The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials were a dark time in American history. Salem, a small Massachusetts town, was not the first, nor the last, colonial American town to participate in witch hunts, but it was the most infamous. Between June and September 1692, 20 men and women were sentenced to death for being suspected witches, and several more were left to suffer in the local jail for months, at least five of them dying there.

The witch trials started with two cousins, Abigail and Elizabeth (Betty) Williams, making strange noises and "having fits" after engaging in fortune telling and other voodoo acts with their friends. Historians now believe that this was a matter of a game that got out of hand, but when doctors couldn't find a reason for the strange behavior, the girls became caught up in hysteria. It was suspected that they may have been under the influence of a witch. When asked about who had cursed them, the two girls, under immense pressure from several influential adults, named Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, a slave belonging to Elizabeth's father, as the culprits.

These three women were the first to be arrested for the crime of practicing witchcraft. Soon, the entire area had been affected by the hysteria. Friends and neighbors were turning each other in for suspected acts of witchcraft. By the end of May, over a hundred more men and women had been arrested and tried as witches. The trials started on June 2 nd , with the trial of Bridget Bishop. She was found guilty, and was hung on June 10 th . By the end of September that year, when the witch hunt finally wound down, over 20 men and women had been killed.

The University of Missouri's The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary and Salem Witchcraft Trials , from the Cory Family Society, both offer more detailed accounts of the events. About.com's Witches and Witchcraft in New England and Salem has information on the Salem Witch Trials, with specifics about the key people involved in the witch hunts.

According to Salem Web , 552 of the original documents from the Salem Witch Trials have survived to the present day. Transcripts of the court proceedings can be found at the University of Virginia and on Salem Trials- Examinations of the Accused . The second also has several pictures, both of paintings of the events and scanned copies of actual documents.

There are several ways to experience the Salem Witch Trials for yourself. The quickest and easiest way, perhaps, is to visit National Geographic's Salem Witch Hunt interactive feature . It walks you through the experiences of many of the actual witch hunt victims.

Visiting Salem, Massachusetts, where the witch trials took place, is another option. Salem does not hide its dark past. There is a memorial to the victims of the witch hunt, along with a museum and other tourist attractions. Salem Witch Trials has a page dedicated to Salem tourism, with information about the museum and special Halloween events that take place in October. While in Salem, be sure to visit the memorial to the accused witches, located in Burying Point Cemetery.  Dedicated in 1992, it honors the 20 men and women who were sentenced to death during the witch hunt hysteria 300 years earlier.