Although I have always found the Salem Witch Trials to be one of the
most sadest events in human history, I very rarely read anything
about them anymore. Every time I see a small child pretending to be a
witch on Halloween it always brings a tear to my eyes. Little do they
know in their innocent little hearts the troubles their pretensions
might have caused them if we were still back in the latter half of the
17th Century. The reasons for this are mostly because of the sad cases
associated with the Salem Witch Trials and especially those of Giles
Cory and Mary Easty.
MAR-23--- 1692 [SUN]----Salem Marshal Deputy Samuel Brabrook arrests
four-year-old Dorcas Good.
MAR-24--- 1692 [MON]----Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Good's four-and-a-half-
year-old daughter Dorcas Good are examined by
Hathorne and Corwin and then thrown into
prison. At some point during her eight month
stay in the dungeons, Dorcas went insane.
Halloween is most definitely a fun time for adults and kids alike.
Besides Christmas, it's my favourite time of the year. However, when it
comes to mixing the illusion of happiness and fun with the realities
and harshness of life, Halloween beats Christmas hands down. Whether
it's watching scary movies, telling or listening to ghost stories,
carving out pumpkins, or sneaking up to that scary old house at the end
of the block with the squeaky gate, or just dressing up like a ghost,
an alien, cowboy, Native American, princess, Freddy, a warlock, or even
a witch; nothing can compete with a good old-fashion Halloween scare.
All of that is fun and scary stuff don't you think? But, no matter how
much fun all that scary stuff can be on Halloween, it does have a sober
side to it. When I first started looking into the Salem Witch Trials,
that's when my happy Halloween thoughts were first hijacked and forced
to travel down the rough and dirty back roads of human meanness, and
also when I began to realize the underlying darkness behind some of the
seemingly harmless and funny characters that populated the Halloween
landscape.
Take witches for example --oh boy, especially witches. Oh sure when you
see one trick or treating on Halloween night, it's usually a young
little girl wearing a black dress, a pointy black hat and sometimes
carrying a broom. "Oh how cute", or "What a pretty little witch you
are", or "You are such a little cutie" is usually what you hear or say.
Are these the images you have of what a witch is? Or, do you picture a
voodoo queen living in a swamp shack outside of New Orleans somewhere
deep in the bayous of the Mississippi delta? Or, do you see three witch
hags cackling over a boiling cauldron filled with batwings and eyes of
newt like the ones described in Shakespeare's "Macbeth"? Or, are they
all beautiful woman like the ones portrayed by Cher, Susan Sarandon,
and Michelle Pfeiffer in George Miller's "The Witches of Eastwick"?
Or, is your image more like the funny side you see in some of the TV
series being run nowadays like "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"? Talking
about "Sabrina", has anyone seen the "Archies" comic book series the
show is based on? The question I have is why hasn't Archie or Jughead
or Betty or Veronica or Reggie, Midge, Moose, or even Dilton ever made
an appearance? I mean they all went to Riverdale High School didn't
they? Just curious.
Actually, witches are a combination of all the above mixed in with a
couple hundred different pages randomly selected from any telephone
book in the United States or the world. In other words, there is no
real generalized version of what a real witch looks like or how they
act. They can look like you, me or anyone on your block or in
your city. They aren't all cute either or ugly or any different from
anyone you know or anyone that anyone knew throughout history. What you
think a witch is can depend on your personal experiences, opinions,
exposure, and religious upbringing.
In reality, what a witch really looks like or how they act depends not
on what we each think, but upon the individual witch. It's been my
experience that witches aren't bad or evil or even intentionally evil
in even the smallest way.
