What procedures were used in the Salem Witch Trials?
Courts relied on three kinds of evidence: 1) confession, 2) testimony of two eyewitnesses to acts of witchcraft, or 3) spectral evidence (when the afflicted girls were having their fits, they would interact with an unseen assailant – the apparition of the witch tormenting them).
How was the Salem Witch Trials unfair?
The Trials were unfair, the Government and the townspeople were corrupt, and they had stress from outer threats surrounding the village. The Salem Witch Trials were unfair. It was one of the largest witch hunts. During the trials unusual things happened and innocent people were blamed.
What was the real cause of the Salem Witch Trials?
The Salem witch trials and executions came about as the result of a combination of church politics, family feuds, and hysterical children, all of which unfolded in a vacuum of political authority.
What were the Salem witches accused of doing?
The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil’s magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted.
Why were the girls accused in the Salem witch trials?
The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft.
Who is to blame for the witch trials in Salem?
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is a mean and vindictive person who always wants her way, no matter who she hurts.
Who was the judge in the Salem witch trials?
♠ On January 14, 1697, the General Court orders a day of fasting and prayer in honor of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials. The day of fasting takes place the following day. Judge Samuel Sewall publicly apologizes for his role in the Salem Witch Trials. ♠ In late 1697, Reverend Samuel Parris is replaced by Joseph Green.
Why did the Salem witch trials start in 1692?
In 1692, Salem residents were overcome by a hysteria which caused them to seek out and persecute “witches” they believed were working for the Devil. This later came to be known as the Salem Witch Trials. The following is a timeline of the Salem Witch Trials: 1542:
What did the Reverend Barnard do in the Salem witch trials?
On September 7, 1692, the Reverend Barnard ordered all those accused of witchcraft to come together at the Andover meeting house, where the Salem Village “ afflicted girls ” were being kept. Once the accused had all been gathered, he conducted the “Touch Test,” one of the most diabolical schemes of the witch trials.
How old was Betty Parris during the Salem witch trials?
In Salem Village in February 1692, Betty Parris (age nine) and her cousin Abigail Williams (age 11), the daughter and the niece, respectively, of Reverend Samuel Parris, began to have fits described as “beyond the power of epileptic fits or natural disease to effect” by John Hale, the minister of the nearby town of Beverly.