Salem Village: Trials (Part 2)
Long ago, in Salem Village, lots of women were accused of being witches. Some men were also accused of being warlocks (wizards). It started in November 1691. Some Puritan girls wanted to learn their futures from their mysterious and weird servant named Tituba. More and more girls joined Tituba and her group to learn their futures. One day, when Tituba put an egg into water to see the girl's future husbands, Betty (the youngest girl in the group and also Tituba's master's daughter) saw a coffin. Soon afterwards, the girls started to act strangely. They took burning sticks from a fire Tituba made and started to throw them. This was a familiar kind of witchcraft since another girl named Martha Goodwin, had acted the same way in a book called Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possesions, by Cotton Mather. It started for Martha in 1688. A family's linen turned up missing and she accused the laundry girl of stealing them. The laundry girl's mother, Mary Glover, defended her daughter by using very bad language on Martha. After that, Martha started to become strange. She would sometimes be deaf, sometimes dumb, sometimes blind, and often all three at once. Mary Glover did confess afterwards of being a witch and she was hanged in Boston. After the girls that joined Tituba were seen being weird, Tituba was accused of being a witch and Tituba confessed that she was. This was only the beginning.
On February 25, 1692, Mary Sibley, Mary Walcott's aunt, wanted to know who or what was bothering the girls in Tituba's circle. She went to Tituba and her husband and asked them to prepare a witch's cake. Afterwards, give it to their master's dog and if the dog started to act strangely, it will be confirmed that Tituba was a witch.
When the Reverend Parris (the master of Tituba and her husband) heard about this, he was shocked. He admonished (gave a warning) Mary about this event. Mary confessed her sins but it was too late. The cake had been baked and the damage had been done.
After this, on February 29, people arrested Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, along with Tituba on the accusation of being a witch. They were taken to Salem Village meetinghouse that day and Magistrate Hathorne led the questioning.
Some women, when they were accused of being a witch, were checked for moles or blemishes proving that they were witches. Some women even died in jail for being accused of being a witch before they even got to go on to the trials. In jail, women read from Bibles as they waited for their trials.
Once, when two girls were being accused in trial, they pointed to unseen birds and said that forces were pinching and hurting them.
Most women who were accused were old and they were not protected by men. Nineteen women were hanged for being accused of being a witch in Gallows Hill. One woman, when she was on trial, suddenly became hysterical.
Finally, this all ended. On January 3, 1693. Governor Sir William Phipps freed 3 people that were accused of using witchcraft. In May, he released all accused witches that were still in jail. He then ended the Salem witch-hunt of 1692-1693.