The very first death of the Salem
Witch Hunt Trials in 1692 occurred on June 10th to Bridget Bishop. A
month and nine days later five more deaths would occur: Rebecca Nurse
Sarah Good, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes. We are already familiar with the
stories of Nurse and Good; Nurse, an old woman who was unlikely to be accused
(McFarland,Salem Bewitched, 5), and Good, a woman who was the town beggar, who just like
Bridget Bishop, no one particularly liked. However, Martin’s, Wildes’s, and
Howes’s stories are less likely to be told.
Martin was a sixty-seven year old
widow. She was married to George Martin and had eight children. She had been
accused of witchcraft before in1688, along with a battle over Martin’s
inheritance. When her father died, he left the majority of his estate to his
second wife. This angered Martin, and is what to be believed, was a huge reason
as to why she was accused of witchcraft.
There was a rumor that Wildes had
participated in illicit sex. The accusations made against her began years
before the Trials when she had married John Wildes. She was his second wife,
and his first wife’s sister had accused Wildes of putting a spell on her. Also,
Jonathon Wildes, Sarah’s stepson, began having fits shortly after she and his
father were married. Many thought that this was her demonic doing.
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| Elizabeth Howe's Tombstone |
Howe was a kind woman who was
accused of witchcraft. The only real reason she was accused was
because she had argued with some neighbors. They accused her of killing
their young daughter, along with two of their cows. Her brother-in-law testified
against her saying that she killed his sow and inflicted numbness in his hand.
One of the girls claimed that her specter had drug her to the Salem pond and
tried to drown her.
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| Sarah Good's Tombstone |
All five women were executed on
July 19, 1692. They were hanged at Gallows Hill. Something interesting, which
may have been a reason as to why another five people were executed on August
19, 1692, was Sarah Good’s last words. Before she was hanged, Sarah good
had cursed Judge Nicholas Noise. She said, “I am no more a witch than you are a
wizard and if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink.” When
Noise was to die, he died choking on his own blood.
The next to be
hanged at Gallows hill were George
Burroughs, Martha Carrier, John Willard,
George Jacobs, Sr., and John Proctor.
George Burroughs was minister for three years (1680-1683).
He was seen as the “Leader of Witches23.” This accusation
was made for many reasons: he survived many brutal attacks from Wabnaki Indians,
he was supposedly jealous of Deodat Lawson for having the job Burroughs
desired, and his first two wives had died. It was said by the Putnam family
that Burroughs was cruel to his wives. One of these wives were also related to
Judge Harthorn, the judge who had questioned and sentenced all of the previous
accused to death.
Martha Carrier was known as the “Queen of Hell.24”
She was like many of the first women accused, for she had a low status and was
very poor. The interesting thing about Carrier’s story was that her whole family
was thought to be witches. Her sons Richard and Andrew were tied
neck to heels until blood was ready to come out of their noses, so that they
would confess. This caused her younger children, Sarah and Thomas Jr., to
testify against her in court. They also claimed themselves to be witches.
Although there is
little known about John Willard, one thing we do know, is that he was also betrayed
by family. The first person to accuse him was Ann Putnam. She not only blamed
him for supposedly tormenting her, but for the death of her baby sister. In
distress, Willard sought for help through his wife’s grandfather. However, they
were unable to meet up at the time. Later, his wife’s grandfather had seen
Willard at a dinner party in Boston, where he claimed that Willard “looked
after such a sort upon me as I never before discerned in any25.”
After this encounter he began to feel ill, and was in suffering when it came to
urinating. He blamed this on Willard, claiming him, as a witch. This was more
apparent to Willard’s wife’s grandfather when Daniel, his grandson, had become
deathly ill, after wishing that Willard would be hanged. Unfortunately, Daniel
had died, and the court had deemed it as an unnatural death due to evidence,
bringing Willard to his inevitable fate on August 19th, 1962.
