Have you ever heard of the town of Salem? It’s a town located in Massachusetts that started the Salem witch trials. Several horrifying things occurred during the time in which the trials were happening. The trials occurred all the way from February 1962 to May 1963. This event was one of the many significant events of the first colonies. The effects on individuals that were involved were very severe. One example including a lady by the name of Abigail Hobbs. Abigail was a normal teenage girl that was arrested and prosecuted for witchcraft.
Social and monetary strains propelled the trials, during the 1690s. During the time when adults inside the town watched the crazed conduct of a few young girls, they decided the young ladies were not witches, but instead they were accused of taking part by the witchcraft of others on the girls. These young girls were badgered by the adults to tell the authorities who the witches are. But instead, the adults were telling the kids to tell authorities that neighbors and other colonists that they may disapprove of or wanted to get back at them. The reason for disapproval is thought to be because of the strict religious rules as well as societal rules that the puritans which are people who regarded the reformation of the church of England.
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During the trials there where over two hundred individuals had been accused of being witches by September of 1692. Not everybody that was put on trial for witchcraft was arrested by law enforcement. Between one hundred and forty people and one hundred and fifty people were captured for witchcraft during the search. The amount of people that died out of the one hundred and fifty people during the trials is twenty people. Nineteen of those individuals where hung fourteen of them being female and five of them being male. One individual was tortured to death as well as four more people who died in the holding while awaiting trial. The other caught people where either saw as blameworthy yet pardoned, found innocent, dodged capture or got away from prison or were never prosecuted.
The abundant number of accused witches caused overflow in jails, therefore, the accused witches where kept in multiple different jails in areas of Salem, Boston, and Ipswich. The accused witches were viewed as dangerous prisoners and were held in dungeons to prevent contact with the regular prisoners. The conditions of the prisons were very bad when it comes to the treatment of the prisoners. While imprisoned the accused witches were humiliated repeatedly by being forced to undergo full examinations of their bodies. What the authorities were trying to find is physical evidence such as witch marks, or devil’s marks that the accused individuals were witches. But the physical evidence witch marks that they were looking for in the examination were just birthmarks and moles. That would have led them to believe that whoever it is that they are examination was a witch. During the occurrence of the repeated examinations, the prisoners were stripped nude in front of a crowd of people poking and prodding, if any suspicious marks or moles where located during examinations they were pricked off with needles.
In order to determine if the case was an accusable case, they were taken to the Salem a special court called the Court of Oyer and Terminer, this court hearing is to determine whether to indict the accused. The accused were asked questions by a judge with a jury present, but were not able to have a defense attorney but could take witness statements. For the ones that unfortunate enough to be prosecuted and sentenced to execution by hanging. The location of where the prosecuted witches were executed is on a small hill called Proctor’s Ledge around the middle of Gallows Hill in Salem Town.
Before the Constitution, the Massachusetts government was primarily dominated by conservative puritan leaders. Puritans are opposed to most of the traditions of the Church of England one of them being the use of the Book of Common Prayer. King Charles was not very pleased with the presence of puritans and was very hostile towards them. Therefore, some Puritans and other small religious minorities looked for refuge in the Netherlands but most of them migrated to North America to establish their own society.
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