Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

The Salem Witch Trials were a terrible time in the early days of American History. The Puritan villagers were frightened about losing their new home due to starvation, Indians, and illness. Fear allowed the trials to happen. The puritans began to lose control of the strict religious tenant that brought them here to the new land. When odd things happened in the colony they blamed the older women. They were scared of women’s independence. Women have always been known to be morally weaker and lustful natured. They have always been easily tempted into sin, traceable back to Adam and Eve. The women who were put on trial for being accused of witchcraft were the more vulnerable women of the colony. Women of the village began to behave differently,

First, someone in the village makes a complaint that someone in the village being a witch or preforming witchcraft on them. Then, Magistrate issues a warrant for the accused person. The next step, the person is examined for certain witchcraft marks and sent to jail if the assigned magistrate believes he or she is guilty. Then he or she is presented in front of a jury, and tried before the court of Oyer and Terminer. A jury then decides a verdict. He or she then receives the sentence, which is normally death by hanging on a certain date. Finally, the sheriff and his deputies carry out the set sentence on the set date. (Salem witchcraft trials

It is said that when you feed the dog the victim’s urine in a cake it will lead to the witch who bewitched the victim. When a witch is brought to trial, they asked her to say the Lord’s Prayer. No matter how many times the Lord’s Prayer was repeated to her, she could not say it correctly. No witch can say the Lord’s Prayer. (Historychannel.com) George Burroughs was the only minister to be tried and executed for witchcraft in Salem. He had only been a minister for three years when he left. He had borrowed some money from the Putnam family and when he could not pay them back, conflict arose, this is when he left. He did however pay back the money twelve years later when he returned to Salem. Many people believed he was the “Ring Leader” of the witches and a “virtual priest to the Devil”. He was tired and hang on August 19, 1692.