Salem witch trials

Series of trials that took place near Salem, part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1692, in which more than 150 men and women were accused and 19 found guilty of practising witchcraft, then a crime punishable by death. The guilty were hanged on nearby Gallows Hill between May and October 1692. The trials were later declared unlawful by the Massachusetts General Court, and persons involved, including court justice Samuel Sewall and accuser Ann Putnam, admitted their wrongdoing.

The trials actually took place now in Salem Village, now Danvers, five miles outside Salem itself. The spate of accusations was sparked by Elizabeth Parris, daughter of a Puritan minister, and her cousin Abigail Williams, who accused the Parris's West Indian slave, Tituba, of witchcraft. Guilty verdicts were reached on the basis of ‘spectral evidence’, which in turn was based on the belief of spiritual possession. Unusual behaviour and public denunciations were considered sufficient proof of witchcraft.

Tensions had run high in Salem even before the trials, due to the risk of smallpox, the threat of American Indian invasion, and personal hostilities within the community, making the town particularly vulnerable to hysteria. This was worsened by the active encouragement of Puritan religious leaders.

Modern theory attests that the trials were the embodiment of a recurring social phenomenon, compared by US playwright Arthur Miller to the US anticommunist campaigns of the 1950s, and exemplified in his play The Crucible (1953).