The movie 3 Sovereigns for Sara was about the Salem witch trials. It all started with Abigail Williams and a few girls doing voodoo with a slave woman from Barbados. Abigail's uncle Samuel Parris, who had just become the new minister of Salem, caught them all screaming and acting weird. This is what started the murder of the so-called witches. .
What really happened? The girls were going to be in trouble, and then Betty Parris supposedly got sick. Samuel Parris brought in a doctor that didn't know all that much. The doctor said to Parris there was nothing like it in his books and that it could be witchcraft. Samuel Parris first goes to Abigail and questions her. That led to Tituba, which led to Sara Osborne, Sara Goode, and a lot more.
Only half the town liked Parris, and the other half hated him. There were land disputes and all sorts of controversy. When the trials came anyone who said they were witches were put in jail while anyone who denied it was hung. Being the minister of the church back then, also meant that you"re the judge of the court. Where Parris is the minister and Abigail is his niece, Parris has a great deal of power. .
There were no witches in Salem. It was all just Rev. Parris encouraging the girls to accuse people that he didn't like, people that didn't like him, and people that he would benefit from there losses. It is a sick thing to think about. This man sentenced about twenty innocent people to death for his own benefit. The girls accused around fifty people in all.
This kind of thing still happens today. The Muslims of America after 9/11 were treated badly and every one of them was a suspect. It doesn't happen as much in modern times because of due process. .
