4/1/2017 Testimony against Accused Witch Bridget Bishop, 1692 Bridgett Bishop, a married, middle-aged woman, was the first colonist to be tried in the Salem Witch trials, found guilty and hung for practicing witchcraft in June 1692. Bishop was widowed twice and on her third marriage during the witch trials. According to Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, in her article Bridget Bishop: Witch or Easy Target, states that Bishop’s second husband was Thomas Oliver, who had children from a previous marriage. Bishop was no stranger to the courts. According to Brooks, Bishop and her husband frequently argued and were even brought to court for fighting. A neighbor testified, that Bishop’s face had been bloodied and bruise on more than one occasion. She had …show more content…
They appeared to be inflicted with pain when Bishop would shake her head or roll her eyes. She would cause the inflicted to faint, just by looking at them. They would immediately regain consciousness by the touch of only, Bishop’s hand. According to the testimony of confessed witch Deliverance Hobbs, Bishop had beaten her with iron rod, trying to force her to deny her confession of witchery and sign the book, again. Hobbs accused Bishop of attending and taking part in the meeting of the witches. John Cook testified that approximately six year earlier, Bishop had assaulted him with a blow to the head and on a separate occasion, made an apple that he was holding, fly out of his hand just by walking into the room. Another testified, fourteens years previously, while sleeping, he was awaken to Bishop in his bedroom, even though his doors were locked. She was standing next to a cradle where his child was lying. He testified that Bishop vanished but came back later and assaulted him. After the assault, it was said the child, who prior to this was in healthy condition, had a failure to thrive and died several months later. He testified that he didn't know Bishop or who she was, but recognize her face and knew that she was the reason for his
I saw goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!”. She proceeded to go on and accuse more women of witchcraft. All in an effort to save herself from getting in trouble for dancing in the woods. As time went on, Abigail had to accuse more and more people to keep the blame from coming back to her.
“Bridget Bishop was the first person to be executed during the Salem witchcraft trials.” Even her own husband thought she was a witch. “In 1680, she was accused of witchcraft. This accusation could have been facilitated by Thomas' claim that ‘she was a bad wife . . .the
A special court of Oyer and Terminer was formed for witchcraft cases and Bridget Bishop was the first to be convicted. On June 10, she was hanged. 18 others soon followed afterwards and about 150 people were accused over the following months with another person pressed to death by stones. By September 1692, the public began turning against the trials and it soon ended months later.
This shows that Bishop supposedly used witchcraft on the two girls by shaking her head. To add on, the examination was recorded by the Governor Sammuel Parris. This could have caused a bias because his daughter was one of the afflicted girls, and Parris would have more easily believed his daughter than Bishop. To sum up, the Hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials might have been caused by the lying of the
Guilty or Proven Innocent? The Salem witch trials occurred from February 1692 to May 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts. During the Salem witch trials no single person or family was safe from persecution. Once accused of witchcraft you were incarcerated and appeared at a hearing in the courts.
John Hathorne was one of the main Judges in court, he believed fully in witchcraft and in the accusers, which is most likely why so many people lives were ended just from young girls acting up and accusing multiple adults. John’s great, great, grandson, author Nathaniel Hawthorne added a “w” in his name most likely to distance himself from Hathorne because of the role he played in the Salem Witch Trials. Samuel Sewall and William Stoughton were the two other judges involved in court. Deliverance Hobbs was one of the only witches that confessed without being forced. A warrant was issued for Deliverance on April 21, she was arrested two days later and committed to prison.
I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil” (Miller, 1953, p.48). This quote proves how people were lying during the Salem Witch Trials to prevent themselves from being charged with witchcraft. It shows hysteria because people are going wild and arguments are being caused because they do not want to be charged with witchcraft. “We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law…” (Miller, 1953, p.77).
The Salem witch trials of 1692 realized the execution by hanging of fourteen women and five men reprimanded for being witches. one man was pressed to death by overpowering weights for declining to enter a supplication and more than one hundred and fifty individuals were detained while foreseeing trial. In light of the survival of various critical records, including notes, articulations, and power choices, the essential truths of the claims, catches, trials, and executions are known. On January 20, 1692, in Salem, the Reverend Samuel Parris' daughter, Elizabeth, and his niece, Abigail Williams, began show bizarre behavior, including thundering joke and going into trances. Sarah and Osborne maintained that they were exemplary and stayed unconscious of
Eventually, as stated in Document A, Bridget Bishop was the first witch to be hanged in the Salem Witch Trials on June 10, 1692. However, Parris happens to be the father of an “afflicted” girl that was enticed by a witch named Tituba. The one thing can be inferred from this document though is that Parris’s experience with witches most likely altered his opinion to be negative towards these people. Despite his bias, Document C supports the conclusion of family ties being the cause of the Salem Witch Trials. Parris most likely obscures these women’s personage in order to protect his daughter from witches.
Salem, Massachusetts, USA and occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned and even more accused; but not pursued by the authorities. 29 were convicted of witchcraft but only 19 were hanged. The best known trials were in the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
In The Crucible, the acting of the girls was the principal source of propaganda to continue the trials. Abigail, the young girl who commenced all of the accusations, acted in such a hysteric way that she caused people to believe her. A faultless example of this was when another young girl, Mary, attempted to inform the court that all of the girls were just acting bewitched and that none of them were actually affected by witchcraft. In response to this, Abigail made a Colossal scene in the courthouse; claiming that Mary sent her spirit out in the form of a bird to attack her. “Abigail (to the ceiling, in a genuine conversation with the “bird,” as though trying to talk it out of attacking her).
Abigail and a group of girls went to court and blame 200 people. Abigail went to court, and told them that Elizabeth Proctor was practicing witchcraft, and got her arrested. When John Proctor went to court, the girls pretended that he was the devil. Giles tries to explain to the court how Abigail is pure evil, and trying to get revenge: “Aye, how she is solemn and goes to hang people!” (3.1.875).
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the term mockingbird symbolizes innocence in a person. In the novel it focuses on the fact that innocence, represented by the mockingbird, can be wrongfully harmed. There are two characters: Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley that are supposed to represent the mockingbird. In the novel, Tom Robinson is the best example of a mockingbird because he is prosecuted for a crime he did not commit. Also, he was judged unfairly based on the color of his skin in his trial.
True Story: The Salem Witch trail took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. A group of girls accused of witchcraft, when Reverend Samuel Parris niece and daughter were ill and rumors spread that it was witchcraft. Sarah Osborne, Sarah Goode and Tituba were accused of being around when the girls were doing rituals and made the girls do the rituals. Abigail’s allegations began to grow blaming many innocent people.
Bridget Bishop, a resident of Salem, was the first person to be tried as a witch. Surprisingly, Bishop was accused of witch craft by the highest number of witneses. After Bishop, more than two hundred people were tried of practicing witchcraft and twenty were executed. Many of these accusations arose from jealous, lower class members of society, especially towards women who had come into a great deal of land or wealth. Three young children by the names of Elizabeth, Abigail, and Ann were the first three people to be “harmed” by the witches.