George Jacobs Sr.
was about 72 when he was arrested on May 10th, 1692. He was arrested
with his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs. Their primary accuser was Sarah Churchill,
who had accused them during her testimony as she was being tried for
witchcraft. Margaret Jacobs had also become her grandfather’s accusers, in
hopes that she would save herself. Jacobs also had many other accusers. Many of
which were women, who accused him of beating them with his walking stick and by
other physical means. Men who had accused Jacobs claimed that his specter was
what caused many women to suffer in May 11. Jacobs, being a feisty old man,
laughed in court as he was accused. He said many things such as, “You tax me
for a wizard, you may as well tax me for a buzzard I have done no harm,” and “Well:
burn me, or hang me, I will stand in the truth of Christ, I know nothing of it26.”
John Proctor was a
man that was sixty years of age. He was unlike many, for he was a
well-established man. His story plays into Carol Karlsen’s theory that those
with property were victims of the Salem Witch Hunt Trials. This was only
because their land would become government property, thus making others rich
and prosperous.
The last set of hangings at Gallows Hill occurred
on September 22nd, 1962. In this hanging eight lives were taken: Martha Corey, Mary Eastey,
Ann Pudeator, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, Wilmott Redd,
Margaret Scott, and Samuel Wardwell.
Martha Corey was an accepted member
of the Salem Church, and was the first to break the mold of those typically
accused. It was Corey’s impure history that made her a target. When Corey was
in her youth she had given birth to an illegitimate son.29 Martha
tried to cease the theory that she was a witch by reciting scriptures. Another
major reason as to why Corey was accused was that she was skeptical to the
notion that witches even existed. Her questioning the authenticity of the girls
fits and the existence of witches made her an easy target.
Mary Eastery was the sister of
Rebecca Nurse. It is said that she was “condemned for her unwavering appeal of
innocence30.” She was not a member of Salem, for she resided in
Topsfield. Harthorn the major contributor to the sentencing of the accused
harshly questioned Eastery:
Harthorn: How
can you say you know nothing when you see these tormented [girls], and accuse
you that you know nothing?
Eastery: Would
you have me accuse myself?
Harthorn: Yes if you be guilty.
Eastery: Sir, I never complied but prayed against
[the devil] all my days... I will say it, if it was my last time, I am clear of
this sin.
She
was convicted due to her claims of her innocence, and was hanged at Gallows
Hill.
Ann
Pudeator was a twice-widowed woman who had property. She had five children with
her first husband. She was said to be in a paid profession of a mid-wife or
nurse after the death of her first husband. What made Pudeator a target, was
that later became the wife of Jacob Pudeator, a man whose wife Ann had tended
too during her illness. Ann and Jacob married less than a year after Jacob’s
first wife had passed.
Alice Parker accused by the same
person as John Proctor. She was arrested in September, and hanged shortly
after.
Mary Parker was from Andover, and
she came to trial in Salem. The whole time that she was in trial she was sure
that they had the wrong person. There is no significant documentation as to why
Parker had become a part of the Salem Witch Hunt Trials in 1692, who were
accused. The little that is actually known about Parker is that she was from a
wealthy family and Nathan Parker’s second wife.
Wilmott Redd was the only person
from Marblehead to be accused. She had a volatile temper and was notorious for
fighting with her neighbors. It is said that she sent her specter to Salem to
torment one of the six Puritan girls.
Margaret Scott was the only person
to be accused from the town of Rowley.
There were many reasons as to why the people in her community thought of
her as a witch: her low stature, number of child fatalities, widowhood, and
begging. Scott had a total of seven children; only three survived. She was
seventy-seven when she was tried for witchcraft.
Samuel Wardwell was born to a Quaker
family. His profession was carpentry. When he moved to Andover to find work, he
ended up marrying his second wife. She was a wealthy woman, and her wealth was
a big contributor as to why he was accused. Many thought that Wardwell was
unfit to marry such a wealthy woman. During his examination he had originally
plead guilty, but his conscience and pride had gotten the best of him. He
recanted his original story, and was hanged at Gallows Hill.
The last two picture citations:
George Jacob Sr. Trial: (O'Linder 2009)
The hangin witch: (Pea Body Essexd Muesuem)
