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www.history.com
historyofmassachusetts.org
law2.umkc.edu
https://salemwitchmuseum.com

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Before the massacre of Salem's innocents, the respected minister and president of Harvard college Cotton Mather had warned of trials leaning on evidence of dreams or visions— the supernatural. Clearly, not a soul in Salem listened to him. The son and father of the Mather family believed that witch trials ought to be determined with evidence equal to that of any other crime.
"It would be better that ten suspected witches may escape than one innocent person be condemned."

The Court of Oyer and Terminer had met its match and quickly fell in October of the next year, and by May, Governor Phips had released all those accused witches that had been imprisoned.

In January of 1697, the General Court of Massachusetts set a day of fasting to honor those innocents that had died for the senseless accusations in the town of Salem. Samuel Sewall was brought to his knees as he apologized for his part in the terror after the trials had been deemed unlawful. The families of the accused received financial aid for their heirs. Still, the bitterness in the community lingered.

The legacy of it all still trickled into the 20th century because of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible.

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The location of each hanging was known as Gallows Hill, a little dip in the open land of Salem. For such a peaceful appearance, it held gallons of innocent blood. Bridget Bishop's blood was the first to be spilled. Eight followed her in the month of June, Five in August, eight again in September. Seven died in a jail closeby and Giles Corey, husband of Martha Corey, was stoned to death for refusal to enter a plea.

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Results Of The Sows' Squeals | That Which Follows

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Results Of The Sows' Squeals | That Which Follows

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The first to go was Tituba, the Parris' Carribbean slave, but the homeless Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn came to follow soon after. Hanging the two accused beggars only brought hysteria to the town of Salem. The trials for each fatal punishment were overseen by the magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, who let the accused be tried in front of their accusers, who screamed, wailed, and acted extremely distressed.
Later on, a few highly ranked members of the Salem community were accused, including Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse, then the 4 year old daughter of Sarah Good.
Only several of the accused "witches" confessed their supposed guilt and still pushed the blame on others. By May of 1692, William Phips, the new governor of Massachusetts had ordered the creation of a special court known as the Court of Oyer and Terminer— Oyer meaning 'to hear' and Terminer meaning 'to decide'. It was specifically created for handling witchcraft cases for Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex counties. Judges Hathorne, Samuel Sewall, and William Stoughton headed this court and dealt with the handed down conviction of Bridget Bishop on June 2nd, hanging her eight days later.

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In January of 1692, the nine year old daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris (Elizabeth "Betty" Parris) and his niece (Abigail Williams) began having violent fits of screaming and violent contortions. William Griggs, the town's doctor diagnosed the girls with 'bewitchment', which seemed to spread amongst the other village girls like wild fire. These included Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, and Marry Warren.

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With all of the internal conflicts that racked Massachusetts, there were also external issues. During this time, British settlers were also dealing with the after effects of their country's war with France. On the side, they trifled with the new epidemic of smallpox and feared random, sudden attacks from the Native Americans whose home was very close by.

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Belief of the supernatural began as early as the 14th century in many parts of Europe. With that came the suspicion of certain human individuals that were granted the ability to punish others of their species in return for their loyalty— which was thought to be kept to Satan.

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Such distress started in the spring of 1692 and originated in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Several girls who lived there claimed to be possessed by the devil, then going on to accuse several elderly women of witchcraft. Hysteria set into the village, and soon a special court was made only for the witch trials. The first to be impulsively accused was an older woman by the name of Bridget Bishop. She was hanged in June. Eighteen others followed Bishop.

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A major concern of the Puritans was the bringing and summoning of the devil, or demons. Some discovered large chalk-drawn or salt-bled circles with stars in the middle. These circles were called Pentagrams. The herbs around them and various colored candles along with their own bias led them to believe that Wicca and Pagans were summoning Satan and his "workers". This was usually not the case. Most Wicca would not try to summon Satan. Instead, they drew and marked, and wore pentagrams to ward off bad luck and negative auras.

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In the time of the trials, both women and men were hunted. It was not an act discriminative of gender, and as children were accused as well, not one of age.
Within roughly a year, the hearings trickled to the Massachusetts General Court, which annulled guilty verdicts against the accused and granted indemnities to their family. The community of Salem was not at all pleased, keeping the trials alive for centuries.

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Many females practicing the Pagan religion identify as witches, while males typically identify as warlocks or wizards.. The religion itself was considered Satanic and evil, as it was based off of Pagans that identified as black witches or warlocks. In reality, Paganism is not evil. Its roots in the period of the Salem Witch Trails were descended to a part of Paganism, Wicca. Wicca is considered a cult, and its members practice magick and learn arts of the paranormal. Paganism is based around the art and practice of magic, nature, and the paranormal. In modern times, some Pagans still keep the titles of witch or warlock as mockery of those times. (Just as "Yankee Doodle" became a national anthem for America.)