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What really happened during the Salem Witch Trials - Brian A. Pavlac

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Kids learn about the history of the Salem Witch Trials during colonial America including how they began, what tests were used to determine guilt, interesting facts, and why they finally stopped.

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One freezing day in January of 1692, something strange happened inside the Parris household of Salem Village, Massachusetts. As sleet and snow heaped higher outside their door, Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail began to twitch and twist their bodies into strange shapes, speaking in words that made no sense. Betty's alarmed father, the Reverend Parris, immediately called on a doctor to examine the girls. The doctor's diagnosis? The pair had been bewitched.

WITCH HUNT

At the time, Salem Village was a small New England town populated mostly by Puritans, or religious individuals with a belief in the devil. The Puritan way of life was strict, and even small differences in behavior made people suspicious. Upon hearing about the Parris girls' behavior, much of the Puritan community agreed that the duo had been victims of witchcraft.

When asked who had done this to them, Betty and Abigail blamed three townswomen, including Tituba, a Native American slave who worked in the Parris household. Tituba was known to have played fortune-telling games, which were strictly forbidden by the Puritans. The other two accused women, Sarah Good and Sarah Osbourne, weren't well liked by the community either.

ON TRIAL

The three women were thrown in jail to await trial for practicing witchcraft. During the trial, Tituba confessed to having seen the devil and also stated that there was a coven, or group, of witches in the Salem Village area. Good and Osbourne insisted they were innocent. The court didn't believe them, and found all three women guilty of practicing witchcraft. The punishment was hanging.

As the weeks passed, other young girls claimed to have been infected by witchcraft too. They accused other townspeople of torturing them, and a few of the so-called witches on trial even named others as witches.

Women were not the only ones believed to be witches-men and children were accused too. By the end of the trials in 1693, 24 people had died, some in jail but most by hanging.

THE HYSTERIA FADES

Eventually, after seeming to realize how unfair the trials were to the accused, the court refused to hear any more charges of witchcraft. All of the accused were finally pardoned in 1711.

No one's really sure why the witch craze spread the way it did, but it brought lasting changes to the United States legal system and the way evidence and witnesses were treated. The Salem Village hangings were the last executions of accused witches in the United States.

Text adapted from the National Geographic book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schnauzer.

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Find out what started the witch hunt of 1692.

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Taken directly from Discovery Education for classroom use.

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In the background essay it says that the hangings came to an end because the governor's wife was accused and that had helped to stop the killing. It also said, "A mass hanging ended the executions." So, the hangings had ended.

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Does the map of Salem Village in 1692 mean anything?

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Does the map of Salem Village in 1692 mean anything?

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In Document E, it shows who are the accusers, defenders, accused and shows which side are poor or rich. In the east side, it is mostly made of wealthy and political influence defenders and accused witches. On the west side, it has poorer land, no political power, and is mostly made of the accusers.

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Puritans-  People who wanted to start a new church.
Protestant Christians- people that were unhappy with the Catholic Church.
Witch- someone whose body was possessed by the devil.
Hallucinogens- Drugs that make you crazy.
Paranoia- An unjustified fear of being mistreated or persecuted.

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On Document D, there is a paragraph written by a 19th century historian, Charles Upham. The paragraph includes the quote, "become intoxicated ... by the terrible success." This quote means that Upham thinks that they are acting, so they can get more money and power.

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One reason for all the hysteria is jealousy. In Document B,  many of the accused were married and the accusers were single. The single women may have been jealous of the married women and accused them out of jealousy. Another reason why jealousy was a part in all the hysteria was because of the poor and rich. The people in the eastern half of Salem became wealthy while the western half farmed poor land. The poor may have tried to blame the rich of being a witch. Jealousy may have been a major reason for the cause of hysteria.

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What are the major amount of accused and the accusers?

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What are the major amount of accused and the accusers?

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In Document B, there is a chart of the accused and the accusers that show what their gender, age, and marital status is. The accused are mainly married females of the age 41-60. The accusers are mostly made of single females that is in the age 16-20

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Why were so many people hanged or pressed to death?

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Why were so many people hanged or pressed to death?

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As it shows in Document A, that 20 people were killed at monthly intervals between June 10th and September 22nd in 169. The reason these people were being killed is because they were all accused of being witches. No one really knew whether or not they were really witches but mostly jealous women would accuse people.