As a matter of fact, I consider myself a student of the craft. The
modern definition of a witch, as I understand it, is someone who wants
to become one with the universe and use the energy that flows through
it for the good of the cosmos or a universal good or a good that
transcends the here and now or something like that. Atleast, that's how
I've conducted my life ever since I've begun learning and practicing
the art of witchcraft. Maybe I'm so close to the art of being a witch,
that I am blinded by my biases. But, I do have to say (for what it's
worth) that I have yet to meet a fellow witch who isn't a loving and
caring friend and neighbour and more than happy to take the time to
help me furthur my studies. You can take that (like I just said) for
what you think it's worth.
But that wasn't the case back in 1692. Back then, being a witch wasn't
"funny" or "cute" like it sometimes is today --not by a long shot. Not
to say that witches were evil back then. They were just perceived as
such by Puritans and many other religious groups of the day. The
practice of witchcraft was even considered by English law, during that
time, to be a capital crime. The Salem Witch Trials are an excellent
example of how witches were misperceived and feared because they were
thought to be evil and in league with the devil.
Even though you still hear or read in the news today about someone who
is stoned to death because they were thought to be a witch, it still
isn't as rampant or as widespread as it was back during the Salem
Witch Trials.
It was a scary time to be alive. Even if you weren't a witch. Colonists
lived every day with the fear, always scratching at the very back of
their brains, that at any minute they could be slaughtered by a rowdy
band of Native Americans (not realizing that Native Americans had the
same fears also), or the fear that they could be strickened and die
from any of the hundreds and hundreds of unseen diseases and ailments
which were floating around like invisible devils. The horrors of
the black plague were still a relatively recent memory, and since the
science of microbiology was still years away, witches turned out to be
the perfect scapegoat. Mix in all the political, social, and religious
turmoil occuring at the local level and throughout the state of
Massachusetts and the rest of the colonies at that time, and you have
the perfect recipe for the explosive disaster that was soon to follow.
--------- 1629 ---------Salem, Massachusetts is settled.
--------- 1641 ---------English law makes witchcraft a capital crime.
--------- 1684 ---------England declares that the colonies may not
self-govern.
--------- 1688 ---------Following an argument with laundress Goody
Glover, Martha Goodwin, 13, begins exhibiting
bizarre behaviour. Days later her younger
brother and two sisters exhibit similar
behaviour. Glover is arrested and tried for
bewitching the Goodwin children. Reverend
Cotton Mather meets twice with Glover following
her arrest in an attempt to persuade her to
repent her witchcraft. Glover is hanged. Mather
takes Martha Goodwin into his house. Her
bizarre behaviour continues and worsens.
--------- 1689 ---------Cotton Mather publishes "Memorable Providences,
Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions" which
is considered, if not the first than, one of
the first books relating to the paranormal.
"Providences" is based on his study and
observations concerning the Goodwin case.
NOV------ 1689 ---------Samuel Parris is named the new minister of
Salem. Parris moves to Salem from Boston, where
"Memorable Providence" was published.
OCT-16--- 1691 [TUE]----Villagers vow to drive Parris out of Salem and
stop contributing to his salary.
Most everyone pretty much knows most of the basic facts, but in case
you don't; on January 20, 1692, two Salem children (nine-year-old
Elizabeth Parris and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams) begin behaving
strangely. In February, Doctor Griggs (mostly because he couldn't find
any real physical cause) suggested that witchcraft may be the root
cause of all this strange behaviour. Not too long after the Doctor made
his suggestion, Ann Putnam, Jr and several other young girls joined
Parris and Williams to begin exhibiting their own strange behaviours,
and then the accusations started.
FEB-LATE- 1692 ---------Pressured by ministers and townspeople to say
who caused her odd behaviour, Elizabeth
identifies Tituba. The girls later accuse Sarah
Good and Sarah Osborne of witchcraft.
FEB-LATE- 1692 ---------Prayer services and community fasting were
conducted by Reverend Samuel Parris in hopes of
relieving the evil forces that plagued them.
