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Diaries, letters, notes, etc written by Cotton Mather.  Also includes writings of Increase Mather, Richard Mather, and Samuel Mather.

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A brief and true narrative of some remarkable passages relating to sundry persons afflicted by witchcraft at Salem village, which happened from the nineteenth of March to the fifth of April, 1692

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A brief and true narrative of some remarkable passages relating to sundry persons afflicted by witchcraft at Salem village, which happened from the nineteenth of March to the fifth of April, 1692

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Published in 1692 this is a collection by Deodat Lawson to create a narrative to tell the story through witness's statements.

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Linnda R. Caporael made the first link to possible Ergot poisoning in Salem, leading to the mass hallucinations of magic.  Though later disproved, her theory has lasted through to present day.

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© 2020 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved. AAAS is a partner of HINARI, AGORA, OARE, CHORUS, CLOCKSS, CrossRef and COUNTER. Science ISSN 1095-9203.

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The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692

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The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692

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1977 transcription of all the court documents related to the Salem Witch Trials, edited by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum.  Digitized and updated in 2018 by Scholars' Lab, University of Virginia Library.

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Ergotism and the Salem Village Witch Trials

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Ergotism and the Salem Village Witch Trials

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A response article to the Caporael rejecting the theory of Ergot poisoning.  Spanos and Gottlieb state that the evidence does not support the original theory.

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Views: Ergot and the Salem Witchcraft Affair: An outbreak of a type of food poisoning known as convulsive ergotism may have led to the 1692 accusations of witchcraft

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Views: Ergot and the Salem Witchcraft Affair: An outbreak of a type of food poisoning known as convulsive ergotism may have led to the 1692 accusations of witchcraft

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1982 article in which Mary Matossian defends the Caporeal's theory of Ergot poisoning.

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NDSU Extension in Dickey County gives local residents easy access to the resources and expertise of North Dakota State University. Through educational programs, publications and events, Extension agents deliver unbiased, research-based information to Dickey County citizens.

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NDSU Extension in Dickey County gives local residents easy access to the resources and expertise of North Dakota State University. Through educational programs, publications and events, Extension agents deliver unbiased, research-based information to Dickey County citizens.

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Ergotism and the Salem Witch Panic: A Critical Analysis and Alternative Conceptualization

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Ergotism and the Salem Witch Panic: A Critical Analysis and Alternative Conceptualization

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Response article providing critical analysis of Matossian's defense.

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A Jackdaw education kit containing broadsheets, maps, church records etc to begin exploring the Salem Witch hysteria. A good tool for a teacher presenting the subject to their class.

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This Jackdaw is the appropriate reading level for upper elementary, middle school and high school students reading below grade level. It contains the same, ready-to-use, hands-on historical documents as the original, upper-level Jackdaw; most of the documents are actual-size replicas. The fully reproducible Broadsheets provide historical background for understanding the documents.
Students will learn an object lesson in the danger of mob rule to society and individual rights when they study witch hysteria in Salem Village. Unique historical documents, together with broadsheets, explore the background, events and personalities involved in this famous series of witchcraft trials. Historian: Richard B. Trask, adapted by Muriel L. Dubois. The contents of this Jackdaw feature:

Broadsheets

Witchcraft on the European Continent

No Peace for Salem Village

A Town Turned Upside Down

The People of Salem Village

Timeline: Dates in the History of Witch Hunts, 1486-1711 Historical Documents

Map of the Salem Village area in 1692 with index.

Four pages from the Salem Village Church Record Book, November 1691-December 1692 and August 1706-March 1709.

The examination of Martha Corey, March 21, 1692.

Witchcraft painting: "Examination of a Witch," 1853.

Bridget Bishop death warrant and return, June 1692.

William Barker confession, August 29, 1692.

Mary Esty petition, September 1692.

Jailer's bill, 1692.

Act by Court of Mass. reversing attainders of condemned witches, 1711.

Poster: Judges, ministers and books important in the history of Salem Village witchcraft.

List of persons who died during the witch hysteria, 1692-1693.

Study Guide / Lesson Plan - Reproducible Activities

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This Jackdaw is the appropriate reading level for upper elementary, middle school and high school students reading below grade level. It contains the same, ready-to-use, hands-on historical documents as the original, upper-level Jackdaw; most of the documents are actual-size replicas. The fully reproducible Broadsheets provide historical background for understanding the documents.

