sole heir. While not legally trained, Hathorne was a trusted law official and was, like the other judges, a wealthy merchant. He owned a wharf and a liquor license, and was a landowner with property in Maine. Early in his career he became a delegate to the General Court, and ultimately remained in the judiciary for his whole life. Promoted to the Superior Court in 1702, he resigned in 1712.

Never showing remorse for the death sentences he awarded, Hathorne died in 1717 at the age of 76. He is buried in the Old Burying Point/Charter Street Cemetery in downtown Salem.

Additional note: In 1696, the French destroyed the English fishing stations in Newfoundland. In retaliation, a military expedition was sent to Acadia, Maine with the intention of attacking the French bastion on the St. John River. Led by John Hathorne, the expedition was a failure, and was one more event seen as God's displeasure with Massachusetts, and its failure to atone for the actions of 1692.

Additional note: Hathorne's great-great grandson was Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose works reveal Hawthorne's guilt over the sins of his ancestor. It is speculated that Nathaniel Hawthorne added the "w" to the family name as a means of distancing himself from the wrongdoing of his great-great-grandfather. It is equally possible this change was merely the result of a fashion of the period, as many families were altering their names to reflect the original English spelling. It is interesting to note that Hawthorne did hold particular disdain for his ancestor, as Judge Hathorne appears as the antagonist Judge Pyncheon in Hawthorne's 1851 novel The House of the Seven Gables.

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John Hathorne Home, Site of - Salem Witch Museum

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Judge John Hathorne was one of the most vocal participants during the Salem witchcraft trials. Judge Hathorne lived south of the Town House/Salem Courthouse in 1692, on present-day Washington Street, a short walk from home to court. In late February of 1692, Hathorne may have been one of the "worthy gentlemen of Salem" called...

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Transcript of Judge Hathorne (spelled without the "w" here) questioning Sarah Bishop

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History of Massachusetts blog (sources cited at the bottom)

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John Hathorne: Salem Witch Judge - History of Massachusetts Blog

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John Hathorne was a judge in the Salem Witch Trials and the great-great grandfather of author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hathorne was born in Salem on August 5, 1641 to William Hathorne and Anne Smith. He was the fifth of nine children. His father, William, was a local judge who came to…

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Overview article from ABC-CLIO

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Library research databases are always a reliable source!