The Salem witch trials in New England, USA, began in 1692. It all started with the tales of spells and the occult told by Tituba, the West Indian slave of the Rev Samual Parris, who lived at the Salem parsonage. Sat in the kitchen, enthralled by such stories, were the Parris children – nine year old Elizabeth and her cousin, Abigail, eleven – and a number of children from the neighbourhood.
Such story sessions became a regular part of life for the girls, and one day they decided to try a form of divination for themselves, involving the dropping of egg whites into water. The shape of the egg white, they had been told, gave indications of the future. However, when one of the egg whites seemed to form the shape of a coffin, one of the girls became hysterical.
This, combined with Tituba’s other tales, caused a prolonged episode of mass hysteria among the young, pubescent girls. Several developed phantom pregnancies, Elizabeth suffered bouts of hysterical sobbing, Abigail took to running about on all fours, even barking like a dog. And a neighbour’s child – twelve year old Ann Putnam – fantasised a struggle with a witch who had tried to cut off her head. The girls suddenly realised they were the centre of attention.
Spurred on by the local doctor who, finding nothing physically wrong with them, announced that the evil hand is on them, Rev Parris asked them to name the witch who tormented them. Elizabeth named Tituba. And thus inspired, the girls began to name others such as Sarah Good, a hated, pipe-smoking local beggar, and Sarah Osborne, who’s only crime was to scandalise New England’s Puritan sensibilities by living in sin.
Tituba was put on trial, and fearing for her safety, she admitted being a witch. What is more, she was one of many in the local community. Rising to the occasion, the girls advised that they could identify a witch by simply touching them. Ann Putnam accused 71 year old Rebecca Nurse of killing children. Susanna Martin was accused of bewitching a neighbour’s cattle following an argument. And the former minister, Rev George Burroughs, was accused of being the ringleader.
By this time the hysteria had got well out of hand and the witchhunt spread to other nearby towns, resulting in 150 arrests and, seven months later, the execution of seven men and
thirteen women, including Rev Burroughs. One of the accused – 80 year old Giles Cory – refused to testify, thus being pressed to death, proving Tituba’s wisdom in confessing, for in confessing and helping to name others, she was spared.
The madness of Salem was finally stilled 18 months after it began. By this time it had infected the whole of New England society, and only came to an end when both the governor’s wife and the president of Harvard University were accused. This led Governor William Phips to pardon and release all those held in prison. Eventually even the executed were pardoned, and in 1711 the state compensated any surviving relatives of those executed with the vast sum of £600.
(c) Anthony North, Mar 2007
Paranormal UFO Occult
This is a post from Anthony North’s ‘alternative network.’ Current affairs posts almost daily on North’s Review and Eye on the World (this includes politics and links). North’s Review also has fiction, writers’ resources and TV reviews. For deeper issues, including paranormal, crime, environment and much more, Beyond the Blog is for you.
I’ve experienced much paranormal phenomena during my life. Here is one example.