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A Storm of Witchcraft : the Salem Trials and the American Experience

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A Storm of Witchcraft : the Salem Trials and the American Experience

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2015 book looking at various theories put forth for the cause of the witch accusations and hysteria. This is a good broad topic book that will give researchers a basic understanding of the bigger picture.

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A Storm of Witchcraft book. Read 85 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachu...

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Homo Economicus and the Salem Witch Trials

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Homo Economicus and the Salem Witch Trials

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Franklin Mixom Jr. explores the theory that the Salem Witch Trials were economically motivated.  This document discusses the land ownership, financial competitions of the Salem community.

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Homo Economicus and the Salem Witch Trials

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(2000). Homo Economicus and the Salem Witch Trials. The Journal of Economic Education: Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 179-184.

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Religiosity and the political economy of the Salem witch trials

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Religiosity and the political economy of the Salem witch trials

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King and Mixom Jr. discuss the theory that the socioeconomic standing of Reverend Samuel Parris played a large part in who was accused of witchcraft.

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Abstract

Salem Village, both before and through the witchcraft trials, was a religion-based community, allowing its minister to exert a level of political-economic control over its citizens. During the height of the witchcraft episode, there was an increased demand for ministerial services (salvation) in the Salem area. Recent research has argued that the minister used the witchcraft episode to maintain and build upon personal and corporate wealth. In the years after the witchcraft trials changes were made in the business and legal environment of the surrounding New England region. By transitioning to a more neutral rules system with a larger area of consensus for the system, Salem and the rest of the New England transitioned from the 17th Century traditional, religion-based community to a more rules-based, pro-business one in the 18th Century.

View full text

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Religiosity and the political economy of the Salem witch trials

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Salem Village, both before and through the witchcraft trials, was a religion-based community, allowing its minister to exert a level of political-economic control over its citizens. During the height of the witchcraft episode, there was an increased demand for ministerial services (salvation) in the Salem area.

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The Allocation of Death in the Salem Witch Trials: a Public Choice Perspective

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The Allocation of Death in the Salem Witch Trials: a Public Choice Perspective

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Mixom Jr. and Trevino argue that the pattern of accusations were "non-random." They believe that the girls may have been prompted by adults to accuse those that the family had financial disagreements with.

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The allocation of death in the Salem witch trials: a public choice perspective

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World folklore and history are replete with examples that involve economics principles. The present note builds upon other published work by providing an empirical public choice analysis of the Salem witch trials of 1692.

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Agency and Emotion of Young Female Accusers in the Salem Witchcraft Trials

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Agency and Emotion of Young Female Accusers in the Salem Witchcraft Trials

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Laskaris discusses the oppression felt by young women in Puritan Salem and the power of the accusations.  For a year, powerless young women suddenly had the ability to send anyone to the gallows.

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This article utilises emotions theory to explore the actions and behaviour of the young female accusers in the Salem witchcraft trials. It argues common historical interpretation of this behaviour has largely ignored the cultural context of witchcraft belief among young women, as well how agency and emotion functioned in the courtroom setting. By comparing the physical and emotional reactions of the young Salem accusers with other cases of young female bewitchment across England and New England, I argue this behaviour was a cultural response to witchcraft which imbued young female accusers with unprecedented cultural power and agency.

Additional information

Author information

Isabelle Laskaris
Isabelle Laskaris is a Master of Arts student at the University of New England, New South Wales.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Dr. E. J. Kent who supervised me on this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Agency and Emotion of Young Female Accusers in the Salem Witchcraft Trials

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This article utilises emotions theory to explore the actions and behaviour of the young female accusers in the Salem witchcraft trials. It argues common historical interpretation of this behaviour has largely ignored the cultural context of witchcraft belief among young women, as well how agency and emotion functioned in the courtroom setting.

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Daily Life During the Salem Witch Trials

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Daily Life During the Salem Witch Trials

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Goss explains the daily life and fear of accusation that hovered over the daily life of Salem residents. No one was safe from accusations, even the most pious of churchgoers.

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This page provides some educational links regarding the witch trials and Salem in general. It also provides links to the various buildings and museums in the town.

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In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village became ill. William Griggs, the village doctor, was called in when they failed to improve. His diagnosis of bewitchment put into motion the forces that would ultimately result in the hanging deaths of 19 men and women. In addition one man was pressed to death; several others died in prison, and the lives of many were irrevocably changed.