FEB-25--- 1692 [MON]----Tituba (some sources name John Indian), at the
request of neighbour Mary Sibley, bakes a
"witch cake" and feeds it to a dog. According
to an English folk remedy, feeding a dog this
kind of cake, which contained the urine of the
afflicted, would (depending on which source you
read) counteract the spell put on Elizabeth and
Abigail. The reason (again, depending upon
which source you read) the cake is fed to a dog
is because the dog is believed a "familiar" of
the Devil. This counter-magic (again, depending
upon which source you read) was also meant to
reveal the identities of the "witches" to the
afflicted girls.
FEB-29--- 1692 [FRI]----Arrest warrants are issued for Tituba, Sarah
Good and Sarah Osborne. Although Osborne and
Good maintained innocence, Tituba confessed to
seeing the devil who appeared to her "sometimes
like a hog and sometimes like a great dog".
What's more, Tituba testified that there was a
conspiracy of witches at work in Salem.
MAR-11--- 1692 [TUE]----Ann Putnam, Jr. shows symptoms of affliction by
witchcraft. Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Mary
Warren later allege affliction as well.
MAR-12--- 1692 [WED]----Ann Putnam, Jr. accuses Martha Cory of
witchcraft.
MAR-19--- 1692 [WED]----Abigail Williams denounces Rebecca Nurse as a
witch.
By the end of October, atleast 200 people (and maybe more) were accused
of witchcraft and around 150 were jailed as a result of these
accusations. Out of these 150 people, 19 were executed, 1 was pressed
to death, and 4 died in prison. The number of those who died in prison
varies from four to seventeen, and the actual number and names depends
on which source you read, but atleast four are universally accepted as
actually dying in prison as a result of the Salem witch hunt hysteria.
Yes, you read that right. Within the span of seven months, from late
February until September 22nd, twenty people were accused and executed
or pressed to death because they were thought to be witches. It should
be mentioned that all those who were executed, were executed not
because they were witches, but because they refused to admit that they
were witches. Those who confessed were kept alive so they could point
out more witches who were later arrested and then brought in for
questioning, and then hanged if they didn't confess.
This looping travesty of injustice and illogic so horrendously and
viciously fed off itself that to this day, it's still heatedly debated
whether or not it was all driven by either religious fervor or personal
vendettas or both. All we can do is acknowledge that it is another very
sad historical example of how theocratic fanaticism can very easily be
allowed to run amok.
Even with all those stories of zealotry gone mad, the two victims that
have forever stuck with me are Giles Cory and Mary Easty. Their stories
are equally sad not only because in my opinion they were innocent, but
probably more so because they could easily have avoided the whole
death penalty scene by simply admitting they were witches. But,
admitting to such a crime was so repugnant to them that they decided to
die rather than confess.
Of the twenty people who were executed, Giles Cory is an interesting
case, not only because he was not officially executed, but because
of the reasons and the way he died. At the time, if someone were found
guilty at the trial then all their property could be seized by the
courts, and thus Cory would have had nothing to leave his family. I'm
not sure whether this applied in all criminal cases, but it did apply
in this specific case. Cory saw how all the other trials had gone and
realized that no matter how he pleaded, he was going to be found guilty
and hanged and his family would lose everything. Unless he confessed,
but like I said earlier, this was not an option to him, so he figured
the only way to stop what was going to happen was to refuse to plead.
By refusing to plead, he couldn't be tried, which meant he couldn't be
found guilty, and as a result, his property would stay with his family.
When the court found that he wasn't going to plead, they administered
the Piene Forte Et Durebe (pressed to death) until he was forced to
plead. Being an obstinate old cuss by nature and angered by not only
being tricked into testifying against his wife, but also the real
possibility that his family would lose everything; Giles Cory kept his
mouth shut even as rock after rock was placed on top of his chest.
After almost forty eight hours under all that weight, his rib cage
finally cracked crushing all the air out of his lungs and he died.
