In 1692, one of the last and most famous witch hunts took place in Salem, Massachusetts.
Tituba, a slave from Barbados delighted nine-year-old, Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams with mesmerizing tales. The girls invited several friends to share the stories. Tituba’s audience listened intently as she talked of telling the future.
In February 1692, Betty Parris fell sick. So did Abigail Williams and the girls’ friend Ann Putnam. Other girls soon manifested the same symptoms; convulsions, contortions, and outbursts of gibberish that baffled everyone.
Doctors and ministers watched in horror as the girls contorted themselves, cowered under chairs, and shouted nonsense. The doctors could suggest but one cause. Witchcraft.
That grim diagnosis launched a Puritan inquisition that took 25 lives, filled prisons with innocent people, and frayed the soul of a Massachusetts community called Salem.
Nineteen witches were hanged at Gallows Hill in 1692, and one defendant was tortured to death for refusing to enter a plea at his trial. Five others, including an infant, died in prison.
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