Any experts here on the Salem Witch trials?

[romantico]

I am doing a story & having a difficult time trying to find out various methods they used to torture those whom they thought were witch's.I tried Google & am not finding what I am looking for. I typed in salem witch trials, witch torture,etc. & nothing. I even tried the salem witch dungeon museum & they are very vaigue. If anyone knows anything about this or perhaps a website I have not found, I would appreictae any help. Many thanks!

[flakey_foont]

1. Try this

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. Someone gave me a book of news paper clippings for christmas

one year called history of crime or something, and it starts out with the salem witch trials. I guess even back then this stuff was news. Its' awesome. But i'm sorry, I'm not expert, but there are some great books on the subject. Go to the library.
Duckie

[romantico]

5. I'll probably go to the library this weekend

I was thinking of doing just that. Thats an awsome website.Even thought theres nothing on the torture, its a VERY informative site that I have not yet seen. Thanks!

By the way, was Salem occupied by Freepers? Me thinks so!

[flakey_foont]

3. Try a Google Search on

The Crubible.......the play by Arthur Miller....you should be able to navigate your way to some good info..........

[soothsayer]

4. Is that crucible? (your word cracks me up tho!)

[flakey_foont]

6. D'oh!

yes, it was meant to be Crucible!!!

the Crubible, I believe, is a type of pastry available from the Sugar Shack up on HWY 87

[seaglass]

7. here's some info...

To follow up these prosecutions, the town held trials. The Royal Governor, the prosecutors, the accused, and many prospectors would attend the trial . Several tests would be performed before the trial. Some of these are the floating test, a test where the midwives would check the "witch’ for any black marks on the body, and the Lord’s Prayer Test.

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002349/salemtrial.html

[Zan_of_Texas]

8. Actually, there is some REALLY interesting stuff on why it happened.

There was a PBS research show on hallucinations and a grain crop -- was it rye? They found that under certain conditions of humidity, weather -- I think it was a mold? fungus? grew on the stuff and caused hallucinations.

It happened in Salem and at another time somewhere in Europe too-- similar manifestation, similar weather conditions.

It's quite a remarkable take on why the whole thing got started (the punishment is another whole story, obviously, a result of their rigid religious overlay).

Try looking for PBS and Salem witch or PBS and hallucinations or something.

[flakey_foont]

9. Ergot fungus

grows on rye bread...contains chemical cousin to LSD....

[no_hypocrisy]

11. There's the story that the Trials were a front for a land grab. More

prosperous residents offered to purchase the property of other residents of Salem. They were turned down. They didn't take no for an answer. Suddenly those neighbors were accused of being witches by the daughters of the prospective buyers.

An example of trying to thwart the transfer of property was the story of Giles Corey. According to the law, if you admitted to being a witch, you lost your property. If you denied being a witch and were convicted anyway (slam dunk), you lost your property. Giles Corey neither admitted nor denied being a witch. He was slowly crushed to death with stones. The accusers kept asking him for his confession. He remained silent, knowing that upon his death, his property would pass to his children. With his death, he beat the system so to speak.

It was about land and wealth, never about Satan. Some things never change . . .

[noonwitch]

13. I think that it was a combination of poisoning and the secluded culture

The Puritans lived in isolation and had a rigid belief system. Throw in hallucinations caused by poisoning, and the people had no one in authority to say "you are crazy".

[skygazer]

10. Try the library

There are any number of fascinating books on the subject. Read one not long ago called "In the Devil's Snare" by Mary Beth Norton. Very good. For the most part, they used testimony from "victims" who were plagued by mysterious symptoms - siezures, visions, skin lesions.

You may want to check out literature concerning earlier witch trials in England which may or may not have used torture methods to extract information. The Salem instances were sort of an anomaly - most witch cases had occurred earlier and in Europe. It is theorized that the Salem cases were partly brought on by the shadowy fears of Indian uprisings - interesting how mass hysteria works.

[1monster]

12. I subbed in a class studying the Salem Witch Trials for the duration of

subject and found tons of information on the web. Here are a few of the links.