Which brings us to the Mary Easty case. As I said earlier, even though
you could paint everyone who was accused as a tragic figure, and even
though Cory's death was a horrifying case in and of itself, whenever I
think of the Salem cases, Mary Easty's story touches my heart more
uniquely and more deeply than anyone else's.
On March 19th when Abigail Williams accused Rebecca Nurse of being a
witch, Mary Easty stuck up for her sister and denounced her accusers.
A month later on April 22, Mary Easty was herself accused and brought
in for questioning. After her examination, she was committed to prison
to await trial. For some unknown reason, she was released on May 18th.
Her accusers threw such a tirade of fits that after two days of sweet
freedom, she was awoken in the middle of the night and almost literally
dragged screaming from her husband's arms and thrown back into prison.
On September 9th after a short trial, she was pronounced guilty and
sentenced to hang. Not too long after the trial, Dorcas Hoar, one of
those tried and sentenced along with Mary Easty, broke down and,
in order to save herself from the gallows, confessed to being a witch.
Mary refused to confess and in an eloquent yet simple petition to the
court begged them, not for her own life for she knew she was lost, but
that they reconsider their actions and stop the spilling of more
innocent blood.
Her petition is one of the most haunting things I have ever read and
one of the reasons why Halloween is not only a time of fun and
happiness for me, but also a time of quiet and sober reflection. If you
never want to cry on Halloween or feel the sadness of utter despair on
such a happy and joyful holiday, I beg of you not to read the rest of
her story.
Whenever I picture her in a dark, dank prison cell, knowing she will
soon die and never again be able to see or be with her husband or kids
ever again, writing the following words, I am never able to stop myself
from crying:
"The humbl petition of mary Eastick unto his Excellency's S'r W'm
Phipps to the honour'd Judge and Bench now Sitting in Judicature in
Salem and the Reverend ministers humbly sheweth
"That whereas your poor and humble petitioner being condemned to
die Doe humbly begg of you to take it into your Judicious and pious
considerations that your Poor and humble petitioner knowing my own
Innocencye Blised be the Lord for it and seeing plainly the wiles
and subtility of my accusers by my Selfe can not but Judge
charitably of others that are going the same way of my selfe if the
Lord stepps not mightily in i was confined a whole month upon the
same account that I am condemned now for and then cleared by the
afflicted persons as some of your honours know and in two dayes
time I was cryed out upon by them and have been confined and now am
condemned to die the Lord above knows my Innocence then and
Likewise does now as att the great day will be know to men and
Angells -- I Petition to your honours not for my own life for I
know I must die and my appointed time is sett but the Lord he
knowes it is that if it be possible no more Innocent blood may be
shed which undoubtidly cannot be Avoyded In the way and course you
goe in I question not but your honours does to the uttmost of your
Powers in the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and witches and
would not be gulty of Innocent blood for the world but by my own
Innocency I know you are in this great work if it be his blessed
you that no more Innocent blood be shed I would humbly begg of you
that your honors would be plesed to examine theis Afflicted Persons
strictly and keep them apart some time and Likewise to try some of
these confesing wichis I being confident there is severall of them
has belyed themselves and others as will appeare if not in this
wor[l]d I am sure in the world to come whither I am now agoing and
I Question not but youle see and alteration of thes things they my
selfe and others having made a League with the Divel we cannot
confesse I know and the Lord knowes as will shortly appeare they
belye me and so I Question not but they doe others the Lord above
who is the Searcher of all hearts knows that as I shall answer att
the Tribunall seat that I know not the least thinge of witchcraft
therfore I cannot I dare not belye my own soule I beg your honers
not to deny this my humble petition from a poor dy ing Innocent
person and I Question not but the Lord will give a blesing to yor
endevers."
[reverse side]
"To his Excellency S'r W'm Phipps: Govern'r and to the honoured
Judge and Magistrates now setting in Judicature in Salem."
