wut r some of the ways that they "proved" that someone was a witch in the salem witch trails
2006-09-24 17:05:41 · 8 answers · asked by cg60@sbcglobal.net 1 in News & Events ➔ Other - News & Events
They never proved that anyone was a witch, but they used heresay to condemn them.
2006-09-24 17:08:24 · answer #1 · answered by Justsyd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From everything I have read about that time there was no real way of knowing. They where accused of being witches by the way the talked, looked, acted. They where very superstitious. It was so bad that of you had a black cat or lived to your self. When they would dunk then in the river or buckets of water they felt if they where a witch they would float or some crazy thing like that. Plus they felt that if they where not a witch God would come down and save them. I am sure there are many books and web sights for it.
2006-09-25 00:33:39 · answer #2 · answered by deeprankstir 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wikipedia talks about the use of "spectral evidence"--that the people who claimed to be afflicted by witches could see the apparition or shape of the person who was supposedly afflicting them. And even if it were not acutally the person, it must have been the Devil doing the afflicting with the persmission of the accused.
PBS had a fascinating episode of "Secrets of the Dead" that explored the possibility that the hallucinations that people were having in Salem were due to ergot poisoning--so perhaps the young girls who accused the first victims were actually seeing horrifying images--but not due to witchcraft.
2006-09-25 00:27:36 · answer #3 · answered by warehaus 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well there is alot of ways to tell. Witch Craft isn't like wicca or some person who doesn't believe in God. If someone is a witch she or he WOULDN'T denie God if ask do they believe he exsist. A true witch fears God. Thats one way to tell by asking them if they think he exist, and I don't mean ask if they believe in God but only if they think he exsist. Also a true witch WILL NOT go out of their way to lie to anyone if asked a question. Witches are true to themselfs ALWAYS. Other was to know are little things like staying alone alot, and not being real social with people. I know this really wasn't a real witch, but have you ever watched the movie Pumkin Head the first one? They betrayed a perfect example of a true witch on that movie. .....Bec
2006-09-25 00:36:02 · answer #4 · answered by becca_lynn151991 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The "witches" back then were most likely gorgeous women who seduced married men. The men's butt-ugly wives probably got together and accused the women of witchcraft. The facts are that they would strip alleged witches nude and search for any abnormal birthmarks. They would say that these were "marks of the devil." Then they would throw the woman, and sometimes the man, into a huge bucket of water and if they floated (which meant that they were alive) they would be hung for witchcraft. If they sunk (meaning they died) they would be post-humously acquitted of witchcraft. These witch hunts were an awfully easy method for anyone to get rid of people who got ahead of them, people whom they envied, or even just a meddling mother-in-law.
2006-09-25 00:17:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
try to drown them - water comes from heaven and won't abide a witch, so they float, and then get burned
the sinkers are lucky if they drag them out in time to avoid drowning
2006-09-25 00:14:33 · answer #6 · answered by larry n 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if she has anold fasioned broom around the house, she is a witch
2006-09-27 05:13:09 · answer #7 · answered by acid tongue 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if they have hair on thier head and don't drown when forced under water also women with two hands are suspect just kidding but not much.....
2006-09-25 00:12:49 · answer #8 · answered by dogpatch USA 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