The Killing Power of Lies

The Salem Witch Trials

Caption: A court hearing of one of the Salem Witch Trials
Credits: Pocket Mags

Hello everyone and welcome to Creepy Café, where I tell you a creepy story while we drink together a cup of coffee.

Today’s drink is an espresso because just like today’s story it is a cult classic.

Could you imagine living in a world where it is impossible to be innocent of a crime you did not commit? If you try to prove your innocence, you will be found guilty and you will be executed. But if you falsely confess, apologize, and implicate others, you will be set free. Would you confess and ruin the lives of others? Or will you risk a public hanging?

What are the Salem Witch Trials?

Caption: Court-hearing of one of the cases in Salem
Credit: Fine Art America

The Salem witch trials were a series of trials and prosecutions of women accused of witchcraft in the village of Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than two hundred women were accused and 20 people were prosecuted.  They were the victims of mass hysteria, paranoia, misdirected religious fury, and an unjust justice system.

The Spark that Lit the Fire of the Salem Witch Trials:

Caption: Purtians migrating
Credit: Britannica

In 1626, Salem was settled by a group of English protestants, Puritans. Life, at that time, was atrocious, vile, and isolated due to countless battles with their Native American neighbors. The people of Salem were always terrorized by the fear of starvation and diseases.

In 1692, Massachusetts had one of the coldest winters on record. During that winter, two cousins, Betty Paris, 9 years old, and Abigail Williams, 11 years old started behaving weirdly. When a doctor could not find anything physically wrong, he diagnosed the girls as under an “evil hand”. Their families thought that devil wanted to torment the children and create chaos through a human agent, witches.

Caption: Titbua with Abigail, Betty, and their siblings
Credit: Fine Art America 

The news took the village by storm, and more and more people started to report similar symptoms. 12 more girls reported having fits, similar to seizures and prickling skin. Four of the girls accused three local women who were considered outsiders of tormenting them. Soon after, the authorities arrested Sarah Good, a poor pregnant mother of a one, and Sarah Osbourne, who was not a regular church attendee and was suing the family of the accuser. Tituba, a salve in Betty Parris’s home, was also asserted. At first, Tituba strongly denied harming the girls at first. But later confessed to practicing witchcraft but confessed that Good and Osbourne forced her into it. Tituba was held in custody for a couple of months and then was released.

Osbourne and Good maintained their innocence. Osbourne sadly died in jail. Good’s husband testified against her in court. He stated that she “was a witch or would be one very quickly”. Good’s daughter, 4 years old, was thrown into jail and was forced to testify against her own mother. Later on, Good gave birth in jail and her baby died. Soon after she was convicted and hanged publicly.

The Height of the Trials:

Caption: A public hanging of one of the alleged witches
Credit: History.com 

The three previously stated women were just the beginning. Accusations multiplied rapidly, some chose death and others chose false confessions to save themselves. Reportedly, authorities would tell alleged witches that if they do not confess, they will be hanged. But if they confess, they will be freed. Authorities were not particularly interested in investigating the charges. They kept to the Chruch’s instructions: confess, be forgiven, and promise not to engage in more witchcraft.

Courts were also very corrupt during that time. They accepted all evidence in the cases including hearsay, possession, and spectral evidence. Also, most of the jurors were relatives of the accusers, which made them highly biased. People who tried to speak out against the unjust system like Judge Nathanial Saltonstall were accused. Over 100 people were imprisoned, 20 people were hanged, 14 women and 6 men.

The crashing holt of the Salem Witch Trials:

Caption: Sir William Phillips, Governor of Massachusetts 
Credit: History Junkie

At this point, accusations started to spread beyond Salem to neighboring villages and towns, and even the most political figures were targeted. The governor of Massachusetts suspended the trials after his wife was accused. Prisoners were freed, sentences were suspended and arresters were stopped abruptly.

What caused the 'symptoms'?

Some people speculate that the girls were hallucinating from fungus poising or from a condition that caused the brain to swell. But generally, the reason behind their behavior is unknown. But what we know for a fact that is adults took accusations by children as stone-cold evidence.

The Salem Witch Trials are now a cautionary tale of how scapegoating, group-mentally, and fear can manipulate hundreds of humans and danger their lives.

This brings us to the end of this spook story. Do you think the panic was justified? What do you think are the symptoms? Let me know what you think in the comments and what other stories you would like to hear next!

Tune in to the next blog for another creepy story and another cup of coffee.  Have a safe spooky day!