The Salem witch hunt began in January of 1692 when a group of girls started acting really weird. They started having “convulsive seizures, blasphemous screaming, and trance-like states” that the town could not explain. They called in some doctors and after none of them could diagnose what was wrong with the witches, the town began to think that it was the work of Satan. They believed that witches were invading their town. In February, the town began praying and fasting in hopes that they would rid the town of the witches. They were also pressuring the girls to give them the names of the people controlling them. The girls gave them three names.
The first was a girl named Tituba. She was an Indian woman and when questioned she admitted to seeing Satan. She said that he appeared to her “sometimes like a hog and sometimes like a great dog.” She also confessed that there was a conspiracy of witches trying to take over Salem. Tituba was beat by her master into confessing so many believe that she did it to avoid further punishment. When she confe
Chris Buhr and Katherine Sutcliffe, Famous American Trials: Salem Witch Trials
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