During the spring of 1692, the town of Salem, Massachusetts,

had their simplistic, puritan, societal life style turned into a chaotic
downward spiraling devil stricken town, inflicted upon the town by
young girls, who were the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel
Parris. The young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil, along with
accusing other women, mostly outcast of the society, such as widows,
of being responsible for conducting witchcraft upon them. Over the
next several months, around two hundred women were accused, put
on trial, and punished, by taking away their lives, whether they were
innocent or not.

I believe the main reason for the corruption of the town is Abigail
Williams, one of the young girls who started the terror in the town. She
wanted some attention and excitement in her life. Living in a puritan
society at her young age of eleven or twelve was causing her to
become dissatisfied with how things were going in her life. She was
able to gain power and influence through the trials, and who she
accused of witchcraft Since she had no real prospects in marriage,
there was no other way for her to gain attention and power to be
desirable for men to want to marry, since she had no dowry. She
longed for excitement and the need for a man in her life, she didnt
want life to continue the way it was so she started accusing those
around her of witchcraft.

1 MargoBurns&BernardRosenthal,ExaminationoftheRecordsoftheSalemWitch
Trials,The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 65, July 2008: pp. 401-422, Accessed
October 5, 2014.

The start of the continual deaths was because, Elizabeth Perry

and Abigail Williams, started having uncontrollable behavior that the
village doctor, William Griggs, could not explain, in any other way
besides witchcraft. Soon after other girls in the town started showing
similar symptoms, such as Ann Putnam, Mercy Lewis, Mary Warren,
Mary Walcott and Elizabeth Hubbard. Later there were warrants for the
arrest of Tituba who was the Parris Caribbean slave, Sarah Good who
was a homeless beggar, and Sarah Osborne who was a poor elderly
woman, since the girls who were bewitched accused them for their
uncontrollable behavior.
Tituba was put on trial, Hathorne asked her if she hurt the
children in any way, shape, or form, she said that four women and one
man were the ones hurting the children, they were Sarah Osborne and
Sarah Good, I did not know who the others were. They would have hurt
me worse, if I did not hurt the children, so I hurt them, but I will hurt
them no more.2 She confessed to hurting the children, but only
because she was fearing for her own life, if she did not. Even though
Good and Osborn both denied working with the Devil and forcing
Tituba to hurt the children, Tituba said they were the reason why she
had to hurt them, why she couldnt resist. She had to serve the
inanimate figure that was coming to her, through the two women, in

2 Tituba. Examination of Tituba. Salem, March 1, 1691/2. Accessed

from Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project,
on October 5, 2014.
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many different aspects of her life, through cats, birds, and many other
things, which in later trials, other women claim to have the same
figures coming to them from the devil, to get them to cross over to
their side.
On the other hand, when Osborne was examined and testified, she
stated that I am not familiar with any evil spirit, I have never saw the
devil in my life nor made a contract with him. I do not hurt these
children nor do I employ anybody to hurt them either.3 Along with
Good who said that I do not hurt them, and I do not employ no body
or no creature to hurt them. I am falsely accused of witchcraft. I have
never had any contact with the Devil, or any evil spirit.4 Osborne and
Good directly contradict what Tituba has accused them of, they deny
having anything to do with witchcraft, or hurting the children. This
either makes Titubas statement false, or they are lying trying to
protect themselves for what is to happen because of actions. The girls
who accused them continued to claim that they bewitched them,
making Tituba look more believable, and Osborne and Goods
statements false. Williams was getting what she desired, to be noticed,
to have a part in society where others were being punished, she had
the power to have these women hung with whatever she said or with

3 Osborne, Sarah. Examination of Sarah Osborne. Salem, March

1691/2. Accessed from Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and
Transcription Project, on November 26, 2014.
4 Good, Sarah. Examination of Sarah Good. Salem, March 1, 1691/2.
Accessed from Salem Witch Trials, on October 5, 2014.
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her uncontrollable actions she displayed during court, and

