I'm working on a project about the Salem Witch Trials. Any interesting info?

Question

We have to give an informative speech in class and mine is over the witch trials, anyone have extra awesome info/places to get some? Thanks!

Answer 1

1) Collections of materials and overview, including court documents.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm

http://www.salemwitchtrials.org/home.html

"Teaching the Salem Witch Trials
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/~bcr/maps_esri/Ray_ch02.pdf



2) Participants with warnings, misgivings

a) Some information, often missed, on how the Mathers warned AGAINST the use of spectral evidence (Cotton Mather's pamphlet warning against witchcraft is often noted and blamed as a partial cause of events at Salem, but the other side of what he and his father did is too often missed.)
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/salem/people/i_mather.html
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASA_INC.HTM

b) Interesting material on Samuel Sewall, a judge in the trials who, five years later, made a public apology (also an early abolitionist)

summary
http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/radler/ColonialEarly%20AmLit/samuel_sewall1.htm

a recent book -
*Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of an American Conscience* by Richard Francis (HarperCollins, 2005)
http://www.amazon.ca/Judge-Sewalls-Apology-American-Conscience/dp/product-description/0007163622


3) There are a lot of sociological studies that try to explain the BELIEF in witchcraft more generally, how these sorts of trials came about, etc.
One book I have found helpful in suggesting an explanation for the belief in witchcraft in the medieval and early modern European world is Rodney Stark's *For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery* (Princeton University Press, 2003). One major section of this book is devoted to studying when and where witch-hunts took place, who conducted them, what the results were, etc. (He shows, for instance, that most studies greatly inflate the numbers. He also argues that some sort of belief in witchcraft was "normal" in these times... and suggests this belief is related to their view of a RATIONAL universe, not exactly to the type of superstitions many have blamed it on.)

There are also some good, recent academic studies on this subject (both the specific history of the Salem case and more general studies of witch-hunting in Europe...), but besides being very heavy, you will probably find them difficult to get your hands on. The books I listed you should be able to find in a school or public library.

(About the recently fashionable ergot theory. I'm not saying there is nothing to it in explaining odd behavior in some of the accused. But it's no real help in explaining how the accusations, trials, etc. proceeded, which is the more interesting and important story.)

Answer 2

I loved learning about the witch trials in school. I thought it was wierd that they even hung a few cats and dogs, and they actually pressed a man to death with the church door. All of these people used the witch trials to get back at their neighbors. You should read The Crucible, or at least find a summary of the Ch. on the internet

Answer 3

Essentially, in January of 1692 a 19 year old girl got sick and in February the doctor, William Griggs, could not determine what the problem was, so he blamed it on witchcraft. A few other girls were sick too, so they were made to eat a "witch cake" made of rye and their own urine, so that they would know who it was who bewitched them. They identified three women, including one slave who claimed that she saw a demon in the woods.

19 people were hanged and one was pressed to death under weights during the trials of 1692. In October, the governor of Massachusetts disbanded the court and then a Massachusetts colonial court heard the cases in May of 1693, but did not convict any of the remaining accused witches.

By January 14, 1697, the colony was in agreement that the trials and executions were wrong and held a day of fasting. Samuel Stewart spoke and said:
"We ourselves were not capable to understand, nor able to withstand the mysterious delusions of the Powers of Darkness and Prince of the Air; but were for want of Knowledge in our selves, and better Information from others, prevailed with to take up with such Evidence against the Accused, as on further consideration, and better Information, we justly fear was insufficient for the touchin the Lives of any."

Another interesting fact is that Susannah Martin, who was executed in Salem, had actually previously been convicted of Witchcraft in Amesbury, MA in 1669. Bridget Oliver-Bishop had actually been previously convicted of witchcraft in Salem in 1680.

Answer 4

Well if you were convicted of being a witch you were most likely put to death. But you admitted to being a witch sometimes they would let you live. There are many good movies about the Salem Witch Trials. Mostly it was a young girl pretending to be possessed for attention, but many people took it seriously. Mostly they were between the years 1692 and 1693. They obviously took place in Salem Village in Massachusetts. Most deaths were hangings. the first was held March 1st 1692.The last of the trials was held in January of 1693.Nineteen people were hanged, one person was pressed to death, and as many as thirteen people may have died in prison. One-hundred and forty people were accused of witchcraft. Forty-three people were afflicted.

Hope I helped.

Answer 5

I saw an excellent made for TV movie about this, if you search Vanessa Redgrave I'm sure you would find it. I also read that some people now think the psychotic episodes were caused by ergot poisoning. It is a mold that grows on rye, and it has the same effect as LSD. The people accused were in the poorer parts of town, and their land wasn't as good. It was a very rainy season -- they know this from correspondence. They would not have eaten as much white flour, they would have eaten the cheaper rye flour. Because their land wasn't as good, it would be more prone to flooding, causing the mold on the rye.

Answer 6

Try googling ERGOT. It is a disease of rye, the predominant grain.

Try to find the temperature and rainfall for the summers in question.

ergot flourishes in poor summers. This is a time when other crops are poor,s o thre is a temptation to eat contaminated grain.

You may even be able to make a case for what might have caused the strange behaviour.

Good luck

Answer 7

You should research the Malleus Maleficarum(The Witch Hammer)

Answer 8

Google Salem witch trials, witch hunter, the conquering worm (a book) and ergot.

Answer 9

When a person owning land was convicted of witchcraft, their property was up for grabs, in other words people were accused of being witches because someone wanted their land, not because anyone thought they practiced witchcraft.

Answer 10

No, nothing has ever been written on that subject and you won't find anything in the library or if you Google.