The Witches of Salem
Just a bunch of Hocus Pocus?
For as long as most people can remember, witches have captured the imagination through pop culture. Witches appear in movies and tv shows. People dress up as them for Halloween, and some people even practice forms of witchcraft as a religion. However, believe it or not, witches have been very popular through the activity of "witch hunting" since the 1300s.
Artist depiction of a witch burning
Witch hunts became very popular in Europe and spread like wildfire because European Christians genuinely believed that the devil gave some people (mostly women) the power to do bad things in his name. Just as this craze was dying down in the late 1600s, it had one last final hurrah in the small village of Salem, Massachusetts.
January 15th 1692
Nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris and twelve-year-old Abagail Willams begin exhibiting strange behaviour and complain of headaches.
February 24th 1692
A physician is brought in to treat Elizabeth and Abagail, and it is believed they are possed by the devil
February 26th 1692
Abagail and Elizabeth begin to blame their enslaved African servant Tituba for their behavior, and she is brought in for questioning
February 27th 1692
Ann Putnam Jr. and Elizabeth Hubbard experience similar symptoms to young Elizabeth and Abagail and blame Sarah Good, a local homeless mother and beggar, and Sarah Osborne. She is involved with conflicts around inheriting property and married, an indentured servant to the shock of good society.
February 29th 1692
Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne are arrested for suspicion of witchcraft. Two women break down and give false confessions, but Sarah Osborne maintains innocence.
February 1692-January 1693
In just over a year, two hundred people, with women in the majority, are accused of witchcraft. Twenty of them are hanged, while others die in prison awaiting trial—these people range in age from 4 to 70 years old.
When the witch hysteria eventually died down, many of the people who orchestrated the trials would spend the rest of their lives apologizing for their role in the death of all those innocent people. Most of the men who died were family members simply defending their accused female relatives. As for the women, many of them were poor women, women of colour and independent women who were targeted because they did not fit into puritan society.
Hocus pocus promotional still (1993)
Because of the intensity and scale of the trials, they have left a big impression on the culture and are a huge tourist draw for the modern town of Salem. The witch trials are also referenced in many movies having to do with witches, most famously in Hocus Pocus, where the Sanderson sisters, who are, in fact, real witches, are killed for their witchcraft.
Recreation of Salem village in modern-day Salem
Many of the people who were accused and died in the witch trials have thousands of living descendants in Salem and elsewhere. For example, Roger Toothaker was a prominent farmer and amateur doctor in Salem, and he claimed he was able to kill and ward off witches. However, during the trials, others who were making similar claims about abilities to kill witches had Toothaker accused of witchcraft to knock him out of the game. He, his wife and his daughter were arrested. Roger died in jail before going to trial, but luckily his wife and daughter were released due to lack of evidence.
I myself descend from Roger Toothaker via one of his sons, Andrew. My desent goes like this.
Roger Toothaker= Andrew Toothaker= Mehitable Toothaker= Martha Grover= Martha Bubier= Mary Ann Howland= Hannah Randall= Eleanor Lawson= Herbert Mitchell= Thomas Mitchell= June Mitchell= Ayden Fitzgerald
Image of the memorial to the many who died during the witch trials
Some Pictures from my parents trip to Salem this past summer (Yup that's my dad in the stockade!)
Witches have had a substantial impact on North American culture, and they will likely always will when you have spooky series and tv shows coming out like gangbusters in October.
If you are going out for Halloween, remember to stay safe, watch out for witches, and if you see a black flame candle, don't light it because you might bring back 300-year-old witches.
Happy Halloween.
