Emma Van Dorpe
February, 1692 an unholy mess was unveiled in a series of prosecutions, as people were accused of witchcraft. Many practicing Christians and members of alternate religions had strong beliefs that the devil could grant certain people power to do harm; witches. The witchcraft craze rippled through Europe from the 1300s to the 1600s. These cases continue to mesmerize and fascinate the 21st century.
Accusations of witchcraft spread like wildfires, in colonial Massachusetts, between 1692 and 1693, more than 200 people were accused. It all stems back to sexist regimes. A woman’s societal role was to be a wife, mother, and a caretaker, while men held positions of power as reverends and judges. According to History.com, if women stepped “outside of their rigid boundaries, [they] were seen as working with Satan,” wrote Hassett- Walker for the Washington Post. Putting power in the hands of a singular group of people creates bias. Men ruled over political power and put women who were executed into the line of fire by “blaming, trying, and convicting the young women whose unusual behaviors and outlandish accusations were at the heart of the trials.”
In the political world of Salem Massachusetts, convictions of witchcraft were proven by outlandish evidence. According to Fred Pelka, author of “The ‘Women’s Holocaust’” , “to name or talk to a pet, to enjoy a walk in the forest, to make music or daydream or play with a child…” were signs of witchcraft. Even acting semi out of the ordinary could be used as evidence against one. The people in power revoked a person’s right for a fair trial. According to “New England Law Boston”, the convicted “waited in jail for months without trials; many of the imprisoned were also tortured, and at least one died in jail before the hysteria abated in 1693.” Many were stoned, hung, tortured, and some waited in jail with no answer. The Salem Witch Trials as a whole were a complete disaster. 200 people were accused, thirty were found guilty, nineteen of which were executed; fourteen of the victims being women, five of them men. Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Wildes, Reverend George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, John Willard, George Jacobs Sr., John Proctor, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, and Mary Easty were some of the victims who suffered terrible fates with no proper trial. These cases of accusation and execution based on pieces of faulty evidence continue to fascinate people even in the 21st century.