THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a
group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be
possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As
a wave of hysteria spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, a special
court convened in Salem to hear the cases; the first convicted witch,
Bridget Bishop, was hanged that June. Eighteen others followed Bishop to
Salem’s Gallows Hill, while some 150 more men, women and children were
accused over the next several months. By September 1692, the hysteria
had begun to abate and public opinion turned against the trials. Though
the Massachusetts General Court later annulled guilty verdicts against
accused witches and granted indemnities to their families, bitterness
lingered in the community, and the painful legacy of the Salem witch
trials would endure for centuries. X
Published
ImagineCreateDevour 