Dec 19, 2019
Image: Sarah Good & Sarah Osborne accused of being witches - Smithsonianmag.com
Most people are familiar with the surface-level story of the Salem witch trials according to hermoments.com. Whether you read The Crucible in school, wiped away tears watching Daniel Day Lewis plead for his name, or picked up the details from its looming presence in popular culture, you’ve heard that the witch trials got murderously out of hand.
Innocent men, women, children, and even animals were crushed under vicious accusations of witchcraft. If they didn’t end up dead, their lives were ruined for generations afterword. Still, the worst details of the Salem witch saga are skipped over in most history books. Fear made people toss humanity aside, which makes you wonder, who was the devil really whispering to all those years ago?
Thanks to Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, history remembers Abigail Williams in a vindictive light. She led the charge as the first accuser of witchcraft, with her cousin Betty Parris. In reality though, she was 12 years old, and the romantic angle with a married adult man was pure fabrication.
Once the girls let it rip, wielding the power of accusation looked pretty tempting to the other townsfolk. Soon everyone was doing it. The numbers of alleged witches grew to 200, and ultimately 140-150 individuals were charged with the crime of witchcraft.
Jailhouse conditions were worse than bleak for the accused. The Salem outfit wasn’t built to hold such numbers, so those arrested were scattered throughout the jails of neighboring towns. Shackled to the walls, they consumed only bread and water and watched as bodies continued to shuffle in.
When someone was suspected of wrongdoing, the Puritans called the witch hunters. You needn’t look far to find one. Volunteers knocked on doors pushing neighbors and friends to betray each other or blurt accusations.
Landowners in and surrounding Salem realized quickly that being named as a witch had scarier consequences than exorcism. Accused witches had their reputations ruined, and worse, all their property seized by the state. Without land, their survival was hardly guaranteed.
When you think of trials, you’d expect that the Puritan courtroom was filled with all the usual characters familiarized by the dramas on TV — the judge, the jury, and the lawyers for the prosecution and the defense. No one accused at Salem had a remotely fair trial.
Sitting in that courtroom, while your character was trashed, your personal life dissected, lies about your evilness spreading like wildfire, it was common for the accused to put it all to rest. They’d offer a confession, knowing they’d already been convicted in the court of public opinion.
Other confessions were taken through sheer force. Reverend Samuel Parris beat his slave Tituba until she gave an admission of guilt, then she later said he coached her through the trials. Her cries about serving Satan should be framed within the context of torture.
Some Salem residents were immune to the growing hysteria, including Martha Corey. Sadly, her attempts to convince her neighbors to see reason made them instantly suspicious of her. She found herself in the hot seat without allies, as even her husband, Giles Corey, testified against her.
Perhaps the guilt of selling out his wife was what led to his nervy last words. Giles was accused of being a witch after his wife, though his refusal to plead his guilt or innocence made prosecutors reach for the medieval punishment of pressing.
Over three days, they stacked rocks on top of the naked body of Giles Corey. Intermittently they’d ask him to declare a plea, the fate of his life rested in a simple answer. Famously, Giles refused to crack, groaning out the final words, “More weight.”
With a name like a witch cake, you’d imagine a spooky sprinkled Little Debbie snack. Slightly less delicious, the Salem confection consisted of rye flour and urine of people targeted by witches. The baked product was set before a dog, who’d eat it and reveal the witch’s identity.
But man’s best friends weren’t immune to suspicions of witchcraft, either. Notably, a girl taught her neighbor a lesson by claiming her dog had bewitched her. The dog wasn’t granted a trial; he was shot. Priest Cotton Mather confirmed the pet’s death meant no demonic activity. Small comfort.
Buoyancy, strangely enough, was an indicator of meddling with evil spirits. They tied the accused’s hand to their opposite foot, then dunked their bodies into the water. Whether they sank — as non-witches would — or floated — a total witch thing — they were in hot water. The absurd tests didn’t stop there, either.
For the touch test, during one of the afflicted’s regular fits, the accused would be forced to make physical contact. Wouldn’t you know it, the tremors and hysteria stopped instantly…indicating witchery. Witches were also believed to be identified by something else.
If they’d danced with the Devil, witches would have a specific mark, the Puritans thought. What that mark actually looked like, well, no one was sure. Interchangeably called witches or devil marks, the accused were stripped and examined for any blemish that could be classified as a hellish stain.
The witches of Salem were so supposedly hellbent on terrorizing the community they could break free from their corporeal forms. George Jacobs, in particular, stood accused by every one of the witnesses in his case of haunting them as a ghostly figure.
If pointing fingers and public execution weren’t enough, an outbreak of smallpox was rippling throughout the Salem community. Naturally, citizens declared the illness another devious act of witchery. Somehow eliminating the “evil” didn’t cure ailments.
The culprit was none other than the “rampant hag,” “Queen of Hell” herself, Martha Carrier. That’s what records tell us that Reverend Cotton Mather called her. She came under suspicion for her disobedient nature and notoriously independent wills.
Man of the Lord, Reverend George Burroughs was shaken after he landed in the suspected witch hot seat. His conviction was swift. His hanging, swifter. Though the crowd shifted uneasily afterword because he’d recited the Lord’s Prayer, an act impossible for a witch to utter.
To add to the callousness, George Burroughs body was immediately taken from the gallows to a ridiculously shallow grave. In the hast to bury him, people noted how the chin, a hand, and a foot breached the soil.
Theorists have tried to rationalize the killing at Salem with medical explanations. One idea is the New Englanders were suffering from the rye grain born poison ergot. A harsh winter followed by a wet spring produces ergot, with symptoms like spasms, vomiting, and hallucinations. Whatever the cause, the mania continued until the accusers really crossed the line.
It was all fun and games until the fingers pointed at the governor’s wife. William Phips knowingly let the trails continue for a year, fully aware of the rising death count. After his spouse, Mary Spencer Hull, was named as a potential witch, he signed a proclamation ending the madness.
Witch burning conjures a monstrous level of inhumanity; that, thankfully, never took place at Salem. Their chosen method of execution was strictly hanging, 19 of the 20 deaths were carried out that way. The other was Giles Corey’s pressing.
The infamous executions were carried out on Gallows Hill, and the location was hotly contested amongst Salem locals until 2016. Proctor’s Ledge was officially identified as the spot the convicted witches hung. It now serves as a memorial park.
Undoubtedly many innocent people were killed by ramblings of children. If they’d hung a real witch, there was no guarantee they’d vanished. Some say sorcerers resurface over time.
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