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From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and
women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to
Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging.
Another man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death over a
two day period under heavy stones for refusing to submitto a trial on witchcraft charges.
Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft. Dozens
languished in jail for months without trials. Then, almost as soon as
it had begun, the hysteria that swept through Puritan Massachusettsended.
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Although there had been international witch hunts for
several years, the outbreak in America was rather new. There
were many causes for these hunts (both real and imaginary),
but it was the hunts in Salem that became the epitome of whatfear, hate and hysteria can do to otherwise sane people.
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In England, witch hunts had been commonplace for quite
some time. It was a time of great religious strength and belief, yet
a time of fear and belief in otherworldly powers as well.
In a society based heavily on the belief, worship and
adherence to biblical law, it is not hard to see why people soreadily believed that witches and warlocks were about them.
Spiritual crimes were completely acceptable in court, and
spiritual evidence was enough to earn a person their death
sentence.
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In America, the strict Puritans were settled all across the
north east. Puritans lived a simple life which revolved in all waysaround bettering their lives spiritually.
They worked six days a week, resting only on Sunday
when they would attend mass which would last from 5-8 hours. If
they were not working or in church, they should be praying orreflecting on their spiritual lives.
They were aware at all times that Satan and God were at
war and that the battleground was the Puritans souls. For
this reason, life was quite somber. They did not dance, singanything but hymns, write anything but religious journals or
poems (except womenwomen should not write at all), nor
could they participate in any idle activity like
athletics.especially bowlingtrue story.
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Another case was due to children pretending to be dogs.
Two ten-old-year girls were pretending to be dogs.
They were witnessed by a pair of adults who automatically thought the
behavior must be due to witch possession.Within a few weeks, the jail
was filled.
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Reverend Parris (bettys father) had a slave woman from
Barbados named Tituba. It was known that Tituba practiced
Voodoo, and she was therefore the first person to be accused as a
witch.
During a clear night in 1692, Tituba and a group of young
ladies gathered together in the woods around a fire. Tituba was
helping them cast love spells for the boys in the village that theywanted to marry.here the story diverges. One account says that
Reverend Parris stumbled across the dancing girls (some nude), thus
causing panic and fear in the girls. Another case claims that Abigail
Williams turned from a love spell to a death spell. She wanted to
kill a mans wife so she could marry him.
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In Salem, all a person had to do was
accuse a person of witchcraft. They were then
arrested, jailed and tried. Heres the
kicker.there was no way to win.
If a person plead innocent to witchcraft,
they must obviously be lying and must thereforebe hanged as a witch.
If they admitted to being a witch, they
could be spared and be set free for coming clean
and converting back to Christianity..but
Puritan belief strictly enforced the knowledge thatif a person purposely lies, they damn their soul.
So you could save your life but lose your
soul, or lose your life but save your soul.either
way, youre shafted.