Group 1

The Witches of Salem Diabolical doings in a Puritan village.

By Stacy Schiff, September, 7, 2015

In 1692, the Massachusetts Bay Colony executed fourteen women, five men, and two
dogs for witchcraft. The sorcery materialized in January. The first hanging took place
in June, the last in September; a stark, stunned silence followed. Although we will
never know the exact number of those formally charged with having “wickedly,
maliciously, and feloniously” engaged in sorcery, somewhere between a hundred and
forty-four and a hundred and eighty-five witches and wizards were named in twenty-
five villages and towns. The youngest was five; the eldest nearly eighty. Husbands
implicated wives; nephews their aunts; daughters their mothers; siblings each other.
One minister discovered that he was related to no fewer than twenty witches.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/07/the-witches-of-salem

Answer the following questions:

1) How many people were executed? Be as precise as possible.

2) Why did they get executed?

3) What happened to them exactly?

SUMMARY :
Group 2
The Witches of Salem Diabolical doings in a Puritan village.
By Stacy Schiff, September, 7, 2015

In 1692, the Massachusetts Bay Colony executed fourteen women, five men, and two
dogs for witchcraft. The sorcery materialized in January. The first hanging took place
in June, the last in September; a stark, stunned silence followed. Although we will
never know the exact number of those formally charged with having “wickedly,
maliciously, and feloniously” engaged in sorcery, somewhere between a hundred and
forty-four and a hundred and eighty-five witches and wizards were named in twenty-
five villages and towns. The youngest was five; the eldest nearly eighty. Husbands
implicated wives; nephews their aunts; daughters their mothers; siblings each other.
One minister discovered that he was related to no fewer than twenty witches.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/07/the-witches-of-salem

Answer the following questions:

1) When did the first execution take place? When did the last execution take place?

2) How old was the youngest person to be condemned? How old was the oldest
person?

3) “Husbands implicated wives; nephews their aunts; daughters their mothers; siblings
each other” (l.7): How do you interpret this sentence?

SUMMARY :