These Salem witch trials facts will surprise even the history buffs and prove that these events didn’t happen how you think.
The Salem witch trials could be summarized as “ women accused of witchery , intact dependency panics , women then executed . ” While that summary is not technically untrue , what in reality occurred is jolly different from the idea that lives on in popular imagination .
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These Salem beldam trials facts separate truth from myth :
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Salem Witch Trials Facts: Not All Of The Accused Witches Were Women
You ’d be hard - press to name a famous male hag ( Gandalf , Harry , Merlin , and other magical men are in general referred to as wiz ) , so it may come as a surprise to find out thatsome of the accuse hag in Salem were in reality men .
FlickrMemorial toGiles Corey , one of the male “ witches ” executed during the test .
A total of six men were accused during the trials . Thanks to Arthur Miller ’s famous playThe Crucible , John Proctor is belike the best - known of these unfortunate confrere , who also let in lieutenant constable John Willard — who suddenly found himself the physical object of accusation after express doubt as to the truthfulness of the claims made by the accused ’s victims — and Giles Corey .
FlickrMemorial toGiles Corey, one of the male “witches” executed during the trials.
Corey refused to inscribe a plea ( since he would have to cede his estate to the government if convicted ) , so the tribunal had him crushed to dying beneath heavy stones . Although this might be the most sick fate met by any of the accused , Corey ’s stubbornness ( along with compound respect for attribute laws ) assure his estate was slip by down to the true heirs .
The Accused Weren’t All Executed
Wikimedia CommonsAn 1876 engraving depicting the Salem witch trials .
The well - know Salem witch test facts ask the victim : those who were accused and , ultimately , executed . Because people are most familiar with the tale of the executed , it is easy to close that all of the people get up in the infamous witch hunt tragically lose their aliveness . However , the existent percentage of the accuse who were obliterate was much smaller than is widely take .
by nature , every death was a tragedy because every dupe was innocent of the stated law-breaking . However , out of a total of200 people accuse , only between 140 - 150 were nab . Out of this grouping , 20 would be in reality executed ; the rest were never indicted , make out to escape , or were pardon .
Wikimedia CommonsAn 1876 engraving depicting the Salem witch trials.
Salem Witch Trials Facts: Some Of The Accused Didn’t Proclaim Their Innocence
Wikimedia Commons1878 portrayal of the slave Tituba with the child who later on accused her of witchcraft .
It can be safely assume that none of the citizenry accuse of witchcraft in Salem actually attacked sinless children with the help of supernatural forces . Yet , interestingly , not all of the so - called beldam traverse these accusation .
Titubais one of the most famous figures associate with the Salem witch trials . In fact , without her , the test may never have even taken plaza . A slave to the village diplomatic minister and one of the three women first accused of witchcraft , Tituba actuallyconfessedto one of the judges that “ the Devil come to me and wish me serve him . ”
Wikimedia Commons1878 depiction of the slave Tituba with the children who later accused her of witchcraft.
What caused Tituba to confess will never be cognize ; possibility ramble from coercion by the government minister to unembellished conjuring trick so as to save herself from the snare ( because she confessed , her case never went to trial ) . Her confession , however , was what convinced the colonists that witchcraft was indeed afoot in Salem and that there was truth to the accusers ’ claims .
All of the four other “ witches ” who also pled hangdog survived the test and were finally pardoned , so perhaps it was simply less risky to confess .
Not Everyone Was Convinced The Accused Were Guilty
Library of CongressCopy of the official turn “ to reverse the civil death of George Burroughs and Others for Witchcraft . ”
pop depictions of the Salem witch trial generally pit the helpless accused against an entire colony of superstitious pilgrim . The world is that many Massachusetts colonists remained far from convinced of the guilt of the conjecture witches . John Willard ( the unfortunate deputy sheriff constable mentioned above ) made the mistake of voicing his own doubts , only to himself be accused of supernatural crimes .
In addition to expressing misgivings during the trial , colonist began to formally express some guilt feelings almost right away in the aftermath . In 1702 , barely a decade after the last victim was accused , the trials were declared “ outlawed ” and in 1711 , Massachusettspassed a billthat formally remove the names of all of the make witches . Surviving victims and their families also received fiscal restoration in 1712 , although the state did not issue a formal apologia until 1957 .
Library of CongressCopy of the official act “to reverse the attainders of George Burroughs and Others for Witchcraft.”
The Witch Hunt Wasn’t Led By a Frenzied Mob
Wikimedia CommonsWonder of the inconspicuous World , Cotton Mather ’s famous story of the trials .
“ Hysteria ” is a word often learn in conjunctive with the Salem witch trials while the set phrase “ witch Leigh Hunt ” itself evokes images of an wild rabble chasing down innocent masses .
However , it must be remembered that the Salem witch trial run were , after all , trials . It is a testament to the power of the principle of law that the colonists brought over with them from England that , despite the panic and very real reverence of the supernatural , the residents of Salem still tried their accuse witch in a court of law .
Wikimedia CommonsWonder of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather’s famous account of the trials.
Any evidence fetch forward in a trial come to magic requires some stretch of the imagination , but even at the time , the judge realized some limits had to be draw . In an seek to reign in some of the more outrageous accusations , famed New England ministerCotton Matherwrote the courtcautioning against the function of that “ ghostlike evidence ” ( such as dream and visions ) . His father , Reverend Increase Mather ( who was president of Harvard at the time ) , also verbalize out against spectral evidence , submit “ it were ripe that ten suspect witches should fly the coop than one clean-handed mortal be condemned . ”
In 1693 ( partly in response to the Mathers ) , the governor of Massachusetts finally veto further arrests and prompt the test to a higher court that did not permit spectral evidence , which resulted in the remaining beldame being found guiltless and efficaciously terminate the Salem witch trials .
After this smell at Salem enchantress trials facts , scan up on thehistory of witches . Then , have a look at some of the most commonhistory mythsthat most people think .