Like all the petitions and pleas that came before hers, the court
coldly ignored her and on September 22nd she and all those who were
sentenced with her were taken to the hanging tree. All along the way,
her accusers and many of the townfolks harrased and tormented them
mercilessly all the way to the top of Gallows Hill. When they arrived
and before her sentence was carried out, Mary Easty prayed for the end
of the witch hunts and executions. Easty's last words with her husband
and children were so heart breaking that the many who were there
expressed them "as serious, religious, distinct, and affectionate as
could be expressed, drawing tears from the eyes of almost all present."
Mary Easty was then hanged and literally strangled painfully at the
end of the rope for more than five minutes while everyone watched
silently until finally, and mercifully, she died. Her body was then cut
down and unceremoniously pushed into a crevice on top of all the other
bodies of all those who had been hanged before her.
------------------------------------TIMELINE-----------------------------------
| TIMELINE | LIST of the DEAD | MISCELLANEA | BIBLIOGRAPHY | WEBSITE REFERENCES | TOP |
--------- 1629 ---------Salem, Massachusetts is settled.
--------- 1641 ---------English law makes witchcraft a capital crime.
--------- 1684 ---------England declares that the colonies may not
self-govern.
--------- 1688 ---------Following an argument with laundress Goody
Glover, Martha Goodwin, 13, begins exhibiting
bizarre behaviour. Days later her younger
brother and two sisters exhibit similar
behaviour. Glover is arrested and tried for
bewitching the Goodwin children. Reverend
Cotton Mather meets twice with Glover following
her arrest in an attempt to persuade her to
repent her witchcraft. Glover is hanged. Mather
takes Martha Goodwin into his house. Her
bizarre behaviour continues and worsens.
--------- 1689 ---------Cotton Mather publishes "Memorable Providences,
Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions" which
is considered, if not the first than, one of
the first books relating to the paranormal.
"Providences" is based on his study and
observations concerning the Goodwin case.
NOV------ 1689 ---------Samuel Parris is named the new minister of
Salem. Parris moves to Salem from Boston, where
"Memorable Providence" was published.
OCT-16--- 1691 [TUE]----Villagers vow to drive Parris out of Salem and
stop contributing to his salary.
JAN-20--- 1692 [SUN]----Eleven-year-old Abigail Williams and nine-year-
old Elizabeth Parris begin exhibiting strange
behaviour (much as the Goodwin children had
acted four years earlier) such as blasphemous
screaming, convulsive seizures, trance-like
states and mysterious spells. Within a short
time, several other Salem girls began to
demonstrate similar behaviour.
FEB-MID-- 1692 ---------Doctor Griggs; who attends to the "afflicted"
girls, and because he is unable to determine
any physical cause for the symptoms and
dreadful behaviour; concludes (depending on the
source you read) that the girls were under the
influence of Satan. At the same time (again,
depending upon the source you read), he also
suggests that witchcraft may be the cause of
their strange behaviour.
FEB-LATE- 1692 ---------Pressured by ministers and townspeople to say
who caused her odd behaviour, Elizabeth
identifies Tituba. The girls later accuse Sarah
Good and Sarah Osborne of witchcraft.
FEB-LATE- 1692 ---------Prayer services and community fasting were
conducted by Reverend Samuel Parris in hopes of
relieving the evil forces that plagued them.
FEB-25--- 1692 [MON]----Tituba (some sources name John Indian), at the
request of neighbour Mary Sibley, bakes a
"witch cake" and feeds it to a dog. According
to an English folk remedy, feeding a dog this
kind of cake, which contained the urine of the
afflicted, would (depending on which source you
read) counteract the spell put on Elizabeth and
Abigail. The reason (again, depending upon
which source you read) the cake is fed to a dog
is because the dog is believed a "familiar" of
the Devil. This counter-magic (again, depending
upon which source you read) was also meant to
reveal the identities of the "witches" to the
afflicted girls.
