Salem Witch Trial Research Paper

Salem Witch Trials Named after the holy city of Jerusalem, Salem was founded in 1626 by English merchants who took advantage of the natural harbor and the abundant fishing the area provided. Fear of Devil-worship and witchcraft swept through Salem, Massachusetts, like a plague. During the years of 1692-1693, more than 200 people, men, women, and even children, were accused of witchcraft. Words of friends, neighbors, and even complete strangers put many people’s lives in danger; 19 were hung, 1 pressed to death, and 3 including 1 infant died in jail awaiting trial. The accusations, the trials, the executions, and the events leading up to and after the deaths, kept Salem Massachusetts, on its toes in this mass paranoia. In 1626 after
Sarah had long been suspected of bringing evil into Salem village. She was a known homeless beggar. After Ann Putnam fell ill under an ailment similar to Elizabeth Parris, Samuel Parris knew Tituba could not be responsible for her enchantment. Ann Putnam claimed she was tortured by Sarah Good, being pricked and pinched. The magistrates ordered Sarah Good be arrested and brought for examination. Sarah Good denied the charges and, when asked who hurt the children, replied that Sarah Osbourne was responsible. Sarah Good’s husband, William, and daughter, Dorothy, were brought to testify against Sarah Good. Meanwhile, in the Ipswich jail, Tituba confessed to
A warrant for Martha Corey was worn out the same day and the constable took one of the few level-headed people left in Salem away in chains. Joining Martha Corey shortly afterwards was Dorothy Good, who had been seen by the girls flying around the countryside on her “Pole,” and who was sneaking into their bedrooms at night and biting them. A cunning witch, Dorothy Good must have been, and apparently wise beyond her years. When accused, sorceress Dorothy Good joined her mother Sarah in Ipswich jail, she was five years old. Massachusetts Bay colony was in the midst of another crisis that was playing out across the Atlantic Ocean, far from where the people of Salem were battling the devil. In a bloodless rebellion of 1689, the royal governor, a doddering and senile old man, was overthrown by the people. The leading theologian in the colony, Increase Mathers, journeyed to the court of St. James in London to press King James II for a new charter and governor, Sir William