Salem Witch Trials free essay sample

Erin Sullivan Dating back to 1692 when the Salem Witch Trials were occurring, it was a time of despair, concern,and many accusations. The events that took place in Salem in 1692 are a part of a greater pattern throughout our history to persecute innocent people, especially women, as witches. Salem was broken into two parts, Salem Town and Salem Village which set it aside by economy, class and character. Salem Village was known as the have nots, mostly consisting of poor farmers who made a living cultivating crops where as Salem Town was the haves, a wealthy town in which was the center of trade. Salem Village tried to gain its own independence from Salem Town for quite some time but finally succeeded gaining its own church and minister in 1674. The merchants who lived in Salem Village near Ipswich Road prospered but the farmers felt that wealth of Salem Town threatened Puritan values. They thought that the right person must of came along and that it had to be a new person in town and somebody who had the power of getting other people to help in witchcraft. The only logical person who they could think of that fit this description was Martha Corey. (First Salem witch hanging) The Trial of Martha Corey was on Friday March 11, 1692 it was a day of fasting and prayer in Salem. The accusation shocked those who heard it because Martha Corey (Good wife Corey) was a new but upstanding member of the community. Immediately a somebody was sent to the Corey farm to question Martha hoping to clear her name. Martha Coreys sarcastic response to her being accused caused her immediate arrest. In the courtroom Maratha’s accusers writhed in agony as they were forced by an unseen power to mimic the witchs every movement. When Martha shifted her feet they did too,when Martha bit her lip they were compelled to. On, Monday, the 21st of March,the magistrates of Salem appointed to come to examination of Good wife Corey. And about twelve of the clock they went into the meeting house,which was thronged with spectators. Mr. Noyes began with a very pertinent and pathetic prayer, and Good wife Corey being called to answer to what was alleged against her, she desired to go to prayer, which was much wondered at, in the presence of so many hundred people. The magistrates told her they would not admit it; they came not there to hear her pray, but to examine her in what was alleged against her. The worshipful Mr. Hawthorne asked her why she afflicted those children. She said she did not afflict them. He asked her, Who did then? She said, I do not know; how should I know? † (Lawson) Martha was portraying that she had no clue as to what was going on and that she was being accused of something that she did not do. But if Martha truly was innocent then why would she not pray and why would she not fight and show more passion that she was not a witch. Some of the people in the town started to come forward and telling things about Martha, because they believed she was a witch crop failures or infant deaths -local villagers were quick to accuse each other of witchcraft (Milton). They would say that she has a book of spells and that she tried to convince young girls into doing magic with her, the younger the girls were the easier it would be to harvest their magic. Others would say that she had a little yellow bird that she would put in her hand and kill then she would bring it back to life to show how much power she actually had. Nobody actually had proof that Martha was a witch and that she was in fact practising witch craft. (Salem witch trials) From the late 15th century to the late 18th century a wave of persecution washed across parts of Europe. Tens of thousands of people were executed for witchcraft. But what happened? Belief in magic was almost universal in the past. Almost all cultures believed that you could use supernatural means to help hunting or to make your crops grow better or to make humans or animals more fertile (Lambert). But you could not use magic to heal humans and animals (Lambert). For most people who lived before the 18th century magic was an ordinary part of everyday life. To them the world was a mysterious and frightening place. They did not know what caused diseases and sickness so they would sometimes assume it was something supernatural. The people of the 16th century would use what they thought magic in their everyday lives to try to make things better for themselves , but when people started thinking that humans were using magic on other living things that’s when magic started being considered evil and a bad thing (Lambert). People who believed in magic the thought that your enemies could use magic to harm you was terrifying. Most people in the 16th century believed that God had an enemy called the Devil, who was very powerful. They believed that witches made a pact or agreement with the Devil and agreed to worship and serve him. When people were being accused of witch craft they were not given a fair trial. They did not use evidence they did not give you a voice,if somebody said you were a witch then you must be a witch (Lambert). The history of witch craft is so great that nobody is really sure what actually happened. There are many theories as to what actually happened , some say that witches started coming to earth and taking over human bodies when the devouring night started. On the night of the devouring or otherwise called sorry night, otherwise know as Halloween, is when witches come down from their world and inhabit the people who are scared(Holt). They take over the scared humans because they are alone and have no way of defending themselves , their minds are essentially open and easy to take over(Holt). They take over their bodies and then the witches have a vessel which they can perform their magic from. The witches who take over the human body make it so the human that was already in the body feel like they are asleep. The witch will inhabit your thoughts and your past and they will act like the person they took over as much as they could(Holt). A witch would sometimes slip up and their magic would start to show or they would be caught,in some cases they would get caught without even realizing it. The longer a witch is in a body the harder it would be for their magic if it was evil to start showing. When a witch