FEB-29--- 1692 [FRI]----Arrest warrants are issued for Tituba, Sarah
Good and Sarah Osborne. Although Osborne and
Good maintained innocence, Tituba confessed to
seeing the devil who appeared to her "sometimes
like a hog and sometimes like a great dog".
What's more, Tituba testified that there was a
conspiracy of witches at work in Salem.
MAR-11--- 1692 [TUE]----Ann Putnam, Jr. shows symptoms of affliction by
witchcraft. Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Mary
Warren later allege affliction as well.
MAR-12--- 1692 [WED]----Ann Putnam, Jr. accuses Martha Cory of
witchcraft.
MAR-19--- 1692 [WED]----Abigail Williams denounces Rebecca Nurse as a
witch.
MAR-21--- 1692 [FRI]----Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin examine Martha
Cory.
MAR-23--- 1692 [SUN]----Salem Marshal Deputy Samuel Brabrook arrests
four-year-old Dorcas Good.
MAR-24--- 1692 [MON]----Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Good's four-and-a-half-
year-old daughter Dorcas Good are examined by
Hathorne and Corwin and then thrown into
prison. At some point during her eight month
stay in the dungeons, Dorcas went insane.
MAR-28--- 1692 [FRI]----Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft.
APR-03--- 1692 [THU]----Sarah Cloyce, after defending her sister,
Rebecca Nurse, is accused of witchcraft.
APR-11--- 1692 [FRI]----Hathorne and Corwin examine Sarah Cloyce and
Elizabeth Proctor. On the same day Elizabeth's
husband, John, who protested the examination of
his wife, becomes the first man accused of
witchcraft and is incarcerated.
APR-EARLY 1692 ---------The Proctors' servant and accuser, Mary Warren,
admits lying and accuses the other accusing
girls of lying.
APR-13--- 1692 [SUN]----Ann Putnam, Jr. accuses Giles Cory of
witchcraft and alleges that a man who died at
Cory's house also haunts her.
APR-19--- 1692 [SAT]----Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Giles Cory and
Mary Warren are examined. Deliverance Hobbs
confesses to practicing witchcraft. Mary Warren
reverses her statement made in early April and
rejoins the accusers.
APR-22--- 1692 [TUE]----Mary Easty, another of Rebecca Nurse's sisters
who defended her, is examined by Hathorne and
Corwin. Hathorne and Corwin also examine
Nehemiah Abbott, William and Deliverance Hobbs,
Edward and Sarah Bishop, Mary Black, Sarah
Wildes, and Mary English.
APR-30--- 1692 [WED]----Several girls accuse former Salem minister
George Burroughs of witchcraft.
MAY-02--- 1692 [FRI]----Hathorne and Corwin examine Sarah Morey, Lydia
Dustin, Susannah Martin and Dorcas Hoar.
MAY-04--- 1692 [SUN]----George Burroughs is arrested in Maine.
MAY-07--- 1692 [WED]----George Burroughs is returned to Salem and
placed in jail.
MAY-09--- 1692 [FRI]----Corwin and Hathorne examine Burroughs and
Sarah Churchill. Burroughs is moved to a Boston
jail.
MAY-10--- 1692 [SAT]----Corwin and Hathorne examine George Jacobs and
his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs. Sarah
Osborne dies in prison.
MAY-14--- 1692 [WED]----Increase Mather and Sir William Phipps, the
newly elected governor of the colony, arrive in
Boston. They bring with them a charter ending
the 1684 prohibition of self-governance within
the colony.
MAY-18--- 1692 [SUN]----Mary Easty is released from prison. Following
protest by her accusers, she is again arrested.
Roger Toothaker is also arrested on charges of
witchcraft.
MAY-27--- 1692 [TUE]----Phipps issues a commission for a Court of Oyer
and Terminer and appoints as judges John
Hathorne, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew
Gednew, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait
Still Winthrop, and Lieutenant Governor William
Stoughton.
