😬 The Salem Witch Trials 😬
Introduction:
Many people believed that the Salem Witch Trials should be
happening. But now people are starting to wonder if this was the right choice.
The Salem Witch Trials caused many innocent deaths. Mostly because the parents
believed their children, and they wanted the people they accused of hurting
them dead. But what happened to the people who were innocent? This book will
answer that question and teach you more about the Salem Witch Trials, and how
terrible they were.
Chapter 1: How it all started
One day a girl name Betty Parris starting acting strange. She hid
under tables and started talking gibberish. Sometimes she couldn’t even speak
at all! People called this having “Fits”. Betty acted like this for a long
time. At first it was just her, but then her cousin Abigail Williams started
acting the same way. The parents tried everything they could to help the girls.
But they had no idea what was going on.
Imagine how worried they were! They tried to make a special cake, that was
supposed to keep the witches away. Their slave Tituba made the cake. She gave
it to the dog. Every time the dog crunched on the cake, the witch was supposed
to feel it and go away. But that didn’t work. They then tried calling a doctor,
but the doctor confirmed that they were not sick. This worried the parents very
much, because if they were not sick, then it could only mean one thing. They
were being tormented by witches! After they tried the cake remedy, the girls
got worse. They claimed they couldn’t breathe. They said they saw things that
only they could see. Like a witch poking them and biting them. Betty finally
told her parents that the person tormenting them was the family's slave Tituba!
Betty also named two more people. Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. Abigail also
said that Sarah Good was tormenting them! More and more girls started acting
this way. This made people very frightened. Something had to be done! After
that, more and more girls started accusing these women, and people finally
decided to see if they were witches. They took the three women to a person who
could tell if they were witches or not. If you had any sort of birthmark on
you, then people would think you were a witch. The girl checked all three women
for birthmarks, but they all had none. They still had to go to trial, even
though they passed the test. A few days later they went to trial. The girls
were at trial also, so the judges could see if the girls reacted to the all of
the ladies presence. They judges asked the ladies why they had tormented the girls. They just assumed that
they were guilty! That's not fair! First they asked Sarah Good. Bettys parents
recalled her coming to beg for food with her daughter, and when they gave her
daughter some food, Sarah Good still looked upset. They said she mumbled something
that they thought was a curse. When they asked her why she was mumbling a
curse, she said that she was just mumbling thanks for the bread they gave her
daughter. She begged for them to believe her. After that they moved on to Sarah
Osborne. When she came into the room, Abigail and Betty said that a black crow
with Sarah Osbornes head on it came to visit them. A black crow was bad luck!
(Above) Section about witchcraft
Chapter 2: Testing the women
After this trial, more and more
girls started acting this way, and more and more people were accused. One day
Anne said that Sarah Good’s daughter’s specter had choked her. When one man
named John Procter was accused he said the girls were lying. He said that he
never did anything to them, but still more and more people were accused! This
was not fair! One person named Mary Walcott also was being accused. When she
went to the trials, whenever she did something the girls all copied her. They
said that her specter was making them. John Procter started to annoy many
people, because he kept saying that the girls were all lying. People eventually
found at that because Tituba lied and said she was a witch, she got better
treatment. And everyone knows that the punishment for witchcraft is death.
Tituba knew that very well. When more and more people realized this, they too
started saying that they were helping the devil. They knew if they did this
they would get special treatment like Tituba. They also accused other people of
being witches, which would make their treatment even better. This just made
everything worse because it made it seem like the girls accusations were
correct. This was not good. If people started thinking the girls were right,
then it could lead to many more innocent deaths! People begged family members
that were accused to say they were guilty. Would you rather your mom tell the
truth and die, or lie and live? You shouldn’t even have to choose! Tituba later
wrote an apology letter, saying that she was sorry for using dark magic. Many
people believed writing a letter like that would shoo the devil away.
Researchers agree that this was a terrible time. Everyone was accusing other
innocent people, making the situation worse and worse! Dorcas even accused her
own mother! This was definitely getting out of hand!The judges believed the
girls. Sarah Osborne desperately tried to defend herself, but when she did the
girls shrieked and fell on the floor. Then, they moved on to Tituba. At first,
Tituba said she was innocent. But then, she knew that they already thought she
was guilty, and they would hang her. So then, she admitted that she actually
was guilty. She said that the devil came to her, and made her sign a contract
with her own blood, and offered her a lot of gifts so she would sign it. She
said he also said that if she hadn’t signed it the devil said he would have
killed her, and made the girls keep acting this way and would never make them
feel better. So Tituba said that's why she signed it. Puritans believed that
this was the way you become a witch. She also said that Sarah Good and Sarah
Osborne also both signed the contract. She also said they tried to make her
kill Ann. Ann agreed this had happened.
(Above) Ann Hibbin’s death from the Salem
Witch Trials
Chapter 3: The end of the trials The jails started filling up more and more.
Then, one day, Governor William Phips created a special trial for witchcraft
accusations and called them the Salem Witch Trials. One women was accused of
sitting on one girls back so she couldn’t breath. The jury always believed the
girls even if it seemed like they were faking. Twenty innocent people including
Sarah Good were eventually hung. But before Sarah Good died she said that if
she was hung, then one of the judges would end up dying from bleeding in his
throat. Legend has it that 25 years later, one of the judges died from bleeding
in his throat. No one knows if this is what really happened. One guy recited
the lord's prayer by heart before he died. One person had said that if someone
could recite the lord's prayer by heart, you were innocent, but she then said
that the devil must have helped him say that. After this, people started thinking
that the girls accusations could be incorrect. One guy went to court and
wouldn't say if he was innocent or guilty. The judges put rocks on his back to
make him confess, or he would die, but he never said if he was innocent or
guilty. After 2 days the stones crushed him. This death made everyone really
start to think that the Salem Witch Trials were unfair. Many people started to
think that the people being hung were actually innocent. After this, they
finally stopped the Salem Witch Trials, and all of the people in jail, were
freed. 5 years later a guy named John Hale wrote that 2 girls he met took an
eggshell, and dropped it into a cup of water. They wanted to know who they were
going to marry when they were older. Whatever the eggshell formed into, thats
who you would marry. The eggshell formed into a coffin shape, which meant
death. The man thought the girls were Betty and Abigail, but nobody knows who
the girls really were. People started to think that the girls just ate poisoned
Rye, which could make you see thinks that are not really there, but it could
also kill you, and none of the girls died. Many people thought the girls were
sick, or faking. Maybe the girls thought it was a game, or thought that there
was no going back now that so many innocent people have died. About 200 people
were accused of witchcraft. Sarah Goods daughter Dorcas was in jail for 8
months and became mentally ill. Everyone felt bad after the trials. Many people
wrote forgiveness letters saying that they were sorry for participating in the
trials. Ann's parents died when she was older, and she wrote an apology letter
saying that she was sorry for accusing so many innocent people, and taking away
so many innocent lives.
Conclusion:
The Salem Witch Trials were trials where many innocent people would
go to court because of being accused of witchcraft. They were then sent to jail
for a very long time, and a lot of them were hung. And the judges already
assumed that all of the innocent people accused were guilty, because they
believed the girls. People watched their family members die, and get sent to
jail. This was a very sad time, and even when the girls that were accusing
people got older, they apologized for accusing so many innocent people. But no
one knows if the girls were telling the truth, or if they were just saying it
to get attention, or something else. It remains a mystery.
THE END
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