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Salem Witch Trials

 

            
             The Salem witch hunt began in January of 1692 when a group of girls started acting really weird. They started having "convulsive seizures, blasphemous screaming, and trance-like states" that the town could not explain. They called in some doctors and after none of them could diagnose what was wrong with the witches, the town began to think that it was the work of Satan. They believed that witches were invading their town. In February, the town began praying and fasting in hopes that they would rid the town of the witches. They were also pressuring the girls to give them the names of the people controlling them. The girls gave them three names.
             The first was a girl named Tituba. She was an Indian woman and when questioned she admitted to seeing Satan. She said that he appeared to her "sometimes like a hog and sometimes like a great dog." She also confessed that there was a conspiracy of witches trying to take over Salem. Tituba was beat by her master into confessing so many believe that she did it to avoid further punishment. When she confessed she also named Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne as witches. When people began to change their views about witches, Tituba wanted to recant her confession. This made her owner so mad that he refused to post bail and she remained in jail until an unknown person bought her and she was never heard from again. .
             Sarah Good fit the profile for a Witch almost perfectly. She had a habit of scolding neighbors who refused to give her charity. There were also at least seven people that testified at her trial, all of them as witnesses to her angry mutterings if they refused to give her the charity that she asked for. The most damaging piece of evidence though, was a confession by her four year old daughter Dorcas Good. Dorcas was arrested on March 23rd and gave a confession which implicated her mom as a witch. During her trial there were many errors and much of the evidence presented against her was found to be false.


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