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It all started when Betty Parris and Abigail Williams dropped an egg in a glass and looked at it in the style of crystal-ball gazing, a forbidden behavior, to try and tell the future. This practice was called white witchcraft. The girls began slipping into trances, blurting nonsensical phrases, cowering in corners, and collapsing in epileptic-like fits. A doctor diagnosed them as victims of witchcraft. The witch hysteria and hunt in Salem began when the girls accused the slave Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne as their tormentors and they were arrested.

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How many people died in the witch trials?

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How many people died in the witch trials?

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From the 1300s to the 1600s, tens of thousands of accused witches were executed. In Salem, from June to September of 1692, ninteen men and women were accused of practicing witchcraft and therefore were executed. In addition, thirteen accused witches were sent to prison and died there.

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How did they identify people as witches?

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How did they identify people as witches?

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Those who were victims of witchcraft began to name the witches who were afflicting them. By them telling the reverend who the witches were, they were able to go around town and round up all the witches. The people of Salem solely depended on those victims to name the witch afflicting them, even though they were known to have experienced hysteria, but that was the only thing they could trust. If you were caught doing anything associated with witchcraft, you were accused of being a witch and sentenced to death.

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What were the punishments for witchcraft?

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What were the punishments for witchcraft?

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People who were accused of dealing with witchcraft were thrown in jail until their trial came. Magistrates would conduct preliminary examinations on the women. They were later then faced with a plethora of questions asked by the people. Ordinary civilians testified against the witches, saying they witnessed the devil inside them.

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Witches were mostly women, and sometimes men, that were thought to have magical powers and associate with the devil.  The witches victims would become very ill and have fits from the effects of the witchcraft. The witches supposedly possessed their victims to use them for the devil's purpose.  One example was when Tituba made a witch cake, a meal baked with the children's urine, and fed it to the Parrises' dog. Their dog was turned into a messenger for witch that was sent by the devil. Witches were known to use animals to do their bidding with the Devil.