continually through the trials.
During the trial of the accused, the courtroom was filled with
displays of spasms, contortions, screaming, and writhing. Both Good
and Osborn denied the accusation, while Tituba confessed. Tituba
claimed there were other witches working with the Devil against
Puritan society, making those who were accused continuing to grow,
even though she was unsure who the women were, and Williams and
the other girls did not accuse anyone else until later in the continuing
trails. Similarly when the accused confessed, they named several other
witches, causing even more chaos throughout the town. With the
continuing growth of people getting accused, the court system was
overwhelmed, so they established a special Court of Oyer and Terminer
to hear and decided the witchcraft cases, through the judges Hathorne,
Samuel Sewall and William Stoughton. They were to deal with all cases
related to witchcraft in Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex counties; anyone
who was accused fate was in their hands.
One of the most diabolical schemes of the witch trials, was the
touch test, which was when the accused witch touched the victim,
while the victim was having a fit, if the fit stopped, it meant that the
accused, was the person who had afflicted the victim with the evil
spirits, causing their actions.5 Out of everything they tried to do to
5 Hathorne, John. Court Procedures of Salem Witch Trials. Salem, 1692.
Accessed Document Archive, on November 20, 2014.
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make the accused talk or the make them appear guilty, in my opinion,
this was the stupidest one, by far. Anyone could pretend someone was
a witch, there was no real proof, that they were a witch or not, it could
just be someone getting revenge on someone, and all they had to do
was through a tantrum and the accused would be punished. It was the
evidence they needed to arrest the accused witches, eighteen men
and women were accused through the touch test. Its faulty evidence,
anyone could tamper with it, and most likely Williams tampered with a
lot of the men and women who were accused for her own benefit.
Later on in the accusations of the people conducting witchcraft,
Giles Corey was examined for hurting Mary Wolcott, Mercy Lewis, Ann
Putnam and Abigail Williams; they had all affirmed that he was a part
of the Devil worshippers, rather than being committed to God. Thomas
Putnam wrote a letter to Judge Samuel Sewall explaining how witches
tormented his daughter Ann, she was being threatened that she should
be pressed to death, before Giles Corey.6 Corey denied every having
anything to do with the Devil or his book, but people still came up with
wild stories about what how he was continuing to work with the Devil
to do horrible things them, and their children. People were desperate,
they were trying to make sense of what was going on around them,
they were turning to God, and believing everything the public was

6 Putnam, Thomas. Letter from Thomas Putnam to Judge Samuel

Sewall. Salem. Accessed Salem Witch Trials Archive, on November 28,
2014.
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telling them, except those who were accused. Corey, Marthas husband
was pressed to death by stones, just because he would not enter a
plea at his arraignment, he had no option, he was most likely going to
die either way.
Samuel Sewall wrote in his diary that at about noon, at Salem,
Giles Corey was pressed to death for standing mute, much pain was
used with him during the past two day, one stone after another.7 They
were torturing him to confess, to agree with the plea, they were okay
with watching an innocent man die, just so they could continue their
dramatized story. The pushed and pushed, waiting for them to crack
and confess, the majority of people accused denied having anything to
do with the devil, like Corey, but were still punished, even though any
other crime would not be dealt with in this crazy rationality. All those
accused all tie back to Williams, she accused the majority of people
and was a witness in many of their trials, and went along with those
accused by others, to add to her story and make their stronger, to
make her more influential in the eyes of the public. She was helping
the town get ride of all the witches that could come and attack them
as well; she wasnt ever accused for anything, just taken care of in the
comfort of the Andover meeting house, not a prison cell, where all the
afflicted girls were being kept.

7 Sewall, Samuel. The Diary of Samuel Sewall. Salem, September 19,

1692. Accessed Document Archive, on November 27, 2014.
5

Cotton Mather, a respected minister, warned the town about the

doubtful values of supernatural evidence, but his concerns were
unheard throughout the town during the Salem witch trials. Later his
father joined them, and continued to urge that the standards of
evidence for witchcraft needed to be equal to other crimes, that no
innocent man should be punished, even if that means a guilty man
gets to walk freely. Soon after, Governor Phips who ended the Court of
Oyer and Terminer, and demanded that everyone disregard
supernatural evidence heard them and their claim. The trials became
fewer and fewer, their intensity faded away; Williams had lost her
excitement, her power, and her craziness. Those accused, which were
still alive in prison, were released from their witchcraft charges, but for
a lot of people it was too late, and their punishment had already been
enforced, or they had died waiting for it. There was no harm done to
the victims of trials, they got to walk away as if nothing had
happened, but everyone knew who they were, Williams is still talked
about, and wont ever be forgotten.
The beginning of 1697, the Massachusetts General Court declared that
the trials were unlawful, and apologized for their continuing role in the
witch trials. They declared a day of fasting for the tragedy of the Salem
witch trials, even though the damage continued to linger in the town.
The day of personal and public repentance was called so all of Gods
people may offer up fervent supplications unto him, that all iniquity

may be put away, which hath stirred Gods holy jealousy against this
land; that he would show us what we know not, and help us, wherein
we have done amiss, to do so more.8 The people of the town were
trying to find a way to be okay with the deaths and scaring they
caused, they didnt want to be at blame for believing the nonsense
Williams started, or the reason people lost their lives for no apparent
reason. There was no justice in the town, only the hanging of innocent
people.

8 Phips, William. Fasting and Repentance. Salem, January 15, 1697.

Accessed Salem Witch Trials, on November 28, 2014.
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