Salem Witchcraft Trials
Salem, Massachusetts is located along a beautiful, vivacious harbor about 16 miles northeast of Boston. Salem has been known for a very long time for its many interesting historic sites. Some of these sites include places such as the birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the House of Seven Gables (this is where Hawthorne wrote his famous novel), the Essex Institute, and the Peabody Museum. The Essex Institute and the Peabody Museum both have a huge selection of many preserved relics from the voyages of Salem ships. Also, the very first settlement in Salem has been reconstructed into a Pioneer Village. Probably one of the most recognized historic sites, if not the most sought after tourist attraction, would have to be the one and only Witch House. In this Witch House was held many preliminary hearings for the witch trials. The so called "witchcraft scare" began in 1692 and lasted only about one year. There were thought to be witches in Salem in 1692 who in return were punished horribly for the extremely short time span of this act which started under so little circumstances ("Salem" 53). A "witch" is defined in a variety of ways, all including being exclusively insidious, but the on
Witchcraft was looked down upon as a very non-social behavior which set many to have unity from society (The Accused 1-2). " In 1646 John Gaule told the jurymen of England that there were eight classes of witches: 1) the diviner, gypsy, or fortune telling witch, 2) the astrologian, stargazing, planetary, prognosticating witch, 3) the chanting, canting, or calculating witch, 4) the veneficial or poisoning witch, 5) the exorcist or conjecturing witch, 6) the gastronomic witch, 7) the magical, speculative, sciental, or arted witch, 8) the nercrometer. Also, a small pox epidemic and the threat of attack by warring tribes created a rather fertile ground for much fear and suspension. The first three persons accused of witchcraft was Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborn. According to the marital status records there were six single males accused, but twenty-nine females accused; a total of fifteen married males were accused of being witches, but there were sixty-one females accused. It was these old women that were feared as dangerous because of their desire to affect the community in a craving for importance and respect. It was truthfully their knowledge of healing herbs that feared the people, because they were thought to know how to harm with the herbs as long with healing. Out of a total of one hundred persons of all ages accused of witchcraft, eighty-eight of the accused was women and only thirty men were accused. These witches would supposably make the milk goes sour or cows would produce blood instead of milk. This is just a basic overlook at the difference in the accurance of a male and a female being accused of witchery. But, according to the Law of Moses a witch is: "One that shall use, practice or exercise any invocation or conjuration of any evil or wicked spirit . A witch has also been described as an 'anti-housewife'.
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Acceptance Essays
