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Famous trials that shook the world :

The Salem witchcraft trials

by Lionel Wijesiri

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."


The court examines Bridget Bishop for witch’s mark on her body

Zealously obedient to this Biblical advice, the Puritans of colonised America scoured their souls and those of their neighbours for even the faintest stains. These godly folk were ready to stamp down that roaring lion till Judgment Day saw him vanquished.

But while the good people of America had their eyes on eternity, the lion walked softly among them during the 1680s, particulary in Salem - a prosperous farming village and town.

The villagers, by this time, were split into factions that fiercely debated whether to seek ecclesiastical and political independence from the town.

In 1689, at the invitation of the Elders of Salem, Samuel Parris - formally a planter - moved into the village as the Minister.

He brought with him his wife Elizabeth, his six- year-old daughter Betty, niece Abagail Williams, and Slave Tituba, a West African native that Parris had acquired in Barbados.

Tituba seemed to be a born storyteller. Parris's daughter and her cousin were delighted in the mesmerising tales spun by her, and they invited several friends to share this delicious, forbidden diversion. Tituba's audience listened intently as she talked of telling the future.

The lion roared in early 1692. On January 20 Elizabeth and Abigail began to exhibit strange behaviour; including convulsive seizures, screaming, and trances.

Within a short time, several other Salem girls began to demonstrate similar behaviour. Unable to determine any physical cause for the symptoms and dreadful behaviour, physicians concluded that the girls were under the influence of an "unknown" factor.

Lacking a natural explanation, the Elders turned to the supernatural that the girls were bewitched. Prodded by Parris and others, they named their tormentors: a dishevelled beggar named Sarah Good, the elderly Sarah Osbowne, and Tituba herself.

Each woman was something of a misfit. Osbowne claimed innocence. Good did likewise but fingered Osborne.

Tituba, recollection refreshed by Parri's lash confessed - and then said. "The devil came to me and bid me serve him," she reported in March 1962. Villagers sat spellbound and Tituba spoke of black dogs, red cats, yellow birds, and a white-haired man who bade her sign the devil's book. There were several undiscovered witches, she said and they yearned to destroy the Puritans.

Finding witches became a crusade for Salem. Before long the crusade turned into a convulsion, and the witch-hunters ultimately proved far more deadly than their prey.

On February 29, warrants were issued for the arrests of Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. On March 01, Magistrates examined Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne in the meetinghouse in Salem Village. Tituba confessed to practising witchcraft.

Over the next weeks, other townspeople came forward and testified that they, too, had been harmed by or had seen strange apparitions of some of the community members. As the witch-hunt continued, accusations were made against many different people.Frequently denounced were women whose behaviour or economic circumstances were somehow disturbing to the social order and conventions of the time.

Some of the accused had previous records of criminal activity, but others were faithful churchgoers and people of high standing in the community.

The Governor set up a special Court known as 'Oyer and Terminer' (a high court with general criminal jurisdiction) comprised of seven judges to try the witchcraft cases. These magistrates based their judgements and evaluations on various kinds of intangible evidence, including direct confessions, supernatural attributes (such as 'witchmarks'), and reactions of the afflicted girls. Spectral evidence, based on the assumption that the Devil could assume the 'spectre' of an innocent person, was relied upon despite its controversial nature.

Bridget Bishop was the first to be pronounced guilty of witchcraft and was hanged in Salem on June 10, 1692. Her last words were "I am no witch.

I am innocent. I know nothing of it." Soon after Bridget Bishop's trial, one magistrate resigned from the court, dissatisfied with its proceedings.

Following her death, accusations of witchcraft escalated, but the trials were not unoppossed. Several townspeople signed petitions on behalf of accused people they believed to be innocent.

By early autumn of 1692, Salem's lusts for blood was ebbing. Doubts were developing as to how so many respectable people could be guilty. The educated elite of the colony began efforts to end the witch-hunting hysteria that had enveloped Salem.

On October 20, the Governor dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer and created the Superior Court to try the remaining witchcraft cases that took place in May 1693.

With spectral evidence not admitted, twenty-eight of the last thirty-three witchcraft trials ended in acquittals. The three convicted witches were later pardoned. In May of 1693, the Governor released from prison all the remaining accused or convicted witches.

By the time the hysteria had spent itself, 24 people had died. Nineteen were hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem Town, but some died in prison. Giles Corey at first pleaded not guilty to charges of witchcraft, but subsequently refused to stand trial. This refusal meant he could not be convicted legally.

However, his examiners chose to subject him to interrogation by the placing of stone weights on his body. He survived this brutal torture for two days before dying. About two hundred other persons were arrested and imprisoned on witchcraft charges. Two dogs were executed as suspected accomplices of witches.

A period of atonement began in the colony. One of the judges issued a public confession of guilt and an apology. Several jurors came forward to say that they were "sadly deluded and mistaken" in their judgements. Parris was replaced as minister of Salem village by Thomas Green, who devoted his career to putting his torn congregation back together.

It is remarkable that 552 original documents pertaining to the witchcraft trials have been preserved and are still stored by the Peabody Essex Museum with memorabilia associated with the trials, such as the "Witch Pins" used in the examination of witches.


ANCL TENDER- Platesetter

www.hemastravels.com

www.singersl.com

http://www.mrrr.lk/(Ministry of Relief Rehabilitation & Reconciliation)

www.Pathmaconstruction.com

www.peaceinsrilanka.org

www.helpheroes.lk


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