The Salem Witch Trials was a time in history when the accusations of a witch was common. In Salem, Massachussetts, where many of the accusations occured, more than 150 men and women were charged with witchcraft. Nineteen of the 150 colonists were hanged. Reverend Samuel Parris' niece and daughter were two of the girls in Salem "afflicted" by witches. They "cried out" names of disliked women and men of the society. The girls went into fits when the "witches" were in the same room as them. The girls said that the accused came to them at night to harm them. The judges in the trials believed the girls although there was no evidence, and most of the girls' were supposedly frauds. Most of the accused who were not hanged were put in jail to be starved and chained.