The Salem Witch Trials

If one was to plead innocent, you were taken to trial in which you were allowed no lawyer and unable to call witnesses to the stand on your behalf. You stood before a jury which unanimously believed in the idea of witchcraft and were asked unanswerable questions such as “How do you explain the fact that these afflicted girls fall into fits the minute you enter the room”. It was this option that lead to the hanging of 19 innocent men and women and the one time that the defendant was found innocent, the jury was sent back to reconsider.

In late January of 1692 cousins Betty Parris, age 9, and Abigail Williams, age 11 and daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris, broke out in uncontrollable fits described as being beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or natural disease to The two girls were recorded to have sporadically started to scream, throw objects about the room, crawl under furniture, utter obscure sounds, and twist their bodies into uncomfortable positions. They cried with complaints of being pinched and pricked with pins and were completely uncontrollable during the outbursts. After a series of several examinations and meetings with the girls, Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba were accused and arrested for participating in witch craft.