The First Innocent Life Lost: Bridget Bishop

That summer, after Rebecca Nurse’s trial on June 30^th, there were over a hundred people arrested for the accusations of witchcraft. They ranged from the ages 4 to 77. The four-year-old was Dorcas Good, daughter of Sarah Good. It was said that Dorcas had pleaded guilty, only so that she could be imprisoned with her mother. However, the typical trend seemed, that anyone who spoke out against the trials’ proceedings were the next to be accused; thus, leading to the accusations of several of the prisoners.

            Being one accused of witchcraft was a losing battle. The only way to save one’s life was to confess to the impossible crime. However, if one was to confess to witchcraft he or she would be condemned in society. They would not be allowed in church, and would be continuously and inevitably judged by their neighbors. On the other hand, if one did not confess, he or she would most likely have lost in court due to spectral evidence (those six Puritan girls’ fits during every denial made).

Sixty-five out of the approximate total of two hundred accused had confessed to witchcraft, allowing the assumption to be made that nearly 32.5% of those accused believed that being alive, but condemned was better than being dead. Regardless, there were still twenty-four people that had lost their lives due to the Salem Witch Trials, and each with their own stories.



Bridget Bishop (O'Linder 2009)

The first to lose her life in due to the accusations of the Salem Witch Trials was Bridget Bishop. Bishop was a woman who had been married three times. That was two too many for Puritans in 1692. With each husband, Bishop had no children. She was also a member of Mr. Hale’s Church congregation in Beverly. Despite the fact that she attended church, Bishop had probably the most accusers than any other of the accused. She was any easy target because she acted and dressed in an exotic manner. Bishop had numerous public fights with her husbands, entertained guests into late hours of the night, drank, played the “forbidden game of shovel board²¹,” and was the mistress of two thriving taverns in town. The lifestyle of Bridget Bishop broke the social norms of the Puritans.  

It was April 18, 1692 when a warrant was issued for Bishop’s arrest. Bishop was anything but a stranger to the court. In 1680 was charged again with witchcraft, and on many other occasions was sent there due to her very public and violent quarrels with her husband. However, this day in April 1692, was the first day that Bishop had actually seen and met her accusers. Just like Good’s, Osborne’s, and Nurse’s trials, Bishop was questioned by Mr. Harthorn and proven guilty due to the girls fits when she tried to deny the accusations.

Bishop was unfortunate enough to have the whole Salem village against her. Her very own brother-in-law claimed that “she sat up all night conversing with the Devil²²” and that “the Devil came bodily into her²².” With the claims, and a town of which she was considered an outsider, it was easy to predict Bishop’s fate: death at Gallows Hill. She was executed on June 10, eight days after her trial, acknowledging her innocence, exhibiting no signs of guilt. It is said that Bishop’s death was not unnoticed, which makes sense since she was the first to die. After her death, the court took a “short recess,” and a month would pass by before any more executions would occur.

Bishop was the first to die in this tragedy at Gallows Hill, but there would be eighteen more that would also have a death by hanging. All of the deaths are important, because it is important to remember what happen in these times of tragedy. All the innocent lives that were lost to a crime that they could not have possibly committed. There would be 23 more significant deaths that were recorded during this time, before the Puritans of Salem would see the errors of their ways.