# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You're accused! Confess to practicing the Devil's magic!

You're one of the 24 victims. As events unfolded, 185 people were accused at Salem, 141 women and 44 men. Of that number, 14 women and 5 men were executed, the last group on September 22, 1692. Most of the victims were women over the age of forty. The men convicted tended to be the family members of convicted female witches.

The evidence used to convict a person of being a witch included not going to church, eccentric behavior (yes, talking to yourself counts), or expressing support for others who were accused. Neighborly feuds were another major risk factor. Many people accused their neighbors of witch craft as "revenge" for past tension or conflict.

Being extremely close with your cat or having a Cindy Crawford-esque mole on your face could also get you into trouble. The Puritans believed familiar spirits, or familiars for short, were demonic entities given to witches by the Devil to work their mischief. (During the trials, the slave Tituba testified that Sarah Good was served by a yellow bird, as well as a cat..)

Unusual skin marks were another major no-no: "Witch's Mark's" were perceived as portals through which Satan could enter your body. During the trials, the accused were stripped and examined for birthmarks, warts, and moles. Were you born with a third nipple? Even worse. The common belief was that a "Witch Teat," or extra nipple on a witch's body, permitted a familiar to suckle human blood.

You're one of the lucky few! As events unfolded, 185 people were accused at Salem, 141 women and 44 men. Of that number, 52 women and 7 men were tried; 26 women and 5 men were convicted; and 14 women and 5 men were executed, the last group on September 22, 1692. Did you manage to survive the trials? Good for you! In 1703, the members of the Salem Village church voted to reverse some of the excommunications they had imposed at the height of the hysteria.

Feeling awkward about all of the innocent people you condemned? A little public repentance goes a along way. In 1706, Ann Putnam, one of the most vocal accusers, publicly asked for forgiveness, claiming that "a great delusion of Satan" had deceived her into denouncing innocent people like Rebecca Nurse. She was welcomed into the church.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Quiz: Would You Have Survived the Salem Witch Trials?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Salem witch trials remain the most widely recognized episode of mass hysteria in history. Between 1692 and 1693, more than 200 people in colonial Massachusetts were accused of practicing the Devil's magic. By the time the hysteria subsided, 24 people had died. Nineteen were hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem Town, but some perished in prison.

# data[].attributes.body
Beers, G. Kylene. Elements of Literature. Fifth Course Literature of the United States with Literature of the Americas. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003.

# data[].attributes.body
Burns, Margo. “Supplemental Notes on Tituba and the Circle of Girls.” 17th Century Colonial New England with Special Emphasis on the Essex County Witch-Hunt of 1692, Margo Burns, 30 Oct. 2015, www.17thc.us/docs/fact-fiction-tituba.shtml.

# data[].attributes.body
Photograph by Benjamin Ray, 2001

# data[].attributes.body
Linder, Douglas O. “Tituba.” Famous Trials, UMKC School of Law, Sept. 2009, famous-trials.com/salem/2045-asa-tit.

# data[].attributes.body
Believed to have made up the ideas because of a hope to improve her status

# data[].attributes.body
Marvel, Laura. The Salem Witch Trials. Greenhaven Press, 2003.

# data[].attributes.body
Her confessions led to an increased belief in witchcraft's presence in Salem, and intensified the hunt

# data[].attributes.body
Ray, Benjamin. “Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project.” Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, 2018, salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html.

# data[].attributes.body
Zeinert, Karen. The Salem Witchcraft Trials. Franklin Watts, 1989.

# data[].attributes.body
Servant to Reverend Parris
Not mentioned a lot
From Barbados
Believed to have bewitched the girls
Was with the girls in the forest when caught
Portrayed as a black African

# data[].attributes.body
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "," in The Poetical Works of Longfellow. Houghton Mifflin Boston, 1902. Artist John W. Ehninger, 1880, p. 723.

# data[].attributes.body
Tituba initially confesses to being a witch, perceived by some to be a way of escaping further punishment by Samuel Parris. Tituba, along with the "afflicted" girls, helps lead the trials by targeting and accusing others of witchcraft. Later on, after public opinion sways, Tituba recants her confession to being a witch.

# data[].attributes.body
Reverend Hale says, "You have confessed yourself to witchcraft, and that speaks a wish to come to Heaven's side. And we will bless you, Tituba" (Miller, 848, Act 1).

# data[].attributes.body
Tituba was accused of witchcraft after, at the behest of Mary Sibley, to bake a "witch cake". This "witch cake" was fed to a dog, and would supposedly make the witch that afflicted Betty Parris feel excruciating pain, thus allowing the townsfolk to discover the source of the dark magic.

# data[].attributes.body
An easy target to blame because of her status as a servant and her different cultural beliefs

# data[].attributes.body
Tituba is accused of witchcraft in the play after she is discovered in the forest with the group of young girls. Tituba is seen making a strange concoction while the girls dance and prance around her. A frog is thrown into the concoction after Reverend Parris arrives, making Parris believe that Tituba killed the frog to perform a dark ritual.

# data[].attributes.body
West Indian heritage

# data[].attributes.body
Witchcraft Illustrated, by Henrietta D. Kimball, Geo. A. Kimball, Publisher, Boston, 1892. Artist unknown

# data[].attributes.body
When she was questioned, she was prompted with questions that almost led her directly into the desired answers

# data[].attributes.body
Spent 13 months in prison
Was checked regularly in the nude to look for a "witches' teat"

# data[].attributes.body
After the trials were complete, a man found Tituba and took her out of jail to be his slave

# data[].attributes.body
Tituba exclaims, "There was four. There was four" (Miller, 848, Act 1).

# data[].attributes.body
To avoid further punishment, TItuba exclaims, "No, no, don't hang Tituba! I tell him I don't desire to work for him, sir" (Miller, 847, Act 1).

# data[].attributes.body
Photo by Benjamin Ray, 2001.