The Enduring Vision
Chapter 3
The Salem Witchcraft Trials
Growing up, I never really understood why the Salem Witchcraft Trials actually happened. I understood the mechanics (people accusing each other, and whipping up paranoia in a small community), but I did not understand the root causes. On page 54 of the textbook, it is explained that "2/3 of all the accusers were girls aged 11-20, and more than half...had lost one or both parents in conflicts between Indians and settlers in Maine" (The Enduring Vision, p. 54). Having raised one daughter myself, I couldn't help but be struck by this fact. These accusers were very young, and a large number of them had recently lost a father and/or a mother in a violent conflict with indigenous people. No doubt, they were confused, angry and probably a bit paranoid.
Furthermore, the text goes on to explain that most of the women accused of witchcraft were "middle aged wives and widows...women who had escaped the poverty and uncertainty that they [the accusers] themselves faced" (The Enduring Vision, p. 54). The account of family members turning on other family members was heartbreaking. Imagine yourself as a teenager, turning your mother or father in to the authorities for being a witch or warlock, and having them go to jail, or even be killed. Pretty scary!
I was never certain of the numbers of how many people were jailed and/or executed during the Salem trials, but learned from this reading that hundreds of people went to jail, and 20 were executed. The book does not tell us the breakdown of those who were executed, but I imagine most were women. What I find particularly striking is that in Salem, women were turning on other women, rather than being oppressed by patriarchy.
I know that the Salem residents were people of their time, and believed in things like witchcraft, but it is still hard for me to imagine how they could justify killing their own citizens based on these wild, unproven, supernatural accusations. What happened in the Salem Witch Trials is a cautionary tale for people in every time. Ordinary people turned on one another because of grief, jealousy and perhaps mental illness. They caused great suffering and loss of life to an entire community. One hopes this couldn't happen again, but fear and passion still run high in American society, so I can imagine a scenario where a small, close-knit community again turns on itself with disastrous results.
Here is a link to a web site showing a breakdown of the people who were executed as part of the Salem Witch Trials. As I suspected, most were women (19 of the 20). those 19 women were all executed by hanging. The one man executed was pressed to death "when he refused to plead guilty or not guilty".
ReplyDeletehttp://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/asal_de.htm
The above page also explains that a number of accused witches died while in prison awaiting trial.
ReplyDeleteOne final link, to a drawing illustrating the way Giles Corey was pressed to death during the Salem Witch Trials. Incredibly bizzare!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-massachusetts/gilesCoreyPressed.jpg
poor ladies :(
ReplyDeleteI hope it doesn't happen again. but you know how history tend to repeat itself, it might just do. maybe in a different form. when someone brings a revolutionary idea or a new concept, they are often fought and discredited. the media these days crucifies people in a horrendous way. completely destroying their lives by shaming them on public. just because they have a different political view or a different view in life in general. this seems to me like the modern witchcraft trial.
Thank you John for the Fine post and the external resources :)
Thanks for commenting, Hatem. I agree with you, we have public humiliation of many different sorts these days.
ReplyDelete