would get caught performing magic back in the 16th century they had no way to escape the human because the only day they can enter or leave body is on October thirty first or if the human is illed. When human was hung the witch could stay around and inhabit another body but when the body was burned the witch died with it. It took a long time for people to realize what was happening. It was one of the most logical reasons to how witches could come about. (Holt) In some cases female witches were treated a lot worse than male witches were. Female witches were usually beaten and their houses wo uld be raided then burned down they then would be hung or burned and sometimes even both depending on how strong they thought the witch was (Lyons). In rare cases men witches were kept alive because priests would try to save them and get extract their magic so they could use it for their own purposes(Lyons). Once the priests were done with the male witches if they still believed they were witches they would be killed and their belongings would be burned(Lyons). Because of the Salem witch trials , thousands globally lost friends and family members over the suspicion of being witches and doing harm. People would be killed if they were a good witch or a bad witch,innocent or guilty, proof or no proof. If somebody was thought to be a witch then you were going to be killed. A group of people the descendants of people who were killed in the trials , otherwise known as the Salem five started a petition for their ancestors names to be cleared and know that they were not witches and that they were killed when they were innocent (American Heritage). It was a long fight for there names to be cleared but in the end they eventually got their names cleared and they got their names in the paper and their names on the list of people who were believed to be innocent during the trials but they were killed without real proof. American Heritage) When the witch trials were going on witches were thought to have looked like ordinary people who have the power to kill people, make potions, and control people . Witches were thought to be evil and only capable of doing harm, yet they would walk among humans and act like humans in most cases. The witches in the 16th century were though to look like normal everyday humans ,so they they would not have to hide(Salem Witch museum). Now in the 20th century witches are thought to have long stringy uncombed black hair and facial warts with a green face ,and a big nose. They are thought to wear all black and long stocking ,they ride around on broom sticks and have loud cackling laughs. The transition from what people thought use to be witches and what people now think a witch would look like is so different from what they use to be like. The change in what witches look like started when all witches started to be thought of as evil and corrupting. The change happened when parents would tell their children about evil creatures that would take them in the night and make them do things that they would not want to do . People changed the look of witches so that their stories would scare young children. Years of stories being passed down generation after generation people started to forget that witches actually look like normal humans and that they blend in with everyday society. (Salem witch museum) The repercussions of the Salem witch trials effected thousands of innocent people. People were murdered without given a fair trial , many family lines were massacred , and now most people think that all witches are evil and that all the stories about witches are true. Thousands of innocent people , including women and children , were slaughtered globally during the Salem witch trials(Salem witch trials). Many family lines were cut out and killed altogether during the trials. When witch craft was happening in some cases whole families were convicted and then slaughtered , they were not given fair trials because there was no real proof that they were actually witches. After the witch trials were finished all over the world everybody started assuming that all witches were evil and that magic good or bad should not be allowed. Many folklore tales were made up and legends were started to be told all over the globe about evil witch craft ,and how witches take over your body and kill your soul . Some people would say that when witch craft was used for killing humans and animals and manipulating them that is when you would lose your soul. Because of The Salem witch trials thousands of innocent people were killed with little proof , real witches were not killed ,and people were taken over during the devouring. Since the witch trials happened globally many stories and legends were started and there is no real proof as to what happened. Some families tried to get their ancestors names cleared but not everybody who was faultily killed got their names cleared. The repercussions of the trials are still felt today globally. Work Cited (Holt Simon,The Devouring, September 1 , 2008) January Lyons , Diane Witchcraft, gender, power and intimate relations in Mura compounds in Dela, northern Cameroon. EBSCO HOST. May 2 ,2013. Salem witch Museum. http://www. salemwitchmuseum. om/. May 2,2013 Lambert , Tim. The Salem witch trials . Localhistories. com April 26,2013 http://www. localhistories. org/salem. html The Salem Witch Trials, 1692, EyeWitness to History, www. eyewitnesstohistory. com (2000). April 30th , 2013 Salem witch trials. Welcome to Salem Massachusetts. April 24th 2013 http://www. salemweb. com/guide/witches. shtml Blumburg, Jess. A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials. Smithsonian. com Published October 27th,2007 May 1st 2013 http://www. smithsonianmag. com/history-archaeology/brief-salem. html April 30th 2013 Lawson , Deodat. The Salem Witch Trials,1692. Eyewitness to History. Published in 2000. http://www. eyewitnesstohistory. com/salem. htm April 29th 2013 Milton, Gilies. SALEM WITCH TRIAL: THE CASE OF GILES AND MARTHA COREY published December 12 2012. Surviving-History. blogspot. ca April 30th , 2013 First Salem Witch hanging. Www. history. comhttp[-gt;1]://www. history. com/this-day-in-history/first-salem-witch-hanging April 30th , 2013 [-gt;0] http://ec. tynt. com/b/rw? id=cd5NqsI_0r3Qffab7jrHtBu=SmithsonianMag [-gt;1] http://Www. history. comhttp/