Chronology of events in the
Salem Witch Hunt and Trials., 1692.
January 20
Nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris and
eleven-year-old Abigail Williams began to exhibit strange behaviour, such as
blasphemous screaming, convulsive seizures, trance-like states and mysterious
spells. Within a short time, several other Salem girls began to demonstrate
similar behaviour.
Mid-February
Unable to determine any physical cause for
the symptoms and dreadful behaviour, physicians concluded that the girls were
under the influence of Satan.
Late February
Prayer services and community fasting were
conducted by Reverend Samuel Parris in hopes of relieving the evil forces that
plagued them. In an effort to expose the "witches", John Indian baked a witch
cake made with rye meal and the afflicted girls' urine. This counter-magic was
meant to reveal the identities of the "witches" to the afflicted girls.
Pressured to identify the source of their affliction, the girls named three
women, including Tituba, Parris' Carib Indian slave, as witches. On February 29,
warrants were issued for the arrests of Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.
Although Osborne and Good maintained innocence, Tituba confessed to seeing the
devil who appeared to her "sometimes like a hog and sometimes like a great dog".
What's more, Tituba testified that there was a conspiracy of witches at work in
Salem.
March 1
Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan
Corwin examined Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne in the meeting house in
Salem Village. Tituba confessed to practicing 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, including witchcraft, but
others were faithful churchgoers and people of high standing in the community.
March 12
Martha Corey is accused of witchcraft.
"Accused of Witchcraft."
Douglas Volk, 1884
(In this scene a young girl, who has been accused of witchcraft, clings to her
father who gestures towards the authorities come who have to arrest her. A
clergyman raises his head helplessly towards the heavens while the accuser,
standing next to him and concealed under a cape, points towards the girl.)
March 19
Rebecca Nurse was denounced as a witch.
March 21
Martha Corey was examined before
Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin.
"Examination of a Witch"
Thompkins H. Matteson, 1853.
(Generally supposed to represent an event in the Salem witch trials, an earlier
version of this painting was exhibited by the artist in New York in 1848 with a
quotation from John Greenleaf Whittier's book Supernaturalism of New England,
1847: "Mary Fisher, a young girl, was seized upon by Deputy Governor Bellingham
in the absence of Governor Endicott, and shamefully stripped for the purpose of
ascertaining whether she was a witch, with the Devil's mark upon her." )
March 24
Rebecca Nurse was examined before
Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin.
March 28
Elizabeth Proctor was denounced as a
witch.
April 3
Sarah Cloyce, Rebecca Nurse's sister, was
accused of witchcraft.
April 11
Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Cloyce were
examined before Hathorne, Corwin, Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth, and Captain
Samuel Sewall. During this examination, John Proctor was also accused and
imprisoned.
April 19
Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Giles
Corey, and Mary Warren were examined. Only Abigail Hobbs confessed.
William Hobbs "I can deny it to my dying day."
April 22
Nehemiah Abbott, William and Deliverance
Hobbs, Edward and Sarah Bishop, Mary Easty, Mary Black, Sarah Wildes, and Mary
English were examined before Hathorne and Corwin. Only Nehemiah Abbott was
cleared of charges.
May 2
Sarah Morey, Lydia Dustin, Susannah
Martin, and Dorcas Hoar were examined by Hathorne and Corwin.
Dorcas Hoar "I will speak the truth as long as I live."
May 4
George Burroughs was arrested in Wells,
Maine.
May 9
Burroughs was examined by Hathorne,
Corwin, Sewall, and William Stoughton. One of the afflicted girls, Sarah
Churchill, was also examined.
May 10
George Jacobs, Sr. and his granddaughter
Margaret were examined before Hathorne and Corwin. Margaret confessed and
testified that her grandfather and George Burroughs were both witches. Sarah
Osborne died in prison in Boston.
Margaret Jacobs "... They told me if I would not confess I should be put down
into the dungeon and would be hanged, but if I would confess I should save my
life."
