The Salem Witch Trials Essay examples -- American History Witch Witche

The Salem transport TrialsThe Salem Witchcraft trials in Massachusetts during 1692 resulted in nineteen innocent men and women being hanged, one man press to death, and in the deaths of more than seventeen who died in jail. It all began at the closing curtain of 1691 when a few girls in the town began to experiment with magic by gathering around a crystal ball to assay to aim the answer to questions such as what trade their sweet harts should be of . This stir took place in the Parris household where a woman named Tituba, an Indian slave, headed the rituals. briefly after they had begun to practice these rituals, girls who had been involved, including the Master Parris daughter and niece, became sick. They had constant fits, twitched, cried, made particular(a) noises, and huddled in corners. The family called in doctors, and they were treated for many illnesses. Nothing helped. umteen weeks recentlyr after running out of reasons for their strange behavior, all of their s ymptoms seemed to dealer to one belief, The evil hand is upon them. They were possessed by the Devil. At inaugural the families of the children could not find anyone to accuse for being the witch responsible for possessing the children. Then, late in February of 1692, Parris neighbor, Mary Sibley recommended that Parris slaves, Tituba and John Indian, should work a spell to try to find the culprits. Even after trying this solution the girls condition worsened, and the pile responsible still had not been found. The girls began to see hazy shadows and believed that these shadows were of the people who had through with(p) this to them. After more and more children became victims of this, the hunting for the witches who were to blame for the girls sickness began to piss more serious.... ... eon, credibility of an accusation was not checked thoroughly, instead the mortal accused was simply locked up in jail until their trial time came. Even then, if they did not confess to be ing guilty, they were punished sometimes even killed. Although the law is innocent until proven guilty, and had been practiced before the trials, in the shimmy of the witchcraft trials, the accused witches were guilty until proven innocent. Not many were given(p) the chance to prove themselves to be innocent. Bibliography1. Guilley Ellen, Witches and Witchcraft (New York Facts on File, 1989), 152.2. Wilson, Lori Lee, The Salem Witch Trials (Minneapolis Lerner Publishing Company, 1997)3. Hoffer Peter, The Salem Witchcraft Trials A Legal History (Kansas University compaction of Kansas, 1997), 212.4. Zeinert, Karen. The Salem Witchcraft Trials, (New York F. Watts, 1989),