The 1692 Salem Witch Trials

1. The 1692 Salem Witch Trials

2. Salem Trials 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 of over eighty years was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to 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 Massachusetts ended.

3. Why did it occur in Salem? Nothing about this tragedy was inevitable. Only an unfortunate combination of an ongoing frontier war, economic conditions, congregational strife, teenage boredom, and personal jealousies can account for the spiralling accusations, trials, and executions that occurred in the spring and summer of 1692.

4. Nineteen accused witches were hanged on Gallows Hill in 1692: June 10Bridget BishopJuly 19Rebecca NurseSarah GoodSusannah MartinElizabeth HoweSarah WildesAugust 19George BurroughsMartha CarrierJohn WillardGeorge Jacobs, Sr.John Proctor September 22Martha CoreyMary EasteyAnn PudeatorAlice ParkerMary ParkerWilmott ReddMargaret ScottSamuel Wardwell One accused witch (or wizard, as male witches were often called) was pressed to death on September 19 when he failed to plead guilty or not guilty: Giles Corey Other accused witches died in prison: Sarah OsbornRoger ToothakerLyndia DustinAnn Foster The Witch Trials

5. Ally’s interesting fact! • The cat in Sabrina The Teenage Witch is called Salem!!! Ally and Stuart