Salem, Massachusetts- Tragedy struck the areas of both Salem Village and Salem town

in the winter of 1691 to 1692 in the form of the Salem Witch Trials. When girls in Salem,
bored with the town, became mystified by a slave’s black magic, they pretended to be
tormented by the Devil’s minions or witches. In the time that the girls were “afflicted”,
they had named many as witches, causing the Puritan town of Salem to be frightened the
idea that the Devil’s hand was upon them. After many accusations and deaths, the Salem
Witch Trials had ended.
This horrible event had started when Tituba, a slave of Reverend Samuel Parris,
was reading palms and telling futures to the girls of Salem Village, who ranged from nine
to twenty years of age. The Reverend’s young daughter, Betty Parris, was soon
influenced by what she was hearing and a part of. Tituba’s thoughts on Betty provided a
more accurate description of what the child went through. “She is a delicate child. What
others take as sport, she takes seriously. They trouble her. ‘Tis only an innocent game,
but guilt weighs heavily on her mind. She is filled with Puritan righteousness,”(59).
When Betty became under this trance, she soon acquired more attention from both her
Father and other members of the town. Motivated by jealousy, Abigail Williams, niece of
Reverend Parris, soon pretended to be under the same spell as Betty. When Abigail
joined Betty, the other girls, leaded by Ann Putnam Jr., also became afflicted to gain
more attention, as well as to have some fun in their secluded town.
After many girls became influenced by the dark magic, the Reverend and other
council members thought it best to have the girls name their tormentors in Reverend
Parris’s own home. Many came to gaze upon the girls to see whom they would call out
on. In mid-February of 1692, Tituba’s name was called out by little Betty parries, thus
starting the Salem Witch Hunts.
The community of Salem had a mix of reactions with the occurrence of the Witch
trails. In the beginning, the people of Salem were on the watch for any of the afflicted
girls. They secluded the girls, afraid that if they annoyed or bothered them in any way,
they would call them out as witches. The citizens, however, felt relief as their hatred for
someone in the town was let out. For in the town of Salem, many neighbors hated one
another for some reason. Then when their neighbor was called upon as a witch, their
anger towards the accused was released. This caused the situation to go for so long. So
many were caught up in the excitement of their enemy being punished, that they forgot
what they were being accused of.
Though some believed the afflicted girls, others in the town did not. Joseph and
Elizabeth Putnam, both related to Ann Putnam Jr., and Phillip and Mary English were
some of the townsfolk that didn’t believe the lies the girls called out. Elizabeth Putnam
and Mary English showed their thoughts on this idea. “Neither Joseph nor I believe in
it,”(76) Elizabeth stated this towards Mary English, whose response was almost identical.
“My husband an I do not hold with witchcraft,”(77). Others besides the Putnams and the
Englishes didn’t believe in it, yet the tragedies that occurred still went on.
In 1692, many became victims to the Witch Hunts. Names of innocent people
were called out throughout the towns. The girls that were afflicted would name the
people they felt should be jailed and killed if necessary. Ann Putnam Jr., only twelve at
the time, was the leader of the girl’s circle who specified the type of person the circle
would name. “Only troublemakers, outcasts, and malcontents will be named,” (88). Both
Sarah Good, Salem Village’s town hag, and her Five-year-old daughter Dorcas were
named and jailed for witchcraft. Sadly Sarah was hanged. The girls had chosen to speak
out at Sarah and her daughter because they were considered outcasts of the town. Sarah
Good didn’t deserve to be hanged and to have her daughter jailed, causing both of them
to be victims of the Witch Trials.
Both Phillip and Mary English are also considered victims to this madness. Both
of high stature in Salem, they were accused of witchcraft for being friends to witches.
When Rebecca nurse, an old, kind woman in Salem, was named, her sister Sarah Cloyce
came to her sister’s trial. There the whole town shunned her during the meeting, except
for Mary English. Mary believed nothing about this witchcraft business and went to sit
and comfort Sarah Cloyce on April 3rd. In response to her actions, both Sarah Cloyce and
Mary English were named and arrested as witches on April 21st, 18 days after Rebecca
Nurse. Mary, Rebecca, and Sarah became victims to the witch madness. Soon after
defending his wife, Phillip English became victim to the trial and was named as a witch
as well.
Many others were accused as witches in the town, and some had to pay a fatal
price. In the end, 19 people were hanged in Salem, and Giles Cory was pressed to death
for being accused of witchcraft. All these people that died and those that were imprisoned
were victims in the Salem Witch trials.
On October 29, 1692, the Salem Witch trials ended. The end of these hunts was
caused by both persuasion and facts that were given to the Magistrates of the town.
Letters, written from Reverend pike and Thomas Brattle, that held the true facts about
what the girls were doing were given to Governor Benjamin Fletcher in New York,
causing the official end of the trials and accusations. Also the Magistrates needed to be
provided with more than spectral evidence from the girls to accuse someone. Both of
these sources and other unknown sources attributed to the end of this event.
The whole of the Salem witch trials was devastating to Salem. In the winter of
1691 to 1692, lives were lost and friendships were made and broken. Now in 1706, 14
years later, Ann Putnam Jr. apologized to the whole town for what she and the other girls
had caused so may years ago. The event’s affects on Ann made her weather down as she
grew older. Susanna English, daughter of Phillip and Mary English, recalls how the
presence of Ann was thought of. “How old Ann has become! Why she can’t be more than
onescore and six! And she looks so tired and sickly,”(278). Ann Putnam went through a
lot after the trials as well as the other girls a part of the circle. Even Salem went through a
rough time in result to this event. “How can we ever forget how the community was torn
asunder, how smashed and ruined houses of some accused were left to the wind and the
wolves. How business went bad because outsiders refused to have dealings with those in
Salem for years afterward,”(276). These were the words of Susanna English as she
watched Ann walk through the meetinghouse. No one will ever forget this event
throughout all of history.