If you run a google on each of the names of the people involved, you will find more detailed information than what you will find just by googling for Salem Witch Trials (listed below the links).

Also, follow any of the links on each web page to find out more.

BTW, one eighty something year old man, Giles Corey, was "was stripped naked, a board placed upon his chest, and then--while his neighbors watched--heavy stones and rocks were piled on the board. On Monday, September 19, Corey was stripped naked, a board placed upon his chest, and then--while his neighbors watched--heavy stones and rocks were piled on the board. Corey pleaded to have more weight added, so that his death might come quickly.

"Samuel Sewall reported Corey's death: 'About noon, at Salem, Giles Corey was press'd to death for standing mute.' Robert Calef, in his report of the event, added a gruesome detail: Giles's 'tongue being prest out of his mouth, the Sheriff with his cane forced it in again, when he was dying.' Judge Jonathan Corwin ordered Corey buried in an unmarked grave on Gallows Hill."

As a note of interest, John Hathorne, one of the Salem Witch Trial Judges was the grandfather of American Literatrue Great Nathaniel Hawthorne, who changed the spelling of the family name in order to distance himself from his grandfather's doing in the Salem trials.

http://www.salemweb.com/memorial/

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASAL_BI.HTM

http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/life/

http://www.salemweb.com/memorial/stonesintro.shtml

Legal Action was Brought Against the Following:
Name Town or Village
Nehemiah Abbot Topsfield
Nehemiah Abbot, Jr. Topsfield
John Alden Boston
Daniel Andrew Salem Village
Abigail Barker Andover
Mary Barker Andover
William Barker, Sr. Andover
William Barker, Jr. Andover
Sarah Bassett Lynn
Bridget Bishop Salem Village
Edward Bishop, Jr. Salem Village
Sarah Bishop Salem Village
Mary Black Salem Village
Mary Bradbury Salisbury
Mary Bridges, Sr. Andover
Mary Bridges, Jr. Andover
Sarah Bridges Andover
Hannah Bromage Andover
Sarah Buckley Salem Village
George Burroughs Wells, Maine
Candy (slave) Salem Town
Hannah Carrell Salem Town
Andrew Carrier Andover
Martha Carrier Andover
Richard Carrier Andover
Sarah Carrier Andover
Thomas Carrier, Jr. Andover
Bethia Carter, Sr. Woburn
Bethia Carter, Jr. Woburn
Elizabeth Cary Charlestown
Mary Clarke Haverhill
Rachel Clenton Ipswich
Sarah Cloyse Salem Village
Sarah Cole Lynn
Sarah Cole Salem Town
Elizabeth Colson Reading
Mary Colson Unknown
Giles Corey Salem Village
Martha Corey Salem Village
Deliverance Dane Andover
Mary DeRich Salem Village
Elizabeth Dicer Gloucester
Rebecca Dike Gloucester
Joseph Draper Andover
Ann Doliver Gloucester
Lydia Dustin Reading
Sarah Dustin Reading
Rebecca Eames Andover
Mary Easty Salem Village
Esther Elwell Gloucester
Martha Emerson Haverhill
Joseph Emons Manchester
Mary English Salem Town
Philip English Salem Town
Thomas Farrer, Sr. Lynn
Edward Farrington Andover
Abigail Faulkner, Sr. Andover
Abigail Faulkner, Jr. Andover
Dorothy Faulkner Andover
John Flood Rumney Marsh
Elizabeth Fosdick Malden
Elizabeth Fosdick (Jr.?) Malden
Ann Foster Andover
Nicholas Frost Manchester
Eunice Frye Andover
Dorcas Good Salem Village
Sarah Good Salem Village
Mary Green Haverhill
Elizabeth Hart Lynn
Margaret Hawks Salem Town
Sarah Hawkes Andover
Dorcas Hoar Beverly
Abigail Hobbs Topsfield
Deliverance Hobbs Topsfield
William Hobbs Topsfield
Elizabeth How Topsfield
John Howard Rowley
Francis Hutchens Haverhill
Mary Ireson Lynn
John Jackson, Sr. Rowley
John Jackson, Jr. Rowley
George Jacobs, Sr. Salem Town
George Jacobs, Jr. Salem Village
Margaret Jacobs Salem Town
Rebecca Jacobs Salem Village
Abigail Johnson Andover
Elizabeth Johnson, Sr. Andover
Elizabeth Johnson, Jr. Andover
Rebecca Johnson Andover
Stephen Johnson Andover
Mary Lacey, Sr. Andover
Mary Lacey, Jr. Andover
John Lee Unknown
Jane Lilly Malden
Mary Marston Andover
Susanna Martin Amesbury
Mary Morey Beverly
Sarah Morrill Beverly
Rebecca Nurse Salem Village
Sarah Osborne Salem Village
Mary Osgood Andover
Elizabeth Paine Charlestown
Alice Parker Salem Town
Mary Parker Andover
Sarah Pease Salem Town
Joan Peney Gloucester
Hannah Post Boxford
Mary Post Rowley
Susanna Post Andover
Margaret Prince Gloucester
Benjamin Proctor Salem Village
Elizabeth Proctor Salem Village
John Proctor Salem Village
Sarah Proctor Salem Village
William Proctor Salem Village
Ann Pudeator Salem Town
Wilmot Reed Marblehead
Sarah Rice Reading
Susannah Roots Beverly
Henry Salter Andover
John Sawdy Andover
Margaret Scott Unknown
Ann Sears Woburn
Abigail Somes Salem Town
Martha Sparks Chelmsford
Tituba (slave) Salem Village
Job Tookey Beverly
Jerson Toothaker Unknown
Mary Toothacker Billerica
Daughter of Mary Toothacker Unknown
Roger Toothacker Billerica
Hannah Tyler Andover
Martha Tyler Andover
Mercy Wardwell Andover
Samuel Wardwell Andover
Sarah Wardwell Andover
Mary Warren Salem Village
Sarah Wilds Topsfield
Ruth Wilford Haverhill
John Willard Salem Village
Abigail Williams Salem Village
Sarah Wilson, Sr. Andover
Sarah Wilson, Jr. Andover
Mary Withridge Salem Village

