What were the outcomes of the salem witch trial

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At the center of the Salem witch trials were a core group of accusers, all girls and young women ranging in age from nine to 20, who screamed, writhed, barked and displayed other horrifying symptoms they claimed were signs of Satanic possession. These people often displayed symptoms or signs then thought to be the results of witchcraft they claimed were brought on by the people they accused.

But the truth is undoubtedly more complex, and impossible to know. An illustration depicting an officer leading away an elderly woman accused of witchcraft.

In January , a doctor was called to the home of Reverend Samuel Parris, the Puritan minister of Salem Village present-day Danvers, Massachusetts , after his nine-year-old daughter, Betty, and her year-old cousin, Abigail Williams, began exhibiting strange symptoms, such as convulsing, barking and speaking unintelligible words. Betty and Abigail soon accused Tituba , the enslaved woman owned by Samuel Parris, whose subsequent confession launched a full-blown witchcraft crisis in Salem.

Betty never attended the subsequent trials; her parents sent her away to live with family to avoid the uproar.

Samuel Parris was dismissed from his job as minister in Salem Village, and settled with Betty and the rest of his family in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Betty later married a shoemaker and had five children; she died in Abigail, on the other hand, played a prominent role in the Salem witch trials, accusing a total of 57 people of witchcraft.

Those who publicly questioned the guilt of a defendant were likely to be accused of witchcraft themselves. Mostly populated by Puritans, Salem Village was experiencing economic hardship in , and residents were only too willing to blame someone else for their troubles.

The accusers were generally young females between the ages of 11 and The mischief began when a group of girls accused Tituba, a slave from South America who had told their fortunes, of witchcraft after they became mysteriously ill. Responding to increased attention, the girls expanded their credibility by producing a plethora of new evidence against accused witches and spreading the hysteria to neighboring towns.

Encouraged by their elders and joined by some peers, the girls began accusing anyone they disliked or feared of being witches. In court, the girls submitted anecdotal evidence and exhibited strange behavior, including weeping, joking, jerking, barking, writhing, and screeching, to suggest that their accusers were using magic to attack them. Told that they would be shown mercy if they confessed, 54 of the accused witches admitted guilt. Families and friends often urged their loved ones to confess to save their lives.

Families sometimes turned on one another. When Margaret Jacobs confessed to witchcraft, she implicated several others, including her grandfather, Reverend George Burroughs. From February to May, events escalated until residents had been accused of witchcraft. Formal action was taken against individuals, who were often chained and thrown in jail for months under harsh conditions. At least 55 of the accused were tortured or terrified into admitting guilt.

Neither the young nor the old were spared. They would shriek, make weird sounds, crawl under furniture, and convulse into strange positions. With the seeds of paranoia planted, more accusations arose, and more people were arrested.

By the end of the month of May, a total of 62 individuals were in custody Roach Illustration of the Salem witch trials, depicting Mary Walcott, one of the afflicted victims. On June 2, , the Court of Oyer and Terminer to hear and decide was established to handle the large number of people in jail for witchcraft.

These trials relied heavily on spectral evidence, or testimony based on dreams or apparitions seen by the afflicted. Other evidence included confessions made by accused witches, and testimony by a guilty witch who pointed out others as witches.

In January , the new Superior Court of Judicature convened, and those who had been accused of witchcraft, but not yet tried, went on trial. The series of trials and executions finally ended in May The Salem witch trials are an infamous case of mass hysteria; they are an example of the consequences of religious extremism, false allegations, and lapses in the due legal processes.