May 14
Increase Mather returned from England,
bringing with him a new charter and the new governor, Sir William Phips.
May 18
Mary Easty was released from prison. Yet,
due to the outcries and protests of her accusers, she was arrested a second
time.
Arrest of a Witch.
(A generic scene that shows a woman being arrested for witchcraft, depicted
conventionally as an old hag by the famous illustrator Howard Pyle. The picture
illustrates an article by T. W. Higginson, "The Second generation of Englishmen
in America," which briefly describes the Salem witch trials. Artist Howard
Pyle.)
May 27
Governor Phips set up a special Court of
Oyer and Terminer comprised of seven judges to try the witchcraft cases.
Appointed were Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton, Nathaniel Saltonstall,
Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop, John
Richards, John Hathorne, and Jonathan Corwin. These magistrates based their
judgments 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 "specter" of an innocent person, was relied upon
despite its controversial nature.
May 31
Martha Carrier, John Alden, Wilmott Redd,
Elizabeth Howe, and Phillip English were examined before Hathorne, Corwin, and
Gedney.
June 2
Initial session of the Court of Oyer and
Terminer. Bridget Bishop was the first to be pronounced guilty of witchcraft and
condemned to death.
Early June
Soon after Bridget Bishop's trial,
Nathaniel Saltonstall resigned from the court, dissatisfied with its
proceedings.
June 10
Bridget Bishop was hanged in Salem, the
first official execution of the Salem witch trials.
Execution of a Witch by
hanging.
(Often used as an illustration of the Salem witch trails, this illustration
depicts the execution of Ann Hibbins on Boston Commons in 1657.)
Bridget Bishop "I am no witch. I am innocent. I know nothing of it."
Following her death, accusations of witchcraft escalated, but the trials were
not unopposed. Several townspeople signed petitions on behalf of accused people
they believed to be innocent.
June 29-30
Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Sarah
Wildes, Sarah Good and Elizabeth Howe were tried for witchcraft and condemned.
Rebecca Nurse "Oh Lord, help me! It is false. I am clear. For my life now lies
in your hands...."
Mid-July
In an effort to expose the witches
afflicting his life, Joseph Ballard of nearby Andover enlisted the aid of the
accusing girls of Salem. This action marked the beginning of the Andover witch
hunt.
July 19
Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth
Howe, Sarah Good, and Sarah Wildes were executed.
Elizabeth Howe "If it was the last moment I was to live, God knows I am
innocent..."
Susannah Martin "I have no hand in witchcraft."
August 2-6
George Jacobs, Sr., Martha Carrier, George
Burroughs, John and Elizabeth Proctor, and John Willard were tried for
witchcraft and condemned.
Martha Carrier "...I am wronged. It is a shameful thing that you should mind
these folks that are out of their wits."
August 19
George Jacobs, Sr., Martha Carrier, George
Burroughs, John Proctor, and John Willard were hanged on Gallows Hill.
George Jacobs "Because I am falsely accused. I never did it."
September 9
Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker,
Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury were tried and condemned.
Mary Bradbury "I do plead not guilty. I am wholly innocent of such wickedness."
September 17
Margaret Scott, Wilmott Redd, Samuel
Wardwell, Mary Parker, Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca Eames, Mary Lacy, Ann Foster,
and Abigail Hobbs were tried and condemned.
September 19
Giles Corey was pressed to death (Peine
forte et dure) for
refusing a trial.
September 21
Dorcas Hoar was the first of those
pleading innocent to confess. Her execution was delayed.
September 22
Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty,
Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker were
hanged.
October 8
After 20 people had been executed in the
Salem witch hunt, Thomas Brattle wrote a letter criticizing the witchcraft
trials. This letter had great impact on Governor Phips, who ordered that
reliance on spectral and intangible evidence no longer be allowed in trials.
October 29
Governor Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer
and Terminer.
November 25
The General Court of the colony created
the Superior Court to try the remaining witchcraft cases which took place in
May, 1693. This time no one was convicted.