Dynamics Salem

• Other well public cases:

  • Boston possession case 1688 - 89 --> Cotton Mathers published his account of events in Boston where two you boys were supposedly possessed by Mary Glover
  • created a climate of heightened awareness of the dangers of witchcraft - Boston was the closest city to Salem
  • Salem as a highly literate society would've read about the case as it was accessible
• What was the name of cotton mathers book on the Boston possession case?

  Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possession
• Weather:

  • winter of 1691
  • severe and prolong
  • straining resources of the community
  • hardship and hunger
  • wet and mild summer
  • poorly stored food was eaten
• King Williams War:

  • fighting between the English Settlers, Natives and the French
  • refugees from the northern territories told horror stories about the massacres of settlers by the native population
• What accuser in Salem had fled from King Williams War?

  Mercy Lewis
• What was the ration of dead to living men due to King Williams War?

  1:10
• Disease:

  • smallpox - was the main epidemic -- killed alot of the Native population, disfigured, innoculations not given
  • Ergotism - issue found with rye commonly grown for bread and the fungus present in the crop may have had hallucinogenic effect
• Religious Zeal:

  • community of Salem were devout Puritans who fled England to set up a Godly State
  • Samuel Parris - gave a number of sermons preaching against the dangers of witchcraft and this could've exacerbated fears
  • hoped to have a theocracy but this was stopped
• Weak central control:

  • 1684 - old charter governing Massachusetts colony had lapsed
  • replaced by an unpopular Dominion of New England Status
  • Governor of the Dominion - Edward Andros - outsed during the Glorious revolution
• Rivalries and emities:

  • 600 residents in Salem Village
  • strained relations between the Putnams and Porters
  • Porters - commercial interests, lived on the east side
  • PUtnams - farmers on the west, set up their own institutions
• Course of events:

  • Betty Parris and Abigail Williams have strange fits - beyond medical knowledge of the time
  • other girls show similar symptoms
  • Tituba makes witch cake, neighbours advice (European idea)
  • Girls name Tituba, Good and Osbourne as witches
  • Tituba names others
  • Ann Putnam accuses other women
  • George Burrows - May -- 62 in custody
  • New Charter for Colony
  • Trials begin
• The Trials:

  • 62 imprisoned by the end of May
  • hunt was spreading to other towns like Andover
  • Governor Phips set up a special court of Oyer and Terminer on the 27th May 1692
  • Nine judges appointed - including Phips second in command Stoughton who was in charge due to the war
  • advised by Cotton Mather - believed in witches
  • advice from English Puritan Perkins -- spectral evidence if two witnesses
• In May 1692, what court did Phips create?

  Oyer and Terminer
• The Process:

  • Grand Jury considered the evidence
  • if indicted - defendant sent on trial
  • trials were conducted in the English adversarial system
  • judges questioned witnesses and pressured jurors
  • prosecutors also questioned the defendant
  • defendants had no lawyer and had to speak for themselves
• 5 court sessions:

  • first - 2nd June
  • second - 30th June
  • Third - 2nd August
  • Fourth and Fifth - from 19th Sept - the end of the month
• When did Phips disband the Court of Oyer and Terminer?

  October 1692
• What Court was set up in January 1693?

  Superior court of Judicature. Remaining victims found not guilty or pardnoned
• Atypical Witches:

  • number of men accused including 71 year old Giles Corey
  • former Minister of Salem village killed (George Burrows)
  • Elders of the Church community like Rebecca Nurse found themselves accused
  • second wave were high up people
  • men killed for defending their wives
• Cotton Mathers New Book:

  • 1692 - Wonders of the Invisible World
  • justified the witch trials
• Those who confessed went free:

  • guilt of those who had confessed to witchcraft was not considered until the end of the trial process
  • Phips disbanded the court in October and those who confessed went free
  • only those who denied being witches were executed - atypical views