MAY-31--- 1692 [SAT]----Hathorne, Corwin and Gednew examine Martha
Carrier, John Alden, Wilmott Redd, Elizabeth
Howe and Phillip English. English and Alden
later escape prison and do not return to Salem
until after the trials end.
JUN-02--- 1692 [MON]----Bridget Bishop is the first to be tried and
convicted of witchcraft. She is sentenced to
die.
JUN-08--- 1692 [SUN]----Eighteen year old Elizabeth Booth shows
symptoms of affliction by witchcraft.
JUN-10--- 1692 [TUE]----Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill.
Following the hanging Nathaniel Saltonstall
resigns from the court and is replaced by
Corwin.
JUN-15--- 1692 [SUN]----Cotton Mather writes a letter requesting the
court not use spectral evidence as a standard
and urging that the trials be speedy. The Court
of Oyer and Terminer pays more attention to the
request for speed and less attention to the
criticism of spectral evidence.
JUN 16--- 1692 [MON]----Roger Toothaker dies in prison.
JUN-29-30 1692 ---------Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Sarah Wildes,
Sarah Good, and Elizabeth Howe are tried,
pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.
JUL-19--- 1692 [SAT]----Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe,
Sarah Good and Sarah Wildes are hanged at
Gallows Hill.
AUG-05--- 1692 [TUE]----George Jacobs, Martha Carrier, George
Burroughs, John Willard and John and Elizabeth
Proctor are pronounced guilty and sentenced to
hang.
AUG-19--- 1692 [TUE]----George Jacobs, Martha Carrier, George
Burroughs, John Willard and John Proctor are
hanged on Gallows Hill. Elizabeth Proctor is
not hanged because she is pregnant.
AUG-20--- 1692 [WED]----Margaret Jacobs recants the testimony that led
to the execution of her grandfather George
Jacobs and Burroughs.
SEP-09--- 1692 [TUE]----Martha Cory, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann
Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar and Mary Bradbury are
pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.
SEP-MID-- 1692 ---------Giles Cory is indicted.
SEP-17--- 1692 [WED]----Margaret Scott, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell,
Mary Parker, Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca Earnes,
Mary Lacy, Ann Foster and Abigail Hobbs are
tried and sentenced to hang.
SEP-19--- 1692 [FRI]----Sheriffs administer Piene Forte Et Dure
(pressing) to Giles Cory after he refuses to
enter a plea to the charges of witchcraft
against him.
SEP-22--- 1692 [MON]----Martha Cory, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice
Parker, Ann Pudeator, Willmott Redd, Samuel
Wardwell, and Mary Parker are hanged. Hoar
escapes execution by confessing.
OCT-03--- 1692 [FRI]----The Reverend Increase Mather, President of
Harvard College and father to Cotton Mather,
denounces the use of spectral evidence.
OCT-08--- 1692 [WED]----Governor Phipps orders that spectral evidence
no longer be admitted in witchcraft trials.
OCT-29--- 1692 [WED]----Phipps prohibits further arrests, releases many
accused witches, and dissolves the Court of
Oyer and Terminer.
NOV-25--- 1692 [TUE]----The General Court establishes a Superior Court
to try remaining witches.
DEC-03--- 1692 [WED]----Ann Foster dies in prison.
JAN-03--- 1693 [SAT]----Judge Stoughton orders execution of all
suspected witches who were exempted by their
pregnancy. Phipps denied enforcement of the
order causing Stoughton to leave the bench.
JAN------ 1693 ---------49 of the 52 surviving people brought into
court on witchcraft charges are released
because their arrests were based on spectral
evidence.
MAR-10--- 1693 [TUE]----Lydia Dustin dies in prison.
--------- 1693 ---------Tituba is released from jail and sold to a new
master.
MAY------ 1693 ---------Phipps pardons those still in prison on
witchcraft charges.
JAN-14--- 1697 [MON]----The General Court orders a day of fasting and
soul-searching for the tragedy at Salem. Moved,
Samuel Sewall publicly confesses error and
guilt.
