Page 91 - All About History - Issue 08-14

Witch-hunting

The Salem Witch trials

Possibly the most infamous witch-hunt in
history took place over the course of a few
months in the Puritan community of Salem,
New England in 1692. After a doctor had
come to the conclusion that the daughter
and niece of reverend Samuel Parris were
suffering from a witch’s spell, the village of
Salem descended into an ever-increasing
spiral of accusations.
This was spurred on by the anecdotal
support of the two young girls and other, Oyer and Terminer
similarly afflicted residents, who went This appointed official
on to implicate over 150 people, mostly drawn from Salem’s trusted
residents by the governor of
women but also men and one child. The Jury
Massachusetts, would hear the As with the officials, the
trials themselves were an utter sham: evidence against the accused jury was drawn from Salem’s
convictions were mostly based on the fits and determine their fate. residents. If a Grand Jury
and hallucinations of witnesses, apparently indicted them, the accused
would face another jury in the
caused by the accused’s presence.
court of Oyer and Terminer.
Of the 150 accused, 14 women and four
men were sent to the gallows while one

particularly stoic man, Giles Corey, endured
‘pressing’ – which involved piling rocks on Defendant Witnesses
his chest – rather than entering a plea of In the case of Salem, the One sure way to get a guilty
any kind. After two days he expired, but defendant was guilty on verdict in the Salem witch
remained resolute until his death. After nothing more than vagrancy trials was to have a fit, or
or distinguishing themselves hallucinate in the presence of
five months of madness, the governor of in some way, to the chagrin of the accused. This happened
Massachusetts dissolved Salem’s witch- the court witnesses. very frequently.
court and replaced it with one based on
reliable testimonials, which resulted in the
release of all awaiting trial.
“ Torture was a common means of blame for under-supplying the royal ships on a
extracting information from those who journey across the North Sea. She was accused of
summoning storms, found guilty and was burned
weren’t immediately cleared” at the stake.
In the 18th century, a more rational and
scientific age finally arrived. Pioneering
innocence would admit to anything several of these local non-conformists astronomers and scientists like Galileo and
after the prolonged agony of cruel already considered them witches Newton had laid the groundwork for an empirical
and unusual punishments – it of a kind, providing healing and generation who sought to verify the nature of the
was a rare occasion for torture potions for the community – a world by observation rather than superstition.
leading to an acquittal. common trade in the 17th A dim view was now taken of those who still
England brought in serious century. After summoning believed in witchcraft and persecuted ‘witches’,
penalties for witches under three members of the Device and this brought with it a far less punitive culture.
the Witchcraft Act of 1542, family, Nowell was told that During the reign of George II, the Witchcraft Act of
amended in 1562 and 1604 the Chattox family – who 1735 made it explicitly illegal for anyone in Britain
to repeal certain statutes, competed for their trade to claim that they or anyone else had magical
such as the ‘benefit of clergy’, in the potion and charm powers and were a witch. Other countries quickly
which spared anyone who business – had murdered followed suit, finally signalling the end of two
could read a passage from the four men from the area. The centuries of madness. Although nearly 70,000
Bible. One of the most famous Chattoxes were summoned and people are thought to have been executed during
witch trials in England were of the accusations and counter-accusations the brutal witch-hunts of the early modern age,
Pendle witches in 1612, which saw ten flew throughout the community, resulting in only around 12,000 of these executions have been
people, mostly women, sent to the gallows. King ten people being hanged. officially recorded.
James I was driven by Protestant theology and Similar stories played out in the rest of Europe Witch-hunting hasn’t been totally consigned to
was particularly interested in witchcraft and its and the North-American colonies. German heiress the past, though, and still happens today: in rural
eradication. Thus, those who refused to attend the Merga Bien, heavily pregnant at the time, was parts of India, Africa and Saudi Arabia, which has
Church of England to partake in holy communion, convicted of murdering her husband by witchcraft active legislation against sorcery, people are still
such as the devout Catholics of the Pendle Hill and that her unborn child had been fathered executed for witchcraft. But for most countries,
region in Lancashire, immediately popped up by the devil. She was burned at the stake. Anna there are important lessons to be learned from the
on the radar of local Justice of the Peace, Roger Kolding was one of several people who bore hysteria and abandonment of rationale that marks © Corbis; Abi Daker
Nowell. Further probing by Nowell revealed that the brunt of a Danish minister looking to shift the period of witch hunting.
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