The witch trials began after Reverend Samuel Parris, the local priest's, daughter and niece fell ill and went into hysterics. After the local doctor examined the girls, he couldn’t seem to find anything physically wrong with the girls, so they decided it was the doings of witches. The town then blamed three women: Sarah Osborn, Sarah Good, and Rev. Parris' African slave Tituba, who came from the Caribbean and knew the art of voodoo. After being separately questioned, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn pleaded innocent, while Tituba confessed that she had entertained the young girls with stories about the paranormal, as well as stating that she had met with the devil along with others in the village. It was then quite obvious to the town that these women were guilty, and they, along with 150 other men and women, were jailed on the charge of witchcraft. In May of 1692, the witch trials went from a rarity to a common way of life. Between June and September of 1692, 14 women and 5 men were executed in Salem as witches, as well as one man being tortured to death. Girls clamed to have evidence that ranged from witches being able to wring there own hands, to loss of speech, to being mysteriously choked, to girls having "spectral evidence". When somebody claimed that they had "spectral evidence", they claimed that they could see an evil spirit or specter that now one else could perceive. In the beginning of the witch trials, spectral evidence was allowed in the courtroom and could be used as legitimate evidence, but later on the courts ruled that it could not be used as evidence against an alleged witch. The people saw the Devil everywhere and didn’t hesitate to accuse anyone, whether of high or low rank, of being a witch. Other girls joined in the frenzy because they were afraid that they too were being bewitched. However, these trials were becoming a circus, the result of fear and spite. Although hanging was the most common procedure, not everyone accused lived to be hanged. One man refused to testify and was crushed under a huge stone, he obviously didn’t recognize the Court’s authority. However, everyone who confessed to being a witch were let go to live with the humiliation of being an alleged witch. Finally people with authority realized the witch trials were getting out of hand, it seemed to them that anyone could be accused of witchcraft. In the end a prominent minister proclaimed that it would be better to let those legitimately guilty of witchcraft go free than to convict the innocent. The only good thing to come of this commotion and disgrace to the legal system was that eventually people came to their senses and stopped it.

This year, our class has read an award-winning novel called The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Spear. This book is the story of a girl named Kit who comes from the island of Barbados to Whethersfield, Connecticut. Here she finds many people are prejudice against her, for she is a Royalist and they are Puritans. Kit is a strong willed, stubborn girl who moves in with her aunt and uncle, who are strongly Puritanical. They make Kit change her ways, and in her despair she finds a Quaker woman accused of being a witch. She makes friends with this old woman, and because of that, the people of the town turn on her, accusing her of being a witch. As you can tell, this is extremely prejudice, and you should never judge a book by it’s cover. Kit escapes her conviction because her friend, Nat, brings a young girl named Prudence into the courtroom. Prudence testifies for Kit and sets her free.

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