Time Period Of The Salem Witch Trials

To understand the events of the Salem Witch Trials, it is necessary to examine the times in which accusations of witchcraft occurred. There were the ordinary stresses of 17th-century life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A strong belief in the devil, factions among Salem Village families and rivalry with nearby Salem Town combined with a recent small pox epidemic and the threat of attack by warring tribes created a fertile ground for fear and suspicion. Soon, prisons were filled with more than 150 men and women from towns surrounding Salem; their names had been "cried out" by tormented young girls as the cause of their pain. All would await trial for a crime punishable by death in 17th-century New England - the practice of witchcraft.

Historical Background of the Witch Trials

In June of 1692, the special Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) sat in Salem to hear the cases of witchcraft. Presided over by Chief Justice William Stoughton, the court was made up of magistrates and jurors. The first to be tried was Bridget Bishop of Salem who was found guilty and was hanged on June 10. Thirteen women and five men from all stations of life followed her to the gallows on three successive hanging days before the court was disbanded by Governor William Phipps in October of that year. The Superior Court of Judicature, formed to replace the "witchcraft" court, did not allow spectral evidence. This belief in the power of the accused to use their invisible shapes or spectres to torture their victims had sealed the fates of those tried by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. The new court released those awaiting trial and pardoned those awaiting execution. In effect, the Salem Witch Trials were over.

As years passed, apologies were offered and restitution was made to the victims' families. Historians and sociologists have examined this most complex episode in our history so that we may understand the issues of that era and view subsequent events with heightened awareness. The parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and more modem examples of "witch hunting" like the McCarthy hearings of the 1950's, are remarkable.

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Salem Witch Trials Of 1692 | Landmarks, Events, & More

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Find information about local museums, historical events, happenings, and attractions in Salem related to the Witch Trials of 1692

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1853 Painting by Thompkins Matteson. Quotation that accompanied it states that the girl is Mary Fisher.

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Switching Sides: How a Generation of Historians Lost Sympathy for the Victims of the Salem Witch Hunt

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Switching Sides: How a Generation of Historians Lost Sympathy for the Victims of the Salem Witch Hunt

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A critical look at the changes in academia and the incorporation of factors such as gender and class into the study of the witch trials.

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Switching Sides: How a Generation of Historians Lost Sympathy for the Victims of the Salem Witch Hunt

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Since the 1690s, a multitude of analysts have offered explanations of the witch crisis in Massachusetts. Contemporaries sought to understand the role of Satan i

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Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials

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Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials

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An in depth description of six of the women at the center of the trials. This books is written by one of the curators of the Salem Witch Museum in Salem MA.

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(Kindle)

Six women: Rebecca Nurse, Bridget Bishop, Mary English, Ann Putnam Sr., Tituba, and Mary Warren.

I'm currently doing genealogy research and have found direct connections to both convicted witches and a juror that convicted them. In that context, I've been seeking out fact sourced resources that can enlighten what exactly was happening in Salem at this time.

This book is excellently sourced. Roach must be the leading scholar in this field. There are some fictionalized narratives to start so...more

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(Kindle) Six women: Rebecca Nurse, Bridget Bishop, Mary English, Ann Putnam Sr., Tituba, and Mary Warren. I'm currently doing genealogy research and have found direct connections to both convicted witches and a juror that convicted them. In that context, I've been seeking out fact sourced resources that can enlighten what exactly was happening in Salem at this time.

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Documentary Archive and Transcription Project.  This site provides hundreds of documents that have been transcribed for ease of research.  It also provides links to various archives, media, artwork, etc pertaining to the witch trials.

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Project Director: Benjamin Ray. Technical Development: Scholars' Lab.
© Copyright 2018 by Benjamin Ray and

The material presented in the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive is provided freely for non-commercial educational purposes. All other uses require advance permission from the project originators. The University of Virginia

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danvers; salem; witchcraft trials; witch trials; 1692; the witchcraftvictims' memorial; rebecca nurse

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Project Director: Benjamin Ray. Technical Development: Scholars' Lab. © Copyright 2018 by Benjamin Ray and The material presented in the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive is provided freely for non-commercial educational purposes. All other uses require advance permission from the project originators. The University of Virginia

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What Really Happened During the Salem Witch Trials

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What Really Happened During the Salem Witch Trials

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A cautionary tale of the dangers of groupthink and scapegoating.

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

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3 hour movie covering the Salem Witch Trials

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Photo taken by Micky Romack of the Memorial wall and benches in Salem MA. Each of the 20 benches has the name of accused, birth and death date, and how they died inscribed on it.