“Were there no witches at all in Massachusetts in 1692? According to modern law there were none, none at least among the condemned” (Hansen 108).

Sarah:’ No creature. I am falsy accused’ ” (What started it?)

By the end of 1692, 200 people were jailed. All was a result of spectral evidence. One was pressed to death, and all hang-ees were from Salem except seven and all decided to die rather that falsy confess. The last of the hangings were on September 22, 1693.

“According to the law, those who refused to testify in court came under the sentence of peine forte eidure (a punishment hard and severe)” (Sutler 45). Originally the girls accused were women who were outcasts of some sort. Tituba was a slave; Sarah Good had a miserable husband, she muttered to herself, and begged villagers for money. Sarah Osborne was a rich widow who married the overseer of her farm and stopped attending church. These three girls were the first people accused. Sarah Good like Sarah Osborne denied the accuses. She claimed that she was a witchcraft victim not a witch. When the afflicted girls looked at her she began shrieking and shaking. Her actions however failed to convince the magistrates. Tituba had a low social standing and was well known to the orphan Abigail and the daughter of Reverend Parris.

Now there are other possibilities that could have been the symptoms of these unnatural fits. The girls could have been victims of ergot poisoning from the bread they ate; but if that were the case most local communities including Salem town would have reported outbreaks in juvenile. Another reason is that the girls truly could have been bewitched but Ann Putnam later admitted that no evil hand touched them. So either way someone was contradicting someone else. “I have very often been most grievously tortured by the apparition of Sarah Good, who most dreadfully afflicted me, and almost choking me to death. But on the 26th of June 1692, Sarah Good most violently pulled me down, my head behind my chest and tied my hands together with a whale band and almost choked me to death.” (Sheldon58). Historians argue that the only reason that the girls kept up the “afflicted” act was to uphold their stories so they would not stand the chance of being put up for public mockery. Yet another reason could have been that that each week was filled with endless physical labor, unrelieved by any form of entertainment and broken only by grim puritan Sabbath. Life was dull for boys and even duller for the girls. There was no escape through hunting and fishing for them. The desire to liven things up- a less dramatic and exciting incentive that repressed sexuality- may well have been emphasized in previous consideration on the forces of witch craft hysteria. Many people said that afterwards “the girls were shamming, that they put on a act and were not really tormented” (Alderman37). But if that were the case then there were an extraordinary number of gifted actresses that lived in Salem and Andover village. The girls that started going trough these fits called themselves the afflicted and the afflicted were urged to confess who was the person(s) involved in putting them in this terrible state. Of course Tituba, being a slave and aiding the girls in the quest for “white magic”, was soon blamed. Along with Tituba came a couple of the townspeople.

Some topics in this essay:
Ann Putnam, , Mary Easty, Salem Tituba’s, Rebecca Nurse, Indian” Guily, Salem Andover, Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris, Bridget Bishop”Lasky23, rebecca nurse, afflicted girls, ann putnam, innocent blood, martha corey, giles corey, witch craft, reverend parris, mary easty, pressed death, mary easty hung, outbreaks witchcraft hysteria, salem witchcraft trials, hung gallows hill, witch craft hysteria,