But its beginnings were grim and heart-wrenching. The girls screamed, crawled under furniture, threw objects, and contorted themselves into horrifying positions. Even the physician was baffled. Among these were also year-old Ann Putnam Jr. They were later joined by others in the finger-pointing and theatrics. This unfortunate diagnosis ultimately set off the infamous Salem Witch Trials in the which resulted in the imprisonment of more than people, nineteen of whom were found guilty and executed by hanging.
One man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death. This surprised me because I thought witches were burned at the stake or drowned. Apparently, there were many ways to execute a witch. To add to the senseless tragedy, five more died in prison, including an infant, Mercy Good. She lived another decade or so, but she was so damaged by her treatment in prison that she became insane.
Like any small town, there were fights and feuds in which the entire community was involved. In , the villagers had voted to hire a minister of their own, apart from Salem Village. The first two stayed only a few years each, departing after the congregation failed to pay their full rate. Ironically, even one of the ministers, George Burroughs, was arrested at the height of the witchcraft hysteria and hanged as a witch in August This reminds me of my zero-hour high school teacher making me stand in front of the class and explain why I was five minutes late one morning.
Additionally, thanks in large part to the church minister who audaciously called himself a Christian, rumors of witchcraft swept the villages neighboring Salem prior to the outbreak of the hysteria in Honestly, I would be pretty upset if some kid kept wandering into my yard and stealing my linens, too. I think Goody Glover had something going here. Nonetheless, Glover was seen as a disagreeable old woman and described by her husband as a witch.
Four of the six Goodwin children had strange fits, which quickly became associated with witchcraft. At the time, a vicious rivalry was underway between the Putnam and Porter families which resulted in polarizing the people of Salem. These disagreements often escalated into full-fledged fighting based on their opinion of the feud. I suppose an accusation of witchcraft was an easy way to get rid of an enemy, considering the gullible and superstitious nature of the people in this town. Tituba, the first to be targeted, was reportedly a South American Indian slave belonging to Samuel Parris.