[starroute]

14. They didn't torture them or subject them to "trials"

Giles Corey was an unusual case because he refused to testify and was "pressed" to death in at attempt to make him speak. As I understand it, he did this so that his estate could be inherited by his children, which would not have been the case if he had testified and been convicted.

The really odd thing about the Salem witch cases is that they took place right at the end of the period of the witch-hunts, when people were starting to view the world in terms of science rather than magic. The Harvard-educated clergymen who ran the trials were determined not to result to such old-fashioned, superstitious practices as trial by water. Instead, they would rely on the most up-to-date scientific methods and secure direct eyewitness testimony.

Of course, direct eyewitness testimony from a bunch of hysterical and/or hallucinating teenages is not necessarily reliable. After about six months, with more and more wild accusations being hurled against even the most solid citizens, the witch-hunters started to realize this, and the whole thing collapsed in a fit of general embarrassment. The accused who were still in prison were gradually released and some of them eventually received official apologies.

My husband is descended from one of the accused (Sarah Cloyce), and three of those executed (Rebecca Nurse, Mary Easty, John Proctor) were his multi-great aunts and uncles. He's also descended from one of the prosecutors, Dr. Robert Hale. So, though I'm not an expert, I have read quite a bit on the subject.

[1monster]

15. Have you seen the dramatization of the Witch Trials called THREE

SOVEREIGNS FOR SARAH? It is the story from Sarah Cloyce's point of view. She was sister to Rebecca Nurse and Mary Easty and was the only one of the three who escaped hanging by living long enough to be released.

[starroute]

16. I hadn't heard of it

I just checked on Amazon and see that it came out in 1985, before I got online and started doing family genealogy. But the reviews are positive -- and the first one is from another descendent. I'll have to think about getting a copy.