The Salem Witch Trials & Haunting

By Bob Blick

The witch trials of 1692 is an interesting, albeit dark story. It is hard for many of us to comprehend how the mass hysteria that led to so many hangings could have reached the frenzy it did.

This book attempts to not only tell the story of the trials, but to also explain why this could have gotten so out of hand.

You learn what part religion played and why people reacted like they did. Learn about the girls who started this frenzy and how they accused not only suspected witches in the area, but many affluent people and even a 4 year old child!

Find out why some of the accused turned on their neighbors and how two of the accused were found guilty and hanged despite petitions signed by many members of the community.

The crushing death of Corey Giles leaves you wondering how a man could be so strong. And how one man, despite knowing he would in turn be accused of witchcraft, spoke out against the girls and the court and helped shift people's mindsets with his words at the gallows just before he was hanged.

Finally you find out how this period of madness was finally put to an end.

Now is there any wonder that Salem is considered to be a haunted city? Read about some of the proclaimed haunting in the city today and check them out for yourself when you are in the area.

This book was written in a way that should entertain you as the author adds his own comments and feelings. The book is meant to not bog you down with historical facts but to help you understand more about what went on. It discusses some of the key figures, the accused and accusers.

When you learn what "spectral evidence" is and how it played in the court, you will be in disbelief.

Read this book today and there's a good chance Salem may go on your list of places to visit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bob Blick
• Release date: Feb 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9781533763297

Book preview

Witches

I became interested in witches back when I was young and Bewitched came on the air. I mean if a witch looked like Samantha, I was all for it. I used to get mad at Darrin for not allowing her to wiggle her nose and do magic.

In real life witches are definitely fascinating. We think of a witch and we conjure up an image of an old hag stirring a pot of who knows what. She jumps on a broomstick and flies in the moonlight.

There are some who practice witchcraft who claim they worship the devil and that, in itself, is pretty scary. So it’s only natural to fear witches and look at anyone claiming to be a witch with a leery eye.

Well witchcraft in itself is not what this book is about. This is about Salem and the infamous witch trials which began in 1692. This wasn’t the first time someone was accused of being a witch and hanged but it was certainly the most well known incident in our history.

In America witch hunts seems to have begun in 1651 in Springfield, Massachusetts, when Mary Parsons and her husband, Hugh, accused each other of practicing witchcraft.

This actually began as a feud among neighbors until it escalated. It started a few years before when a neighbor lady of the two accused Mary of slander. She claims Mary had called her a witch.

Mary was found guilty and faced twenty lashes. She paid off the fine with bushels of corn but this public humiliation along with other problems she faced caused her to become ill.

In the meantime Hugh was accused of practicing witchcraft. A book could probably be written about this case alone but our focus is on the Salem Witch Trials. But there are some important things about this case that show the ridiculousness of the charges and this same sort of absurd testimonies is similar to some of the trumped up charges that took place in Salem.

Here is an example. A resident said she got a bag of pudding and that it was cut from end to end when she opened the bag. She said about an hour later Hugh showed up at her doorstep. In court he couldn’t explain exactly why he had come to her house at that time.

That was it. That was one incident that the court called damaging evidence that proved to them he was practicing witchcraft and doing devilish pranks. Mary, who was ill at the time, also claimed he was a witch and he in turn accused her of being a witch.

Mary was also accused of being a witch by a neighbor. Mary would go on to claim she actually was a witch. The way she talked about herself being a witch would nowadays send up a red alert that this woman might be mentally ill. It’s important to keep the fact that the era when this was happening was far different in their beliefs than we are now.

Basically all this resulted in the first witch trial to take place in America. Hugh was eventually found innocent of charges while Mary, although acquitted of witchcraft charges, was accused of killing her child. The court stated the Court found the evidences were not sufficient to prove her a witch so they acquitted her of the charges of being a witch but found her guilty of murdering her own child and she was sentenced to hang.

Now I found differing accounts, one saying she subsequently died in prison while another account says she was reprieved due to her illness and died home at the age of 85. The records from that time seem to not be thorough and so here is something I found while trying to clarify this. . . .

Charles W. Upham, in Salem Witchcraft, sums up the story. I am quoting this so I’ll leave the spelling and grammar as it was for this and any other quotes or trial transcripts in this book.

We are left in doubt as to the fate of Mary Parsons. There is a marginal entry on the records to the effect that she was reprieved to 29th of May. Neither Johnson (author of Wonder Working Providence) nor Hutchinson (in his History of Massachusetts Bay) seem to have thought that the sentence was ever carried into effect. It clearly never ought to have been. The woman was in a weak and dying condition, her mind was probably broken down,--the victim of that peculiar kind of mania--partaking of the character of a religious fanaticism and a perversion of ideas--that has often lead to child murder.

I’ll leave it to you to follow up on if you like but what I wanted to