Events Leading to the Trials 


The Witch-hunt of 1692    

Reconciliations





 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

ACTIVITIES Outside this Site

 

The link will lead you to an introduction to a site. From there scroll down a bit and click on Experience the Trials. Will you survive?  



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 



 


 The Accusers 


 

  1. Elizabeth Parris, daughter of the Reverend Samuel Parris. She was a nine year old girl, interested in what she would become, yet disturbed by the sermons of predestination her father gave. The sermons of course only added to her motives to see the future.  She lied about having contact with the devil even though the signs were extremely obvious.
  2. Abigail Williams, eleven years old, a niece of Mr. Parris and member of the household. Betty Parris, her cousin Abigail Williams, and two other friends formed such a circle. Tituba, a slave her father bought would often participate in the circle. She would entertain the others with stories of witchcraft, demons, and mystic animals and soon many other young girls would sit in to hear all the interesting stories. They would tell their fortunes by dropping an egg white into a glass of water and then interpret the picture it formed. But, Betty and Abigail started to get frustrated with their fortunes and they began to express their uncertainty with odd physical expressions. Samuel Parris thought that the girls had given each other an illness and asked Salem Village’s physician, William Griggs, to examine the girls. He did not find any physical cause for their bizarre behavior and determined the girls were bewitched.
  3. Ann Putnam, twelve years old, daughter of Sergeant Thomas Putnam, clerk of the parish. During the winter of 1692, the circle girls gathered secretly at Reverend Parris’s house for a night of storytelling and magic with Tituba. They began to drop egg whites into a glass of water and one evening, Ann saw the shape of a coffin. Soon afterwards Ann, Betty Parris, and Abigail Williams started behaving strangely. Anne was afraid to tell the truth and by the end of the witch hunt had accused 62 people. Her parents died and left her with the responsibility of her nine brothers and sisters to raise on her own. She stepped in 1706 as she stood before the church as a pastor read, out loud, her apology.
  4. Mercy Lewis, seventeen years old, had been in the family of the Reverend
    George Burrought, but now was a servant in Sergeant Putnam's family. she was born in Falmouth, Maine and lost both of her parents to an Indian attack. She was an orphan and was taken in by Reverend George Burroughs. She later went with the family of Thomas Putnam, they were distantly related. She became one of the most consistent and vocal accusers in 1692.
  5. Mary Wolcott, seventeen years old, daughter of Captain Jonathan Wolcott. Mary was a key accuser in the Salem Witch Trials. She was closely related to the Thomas Putnam family; her aunt was Ann Putnam, Sr. and her cousin was Ann Putnam, Jr... Even though she was one of the accusers, at the end of the trial she had sixteen spectral torturers.
  6. Elizabeth Hubbard, seventeen years old, a niece of Mrs. Griggs, wife of the
    Village Doctor. She was an orphan and lived with her great aunt and uncle, Dr. William Giggs. She and three other girls started accusing people of witchcraft and she became the leading accuser. Her afflictions and testimony contributed to the execution of many of the nineteen innocent people. contributed to the conviction and execution of many of the nineteen executed innocent people.
  7. Mary Warren, twenty years old, servant in the family of John Proctor. She was born twenty years before the Salem Witch Trials began, but that did not stop her from becoming one of the most rigorous accusers and a defender and confessor. She was the one who introduced the possibility of fraud on the part of the accusing girls. She had her own confessions and was released from jail in June, 1692.  
  8. Sarah Churchill, twenty years old, servant in the family of George Jacobs, Sr.  She was both an accuser and a confessor during the Salem witchcraft crisis. She is most remembered by her witchcraft against her abusive employer, George Jacobs Sr. Also, her admission that the reason she did witchcraft was because she wanted to be saved from the gallows.
  9. Tituba a slave, a dark-skinned foreigner which made her stand out amongst the Puritan villagers. She was born in South America, but was captured and taken to Barbados. Then she moved to Salem, getting involved in circles with the young girls. Tituba, at first, denied any practice of witchcraft. Then, as times became crucial, she confessed and claimed there were three other witches involved. She was put in prison, but because she had confessed, she did not stand trial.