, 12, all frequently attended these mystic meetings. .
One day, at a normal meeting in the woods, Revered Parris wonders on to the girls dancing around a fire. The girls are dancing, chanting, and one even running around naked. Revered Parris recognizes his daughter and niece and quickly turns away. No one notices change until Betty Parris, fell extremely ill. She would break out into convulsions, gibberish, and cried with pain. No one could explain her crazy actions and soon following many other girls began to develop the same symptoms. Specialized doctors were called to the scene and not one could give an accurate diagnosis. Finally, the village doctor, William Griggs, said the only possible problem could be witchcraft. The colony was completely shocked and crazed. Earlier, in 1641, witchcraft was declared a capital crime by England lawmakers. No one ever thought that witchcraft would ever arise in Salem Village. .
To save themselves, the neighborhood girls blamed three women to get the limelight off their backs and on to these women. Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good, and Tituba were accused by the girls as being witches, seen with the Devil, or performing evil deeds on others. Sarah Good, at the time of her arrest, was homeless due to debts from her previous husband. She and her husband were limited to begging and scavenging from neighbors. During Good's trial a .
Posey 3.
few of the girls broke out into strange convulsions. This was called spectral evidence and was enough to put Good in jail. Sarah Osborne was viewed by the community as an outcast. This didn't help Osborne, but it sure helped the prosecution. While on trial, Sarah Osborne talked of a spirit coming to tell her she needed to attend church. Sarah follows up by saying she attended church the following Sunday. Her husbands, as well as friends' stories conflicted with hers and were enough to hold her in jail until a further trial.