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| In the town of Salem, Massachusetts, there existed a deep discontentment and paranoia among the colonists. Spiritual things seemed to happen and naturally, the colonists gave it a source that could be defeated: Witchcraft. One-hundred and forty people were caught on the crime of Witchcraft, practically on no evidence and just suspicion. Of the said number nineteen people were hanged, and one was stoned to death. Others died in jail waiting to be tried on the crime. This all started when a Reverend Samuel Paris' daughter Elizabeth and her cousin Abigail began to act peculiar. They started having weird symptoms and strange fits, which the doctors could only label Witchcraft. Soon, other girls around the town began having the fits, and the townspeople wanted to know who was afflicting the girls. They cried out three names, Sarah Good, Sarah Osborn and their slave Tituba. When they tried these people, Tituba confessed to signing a black book carried by a man in a black coat and black hat, and thrown in prison. The other two pleaded innocent and were killed. Nearly a year passed and things went on in this fashion, people being accused and had two options: Confess or die, both condemning. Not just the poor were accused of Witchcraft; the wealthy were also some popular picks. All of these things happened by rule off the mob, or the main body of the people. The law had descended after the revolt against governor Andrews, and the people who opposed the trials were also silenced. |