What were the effects of the witchcraft trials on Salem, Massachusetts?

By: Kathleen Wilkerson                

Due: October 31, 2000

(Mr. Good)

The witchcraft trials had a terrible effect on the community of Salem.  There were various reasons why the witchcraft rumors started, why the trials took place and why they had such a large effect on Salem.  I will now attempt to help you understand the trials, why they started, and their effect on the town.

Witchcraft was considered to be the work of the devil.  Many people were accused and convicted of witchcraft for some very strange reasons.  If someone spread a rumor about a person, it was possible to accuse him/her of witchcraft and for him/her to be convicted.  People were very afraid of what might happen if witches were kept alive, therefore most people who were accused were convicted and later killed.   Witchcraft was mostly a big lie.

Many events led to the trials of Salem.    The trials took place after the largest witch-hunt in American history. {Boyer, page 61} The colonists brought the belief in witches with them to the New World (America) when they came from England. {Boyer, page 61} Several girls began acting very strangely.  The doctor could not find anything wrong with the girls.  He blamed it on witchcraft.  The girls began accusing people of witchcraft.  This led to many other cases. {Boyer, page 61} There may have been other reasons for the start of the trials, but many historians recognize these as being the main reasons.

There were many ways of telling whether someone was a witch.  These were called witch-marks.  Some people were called witches because they had extra nipples. {Kallen, page 40} Others were convicted of being witches because they could not cry upon demand. {Kallen, page 40} There were some that were convicted of being witches because they had insensitive spots of skin that were supposedly made by the devil. {Kallen, page 40} Others were killed because they had “diabolical” blemishes, moles, or scars. {Kallen, page 40} There were also other witch-marks.  People had many other ways of telling if a person was a witch. 

            The topic of witches having pets is probably one of the most well known ways of telling whether a person was a witch.  Many people think of black cats when they think of witches, but they were not the only pets that witches had.  In fact, there were many other witch pets.  In addition to cats, other witch pets were ferrets, rabbits, blackbirds, owls, crows, toads, frogs, and dogs. {Kallen, page 33} Pets were thought to be “familiars” or messengers assigned by the devil to help a certain witch. {Kallen, page 33} Many cats were killed with their masters because the master was accused and later convicted of being a witch. {Kallen, page 33} The accused witches often did have pets, but so did the afflicted.

            There were many ways that witchcraft was punished.  Public hangings were held to warn others not to do crimes. {Roach, page 19} The convicted witch would stand halfway up a ladder - blindfolded with his/her hands tied behind his/her back- then the witch would be pushed off of the ladder. {Roach, page 19} Giles Cory was pressed to death by laying stone weights on him until he was killed. {Kallen, page 78} Death was not always quick when the witches were killed. {Roach, page 19} There were several other ways of punishing witches, but these are the most well known.

            Many were very afraid of what might happen to them if they confessed to being witches.  Others confessed for fear of what might happen if they didn’t.  Sarah Carrier was one of those who confessed to being a witch.  She told the magistrates that she had been a witch since she was six years old.  She also told them that her mother was the one who made her a witch.  The people who wanted her to be a witch told her that they would give her a little, black dog, but it never came.  She once saw a black cat that said that it would tear her in pieces if she did not set her hand to the book.  She said that she afflicted people by pinching them while she was in spirit.  Sarah said that her mother came as a black cat to carry her to afflict people.  When asked how she knew that it was her mother, she told them the cat had told her that it was her mother.   Sarah Carrier may have confessed because she wanted to get back at her mother for going to jail while she was still very young. Another reason that she may have confessed was because when Giles Corey refused to plead guilty or innocent, they pressed him to death.

            The convicted witch was put into jail while he/she waited for the punishment. {Kallen, page 44} Witch-jails today would be considered torture chambers. {Kallen, page 44} The jails were dark and bitterly cold. {Kallen, page 44} The prison was so damp that water ran down the inside walls. {Kallen, page 44} The jails smelled of unwashed bodies and human waste. {Kallen, page 44} All of the prisoners suffered inhumane treatment. {Kallen, page 44} They were hungry and thirsty. {Kallen, page 44} In the winter, many prisoners froze to death. {Kallen, page 44} Some of the cells in the jails were so small that the prisoner could not even sit down. {Kallen, page 44} The way that the witches were treated was horrible, even for prisoners.

            Before the year was over, it became obvious that the trials had to stop somehow.   Innocent people were being killed for strange reasons.  The leading ministers of Salem knew that the trials had to stop soon.  They were the only people actually able to stop the trials. {Boyer, page 61} In 1693, the last of the accused were let out of jail. {Boyer, page 61} In 1711, the government made payments to the families of the witches as a way to make up for the harm that had been done to their families. {Boyer, page 61} These are believed to be the most obvious events in the stopping of the trials.

            Before the trials the town of Salem was probably just like any other town.  As in any town, when people began acting strangely, others went just a little overboard with their reactions to the behavior.  This is what happened in Salem. 

            The trials left the people of Salem stunned.  When they thought of what had happened to these innocent people they were very surprised at what they had done.  The afflicted girls apologized soon after and admitted that it had all been a fraud.  The trials and punishments may not have been a good thing in the town of Salem, but they taught the rest of us some important lessons. 

            The witchcraft trials of 1692 were traumatic for Salem.  Many people in the community were killed or died in jail.  This meant that the population decreased.  They were very ashamed and upset and therefore changed the name of the town to Danvers.  People of today still can go visit Gallows Hill, the place where the hangings took place.  People also can visit the jails and see reenactments of the trials and hangings.  The trials had a bad effect on Salem, but the rest of the world got some very valuable lessons.

            It is apparent to me that the trials were very harmful to the people of Salem.  The people who started the rumors of witchcraft probably knew what would happen, but did not care.  After thinking about it, they would probably agree that it had a negative effect on Salem.

Bibliography

1.          Boyer, Paul.  “Salem Witchcraft Trials.”  The World Book Encyclopedia.  2000 ed.

2.          Kallen, Stuart A.  The Salem Witch Trials.  San Diego, California: Lucent Books, Inc., 1999.

3.          Linder, Douglas.  Images of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. [Online] Available http://www.law.umkc.edu./faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_PHO.HTM .  26 Oct. 2000.

4.          Roach, Marilynne K.  In the Days of the Salem Witchcraft Trials.  New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996.

5.          “Salem Witch Trials.”  Colonial America.  1998 ed.