Sources Through Entire Blog

^1: “Exodus”. In King James Bible Cambridge Ed. (Cambridge University 2005) 60.

^2: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^3: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^4: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^5: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^6: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^7: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^8: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^9: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^10: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^11: HistoryFeed. In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials. )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIEV9w65fc. (Feb 14, 2012)

^12: “Spectral evidence definition.” US Legal accessed on November 11, 2012 http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/spectral-evidence

^13: Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum.The Salem Witch Craft Papers, Volume 2.(New York, 1977, Da Capo Press). http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/transcripts.html

^14: Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum. The Salem Witch Craft Papers, Volume 3. (New York, 1977, Da Capo Press). http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/transcripts.html

 

^15:O, Douglas. Famous American Trials, "Rebecca Nurse." Last modified 2009. Accessed December 13, 2012. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/sal_bnur.htm
^16:O, Douglas. Famous American Trials, "Rebecca Nurse." Last modified 2009. Accessed December 13, 2012. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/sal_bnur.htm
^17:Harthorn, Jonathon, and Jonathon Corwin. Famous American Trials, "Examination of Bridget
Bishop." Last modified 2009. Accessed December 13, 2012. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASA_NURX.HTM 

^18:Cheever, Ezekial. Famous American Trials, "Examination of Bridget Bishop." Last modified 2009. Accessed December 13, 2012. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASA_BISX.HTM

^19: O'Linder, Douglas. Famous American Trials, "Bridget Bishop." Last modified 2009. Accessed December 13, 2012. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_BBIS.HTM .

 

^20: Boyer, Paul, Steven Nissenbaum, and Bernard Russenthal. Salem Possessed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 28

^21: Upham, Charles. Salem Witchcraft: Witch an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions. Mineola: dover Publishing, 1802-1875. 27

 

 

 

 

Confession and Courage

Elziabeth Parris and Abigail Williams accused Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba of witchcraft. These three women the first victims to be accused in the Salem village. All three women were tried in court by the Judges John Harthorn and Jonathon Curren in March 1692. In these trials Good and Osborne had both denied being an accomplice of the devil. Harthorn had asked both women, “What evil spirit have you familiarity with?” “None,” both women replied.
Harthorn pressed on, asking them questions such as “have you made no contract with the devil? Why did you hurt these children? And who did you employ to hurt them?” The women denied any type of association with the devil, and any wrong doing against the children. The children, Parris, Williams, and six other young Puritan girls went into fits every single time Good and Osbourne had denied the accusations. However, the women were not fully guilty until Tituba gave her testimony.  It was Tituba, that confessed to the acts of witchcraft. Here is her testimony that day in March 1692:

 
 

Harthorn: Tituba, what evil spirit have you familiarity with?

Tituba: None.

Harthorn: Why do you hurt these children?

Tituba: I do not hurt them.

Harthorn: Who is it then?

Tituba: The devil for ought I know.

Harthorn: Did you never see the devil?

Tituba: The devil came to me and bid me serve him.¹³

 

In Tituba’s testimony she also places blame on Good and Osborne for some of the young girls’ sufferings.

 

Harthorn: Who have you seen?

Tituba's Examination (O'Linder. Tituba)

Tituba: Four women sometimes hurt the children

Harthorn: Who were they?

Tituba: Osborne, and Sarah Good. And I do not know who the other were.

Sarah Good and Osborne would have me hurt the children but I would not. She

further saith there was a tale man of Boston that she did see…

Harthorn: When did you see them?

Tituba: Last night at Boston

Harthorn: What did they say to you?

Tituba: They said hurt the children

Harthorn: And did you hurt them?

Tituba: No, there is four women and one man they hurt the children and then lay all upon me and they tell me if I will not hurt the children, they will hurt me.

Harthorn: But did you not hurt them?

Tituba: Yes, but I will hurt them no more.¹⁴

           

Tituba’s testimony does go on to explain that the “tall man of Boston” made her sign her name in the Devil’s book with blood. According to Tituba there were a total of nine names in the Devil’s book. She claims that she recognized two of those nine names: Good’s and Osborne’s. This appalled many of the Puritan people because it meant that there were other witches living amongst them, “looking for an opportunity to have an effect for evil upon the godly community⁵.” The fear of ‘how many’ clenched hold of the Puritans’ attention. It turned neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend. The paranoia became too much for the Puritans to handle. It would imprison about two hundred innocent people and take the lives of twenty-four.

***The picture above is the actual document of Tituba's hearing, from which all the above is written.



Paranoia Strikes

It is believed that the cause of the mass paranoia that began the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 all began in the home of Pastor Samuel Parris. The Parris family had owned an Indian slave named Tituba. Elizabeth Parris, the daughter of Samuel and Betty Parris, at the age of nine, and her cousin Abigail Williams, at the age of eleven, were left in Tituba’s care. Tituba would often entice the young Puritan girls with tales and demonstrations of magic and power. These demonstrations often were of “voodoo tricks¹⁰.” As we have previously learned, the practice of this witchcraft is greatly against the Puritan religion. The young girls, being in relation and a part of a Pastor’s house hold were in fact accustomed to these beliefs. Yet, they were fascinated by this witchcraft, and managed to keep it a secret for quite some time.

Eventually the secret came about. The young girls began acting in “strange and aberrant ways¹¹.” They claimed that they felt pricked by pins and cut with knives. They fell into sorts of trances where they were tempted to commit suicide and had fits. They would scream shrilly, cry out, and throw items around. All of these were highly unusual for women who were in training to become submissive, quiet, pleasant members of society.



Tituba

Pastor Parris noted the young girls’ odd behavior and called Dr. William Griggs in an attempt to find physical cause. Dr. Griggs of course could find any physical means for the girls’ exotic behavior, and determined it of spiritual effects. It was common for witches to seduce and tempt others to follow the devil’s reign. Many also believed that if those whom the witches tried to seduce did not willingly give their soul to the devil that they would face such terrors. The girls were asked to identify the people that had affected them. The young girls pointed out three suspects; Tituba, Sara Good, and Sara Osborne. They were to be the first of three people accused within the Salem Village.

 Sarah Good and her family were known as the town beggars. She, herself, was notorious for her unsociably and unpleasant reputation. This made her appear odd to the rest of the community, and thus a perfect suspect to be tried for witchcraft. Sarah Osborne’s maiden name was Sarah Warren. She was originally married to Robert Prince. After Prince’s death Sarah had married an Irish servant of hers. Sarah had also tried to take over the Prince estate which rightfully, according to the will of her deceased husband, belonged to her children. This dispute made her an easy target for the witchcraft trials in 1692. But what did Tituba, Good, and Osborne have in common, besides their social outcast status? None of them went to church. It was said that those who were in association with the Devil could not hear the sermons because it would cause them pain.

The three women were tried with the accusations of witchcraft in March 1692. Their Judges were John Harthorn and Jonathon Curren. The purpose of these trials was to prove that there was sufficient evidence to accuse these women. However, the trials were plausibly insufficient because they depended greatly upon spectral evidence. Spectral evidence is defined as “a witness testimony that the accused person’s spirit or spectral shape appeared to said witness, in a dream at the time the accused person’s physical body was at another location¹².” Many claimed that the Devil had such great power that he could send visions to the religious people in order to lead them astray. These spectral evidences were often provided by the young girls accusing people of witchcraft. Notice the injustice?

Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba were the first to be accused and tried in the Salem village. They were all likely suspects because of their low status, their social outcast reputations, and their unwillingness to go to church. However, it was the testimony of one of these three women that produced paranoia and the fate that about 200 others would have to endure.