The Salem Witch Trials
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On January 20th, 1692 Rev. Parris's 9-year-old daughter Elizabeth, 12-year-old niece Abigail Williams, as well as other neighborhood girls began to fall into horrid fits. They would have blasphemous screaming, convulsive seizures, trance-like states and mysterious spells. Within a short time, several other Salem girls began to demonstrate similar behavior. It is believed that the girls told their parents that Sarah Osburn, Sarah Good and Parris's slave, Tituba had been putting spells on them and were witches. Over the next few weeks, towns people came foreword and said that they had seen or been harmed by witches or witchcraft. Therefor accusations were made against many different people. Although the majority of the people that were convicted were woman. We will never know just how many people died as a result of these witch-hunts. Many judicial records have been destroyed, not all trials had records, not all those killed were given a trial but were lynched by members of their communities. |