THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS

                              THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS

The infamous Salem witch trials started in the early spring of 1692 in Massachusetts,USA.After a group of young women claimed to be possessed by the devil and also being accused of several kinds of witchcraft.These incidents first started in a small village of Massachusetts named Salem. In early 1600s the idea of witchcraft granted by the devil in exchange of their loyality towards him is a firm  belief in the early 1400s in Europe. That was the main reason why people people believed in those things at that time despite living in such harsh conditions.

The first case sparked panic in the people of Salem and a special court is arranged for the witch trials.The court rely on insubstantial  evidence(i.e-like having dreams and visions) rather than factual evidence(like-hard proofs).The first victim was Bridget Bishop who had been accused and later
hanged after certain allegations of witchcraft had been put upon her by the local villagers.Nearly 150 men and women were accused and put on trial for witchcraft over a period of next few months.These trials ruined the life of many families mentally and physically.Other than that 19 people were hanged and 7 died in jail.One of the victim's husband(Giles Corey) had been pummeled to death by stones after he refuses to enter a plea of prosecution.

There are certain ways conducted by the court to determine whether a person is a witch or not.The most famous of these is the swimming test that consists of binding the person and throwing them into a body of water. It was believed that if a particular person is a witch the water would reject him and he or she will eventually float and if he is not he will sink.They would tie a rope and pull the person out ,though regular drowning occurs.Another famous test conducted was to have them recite a prayer,if they did it so without doing mistakes then he/she is not a witch.The problem with that test is obvious,if a person is illiterate or nervous they still take mistakes as a valid proof.Freedom of speech was very hard back then.

Once the people turned on against these trials,they quickly diminished.Colonists realized the danger of these trials and how many innocents were being sentenced to death.By 1693 the trials were diminishing in intensity and all those accused had been pardoned and released from prison. Finally in 1697, the Massachusetts General Court declared a day of fasting for the victims of the Salem witch trials.Eventually , the Massachusetts colony provided financial restoration to the family of those accused  in 1711.Thus,the legacy lives on in Salem,Massachusetts where the town has become a tourist attraction for its history and museum related to Salem Witch Trials.These trails is an another important lesson from the history of the  mankind where law plays an important role.