Salem Witch Trials : When Paranoia about the supernatural takes over reason

Salem Village, Massachusetts is the birthplace of one of America’s bleak blemishes known as The Salem Witch Trials. It is an unfortunate event that took the lives of many innocent men and women and a prime example of a corrupted justice system. The story begins in January 1692, when two cousins 9-year-old Elizabeth (Betty) Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece of Samuel Parris, minister of Salem Village,  began behaving strangely, screaming uncontrollably, throwing objects around and contorting their bodies. The local physician (the only one in the entire village) found nothing physically wrong with the two girls and concluded that its causes were supernatural (« The girls were under an evil hand »).

The Puritans, the founders of Salem, were firm believers in the supernatural and upheld the idea of the devil giving certain humans the power to harm others, bewitching them, and tormenting poor children. Therefore, the villagers had no doubt a witch was behind the suffering of Elizabeth and Abigail. Shortly after, a third girl, 11-year-old Ann Putnam started acting similarly to the first two « afflicted »  followed by Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren.

On February 9th, 1692, the very first Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams accused 3 women of bewitching them. The three accused were Sarah Good, a homeless beggar, Sarah Osborn, who was absent from church for days, and Tituba, an enslaved woman who was serving the Perris house. An arrest warrant was issued for them and the poor women were put on trial. Good and Osborn both insisted they were innocent but were found guilty anyway. They were later hanged publicly. Tituba denied at first but then confessed that she was behind the girl’s strange behavior and testified  » The devil came to me and bid me serve him « . She even made the startling confession of the existence of other witches in the community, spreading more paranoia and fear in the already troubled people of Salem. Surprisingly, Tituba wasn’t sent to the gallows. On the contrary, Tituba was released after spending one year in jail. Following their religious teachings, it was preferred that the accusees confess, ask for forgiveness, and never engage in more witchcraft.

As the « bewitching » grew in the village, the accusations multiplied. The court accepted unreliable evidence such as children’s claims and spectral evidence like dreams and visions. More women, including the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good,  were accused of witchcraft and were faced with the choice of either making false confessions to save their lives and implicate other women in the matter as Tituba did, or insist on their innocence and inevitably get executed. In the period from July to September 1692, 18 more people were found guilty and executed including 4 men. Some people speculate more perished in jail while waiting for trial.

The hysteria continued until 1693 when the wife of the Massachusetts governor was accused. Those on witchcraft trials were released and the arrests stopped. In January 1697, a day of fasting was declared for the tragedy of the Salem witch trials and the unrightfully executed men and women. The court later declared the trials unlawful, and the leading justice Samuel Sewall publicly apologized for what he has done. In August 1992, 300 years after the tragedy, a memorial, Witch Trials Memorial, was dedicated to honoring the names of the poor victims who were buried in unmarked graves.