How To Hang A Witch

From 1692 to 1693, the people of Salem, Massachusetts, accused 200 people of being witches and executed 20 of them in an event known as the Salem Witch Trials. It began when two young girls began having fits and contorting themselves, making strange noises, and throwing things. A doctor diagnosed supernatural causes, and the girls, including another from a different family, blamed their behavior on three women in the community: an enslaved woman, a beggar, and a poor elderly woman. The women were brought to court, where the enslaved woman, Tituba, confessed she had made a deal to help the devil to destroy the Puritans.

Accusations flooded in. Courts were established, and spectral evidence—or testimonies of people who claimed the spirit of the accused witch was trying to harm them through dreams and visions—was allowed instead of physical evidence. Those who confessed were generally allowed to live with the idea they were saving their souls, but those who pleaded their innocence were deemed unrepentant and sentenced to death by hanging; one man was pressed to death. Years later, a few accusers confessed to wrongdoing, including one of the original accusing girls, Ann Putnam, and one of the judges, Judge Sewell.

While no single reason explains the mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials, scholars consider multiple factors that created a perfect storm of conditions: Life was difficult in Salem, and that winter had been particularly challenging.