--------- 1697 ---------Minister Samuel Parris is ousted as minister in
Salem and replaced by Joseph Green.
--------- 1702 ---------The General Court declares the 1692 trials
unlawful.
--------- 1706 ---------Ann Putnam, Jr., one of the leading accusers,
publicly apologizes for her actions in 1692.
--------- 1711 ---------The colony passes a legislative bill restoring
the rights and good names of those accused of
witchcraft and grants 600 pounds in restitution
to their heirs.
--------- 1752 ---------Salem Village is renamed Danvers.
--------- 1957 ---------Massachusetts formally apologizes for the
events of 1692.
--------- 1992 ---------On the 300th anniversary of the trials, a
witchcraft memorial designed by James Cutler
is dedicated in Salem.
---------------------------------LIST OF THE DEAD--------------------------------
| TIMELINE | LIST of the DEAD | MISCELLANEA | BIBLIOGRAPHY | WEBSITE REFERENCES | TOP |
(death by hanging unless otherwise noted)
[F=Female M=Male]
JUN-10 1692 [TUE]
01) F-Bridget Bishop
JUL-19 1692 [SAT]
02) F-Rebecca Nurse
03) F-Sarah Good
04) F-Susannah Martin
05) F-Elizabeth Howe
06) F-Sarah Wildes
AUG-19 1692 [TUE]
07) M-George Burroughs
08) F-Martha Carrier
09) M-John Willard
10) M-George Jacobs
11) M-John Proctor
SEP-19 1692 [FRI]
12) M-Giles Cory (pressed to death)
SEP-22 1692 [MON]
13) F-Martha Cory
14) F-Mary Easty
15) F-Ann Pudeator
16) F-Alice Parker
17) F-Mary Parker
18) M-Wilmott Redd
19) F-Margaret Scott
20) M-Samuel Wardwell
Other accused witches who died in prison:
01) F-Sarah Osborne MAY-10 1692 [SAT]
02) M-Roger Toothaker JUN-16 1692 [MON]
03) F-Ann Foster DEC-03 1692 [WED]
04) F-Lydia Dustin MAR-10 1693 [TUE]
(As many as thirteen** others may have died in prison.)
**sources conflict as to the exact number of prison deaths
An unnamed infant of Sarah Good dies prior to JUL-19-1692 [SAT]
------------------------------------MISCELLANEA----------------------------------
| TIMELINE | LIST of the DEAD | MISCELLANEA | BIBLIOGRAPHY | WEBSITE REFERENCES | TOP |
The names Cory, Phipps, Easty, and Lydia are spelled differently
depending upon the source you quote. I use the spelling that is used in
the book, "A Delusion of Satan", which is listed in my bibliography.
-----------------------------------BIBLIOGRAPHY----------------------------------
| TIMELINE | LIST of the DEAD | MISCELLANEA | BIBLIOGRAPHY | WEBSITE REFERENCES | TOP |
A Delusion of Satan:
The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials
Copyright (c) 1995 by Frances Hill
Originally Published: New York: Doubleday
A division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
ISBN 0-306-80797-1
--------------------------------WEBSITE REFERENCES-------------------------------
| TIMELINE | LIST of the DEAD | MISCELLANEA | BIBLIOGRAPHY | WEBSITE REFERENCES | TOP |
The Main Salem Witchtrial Website which I referenced and researched for
this article can be found at this web addy:
Salem Witchtrial Website
Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft
Outbreak of 1692 In three volumes. Edited by Paul Boyer and Stephen
Nissenbaum. Published by Da Capo Press, New York, 1977, and reproduced
at the following website with permission:
Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents
The petition of Mary Easty was taken (and quoted in its entirety) from
the following website:
Petition of Mary Easty
"Memorable Providences, Relating To Witchcrafts And Possessions" (1689)
by Cotton Mather can be found here:
Cotton Mather's works