The Witches Children

2 Pages 542 Words

In the summer of 1692, nineteen men and women were hanged after having been convicted of witchcraft. The hysteria began the previous winter and was over by early autumn of 1692.


To pass the cold winter days of 1692, several girls began meeting at Rev. Parris’ home. Tituba, the Parris’ slave from Barbados, entertained the girls with her stories of witchcraft and demons. Tituba also told the girls’ fortunes. Soon, Rev. Parris’ daughter, Betty, and her cousin, Abigail Williams, became frightened by the stories and fortunes, and they began to act strangely. They had terrible fits, darting around the house, screaming and crying and writhing as if they were in pain. Rev. Parris called Salem Village’s doctor, Willam Griggs because he thought the girls’ behavior might be an illness. The doctor failed to find any medical cause for their fits, so he concluded that the girls must be bewitched.





During that time period, most people believed one could make an agreement with the devil in exchange for evil powers. This was considered a great sin, and the girls didn’t speak out immediately. At the end of February, they began to accuse Tituba and other women in Salem Village of conspiring with the devil and practicing witchcraft. Other girls in the village, including Ann Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon, and Mary Warren, began to have similar fits, and they joined in the accusations. Soon, many villagers were arrested and jailed on charges of witchcraft.


Trials for the accused began in March. In order to receive a lesser sentence, some of the accused confessed their guilt and also spoke out against others. Because there were so many accused witches in jail, the governor set up a new court, the “court of oyer and terminer," specifically for the witchcraft cases. In the cases against the accused, “spectral evidence” (testimony that one was afflicted by someone’s specter, or ghost) was admitted, as wer...