The accusation of witches has been around since the earliest of time. Witches are said to be products of the devil and follow upon the path to hell. The Protestants and the Catholics had similar ideas as to where and what witches were according to the three writings of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther stated, “Witches are the Devil’s whores…” going on to state that they do horrible things to please the devil. John Calvin talked about how the witches were taken over by demons. The protestant boy claims he feared hell and the Devil. The pictures of the devil carrying the witch to hell and the witches on their knees kissing the anus of the devil are great representations as to the mindset that the word “witch” creates in the minds of …show more content…
This happened to Bridget Bishop of the Salem witch trials. Bridget’s story is very popular when studying the Salem witch trials. She was accused of being a witch by several younger girls in her town. The young girls accused her of putting them under her spell and she was controlling them. “During Bishop's examination before the magistrates, the afflicted girls behaved as if they were tortured. It seemed that by casting her eye upon them, Bishop could strike them down into fits. The only thing that would stop these fits was the touch of her hand upon the girls.” Now, one could not know if these girls were lying, but Bridget Bishop was not the only woman in the town of Salem to fall under the young girl’s accusation. Bridget was put to death, and her case is what set the stage for all the trails that were held in Salem during this time. There was no actual evidence in this case, nor was there any evidence in most of the other cases tried in this town. The court decided to put these people to death solely on heresay from the young girls. Witch stories have been around since before the earliest of documentation. Women were seen as targets more than men, the money that the town received from the executions, and the false accusations against individuals of the town were the top reasons as to why individuals were tried as witches. People were accused until they gave up, and even then they were still put to death. Witch stories will be around for the rest of time, but as time goes on, witches are seen less of a taboo subject and more of an interesting
This was the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. This train of events would forever change the town of Salem; everyone would soon associate the colony as a “witch town”. The trials had changed the town, now the people of Salem would be wondering who would be accused next. The problem was no one knew, a startling statistic would haunt the town forever; 40 people were dead and
No one really knew if they were innocent or not,they just assumed. People who were executed were mostly women, and their family. Even 2 dogs were given the death penalty for being accused of working with the “witches”. Some other animals were killed too. Did you know, that people thought that the witches were trying to kill their children, when their kids actually had smallpox.
This was considered to be witchcraft by the Reverend of Salem, but to avoid punishment of witchcraft the girls accused people of being witches. Those accused of being witches were condemned to hang in they denied being a witch. This is very similar to the way that Caucasian people would lynch or hang African Americans during the 1950s to 1960s in America.
What Caused the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692? In Exodus 22:18, it proclaims, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!” In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, the Puritans believed every word that the Bible said, causing the death of twenty people because they were accused of witchcraft. What caused the panic and alarm that lead to the death of twenty people in Salem?
In Document B, Demos presents that most of the accusers of witches were single females in their younger years of age. In the late 1600s, women were extremely dependent upon men for their financial stability, overall safety, and mental/emotional well being. In an interpretation of this document, it can be assumed that these younger female women were seeking family ties and protection in a harsher time period. On the same hand, Document C, a most likely extremely biased account, recounts the “bewitched actions” of Bridget Bishop, a witch, upon the afflicted. Samuel Parris, the examiner of Bishop, seems to shed a negative light on Bishop.
A group of young girls began to behave strangely, complaining of physical maladies, visions, and trembling, and babbling uncontrollably. They blamed their behavior on three village women who, the girls believed, practiced witchcraft upon them. (“Salem Witch Trials” Gale). Women who were accused of witch crafted were imprisoned, then hanged, drowned and stoned (Karlsen). Throughout 1692, 156 women were accused of witchcraft, and 20 of them were sentenced to death (Karlsen).
In Salem, Massachusetts, Puritans were strong believers in the Bible. The Bible states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans beliefs led to them accusing 20 innocent people of being a witch, this resulted in their deaths in 1692. Even though the Puritans couldn’t see it at the time, their accusations were really based off jealousy, lies, and Salem being divided into two parts. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was jealousy.
These affiliate the existence of the witch with devil, the conclusion with the Devil, the Sabbath, flying at night and considering a change. In 1583, Reginald Scot referred witches with the females who were “usually old”, vacillating, and dim looked at, pale, fowler, and overflowing with wrinkles, pore, grim, and superstitious"
This belief was especially prevalent in Salem when Puritans settled there from England looking to get away from the values of the Protestant church and implement their own. Anyone that seemed unusual compared to Puritan values could be deemed as a practitioner of witchcraft. Women were seen as inferior to men as well as the root of all evil because of Puritan values, which made them larger targets for witchcraft accusations. The paranoia from Puritans caused mass witch hunts, which were investigations organized by untrained citizens to convict people who they suspected to be witches. This often led to executions, despite how there was no factual evidence used and only word of mouth was required to be
Women were believed more likely to side with the devil then men due to their lustful nature and obedience to men. The first 3 people to be accused of witchcraft was: Sarah Good(a beggar), Tituba(a native) and Sarah
In the medieval times witches were authenticated by confessing to have slept with the Devil, or if they had done any harm to women in their fertility. The book highlights descriptive ways on how witches became the Devil’s property. Some witches stated that a man that they were sexually fantasizing with would come and have sex with them. Then they would notice such difference once they were intimate, the witches described the intimacy they had as abnormally cold. “The strange coldness, typical of the Devil, who does not have a human body; the hard feet, which hints that these are cloven animal hooves” (Roper, 2004, p.84).
Religion was a very strong influence in the lives of Puritans as they followed a very strict moral code and based their entire lives on their faith. Most Puritans were taught from the Bible that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Doc. A), which explains why the witch scare was taken so seriously and why the accused were punished so harshly. They believed and feared that "evil spirits were all around" (Doc. C) as noted in Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions by Cotton Mather, who at that time was a reputable expert in the "invisible world. " It seems strange to 21st-century dwellers that people believed that witches could be identified by marks of the devil, as portrayed in an 1853 painting by T.H. Matteson (Doc. D).
In the short reading assigned to the class, The Hammer of the Witches one story elucidated how a midwife had killed over forty children by "sticking a needle through the crowns of their heads into their brains as they came from the womb. " The Catholic Church was not as strong in these areas as opposed to other territories in Europe. Many people were executed between 200,000 to 500,000 people, these people were beheaded, hanged, drowned burned tortured to death (thumbscrews, racks, leg vices, and many other) and even burning at stake. Witches were described mainly in three different types 1. One that injures but can 't cure, 2.
Rebecca was a 71-year-old woman, the wife of Francis Nurse who was a wealthy farmer and landlord in the Salem village, and had many children and grandchildren (Hill 87). She was very pious and everyone in the Salem village thought of her as an “exemplary piety” in the Puritan community (Linder). Rebecca had a very strong faith in God and told her friends on her sickbed that she recognized more God’s presence in her sickness than any other time in her life (Hill 88). Rebecca was a very respectable woman and supported by most of Salem villagers who believed in her innocence. After she was arrested and prosecuted because of the false accusations made by the “afflicted” women and girls’ against her, thirty-nine notable members of the community came forward, signed and submitted a petition to assure her innocence and piety (Hill 100).
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.