What is a primary source for the Salem Witch Trials?
The primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials offer a wealth of information on these infamous trials. These sources include official court records as well as several books, diaries and letters written by the various people involved in the trials.
What were the 5 types of evidence allowed in the Salem Witch Trials?
Courts relied on three kinds of evidence: 1) confession, 2) testimony of two eyewitnesses to acts of witchcraft, or 3) spectral evidence (when the afflicted girls were having their fits, they would interact with an unseen assailant – the apparition of the witch tormenting them).
How do historians interpret the Salem Witch Trials?
Feminist historians therefore have interpreted all witch trials generally as another social attribute designed to clamp down on women’s independence. Often, convicted witches are seen as strong, independent women who dared to demonstrate intellectual or economic parity with men.
What was the most controversial part of the Salem Witch Trials?
One controversial aspect that powered the trials was the use of spectral evidence. Puritans believed that witches could project their spirit or specter to harm people. In this way, witches could harm other people without physically moving or having witnesses see the witches actually inflict the torture.
Is there a Salem Witch Trials Documentary?
Salem: Unmasking the Devil A 2011 National Geographic Channel documentary about the Salem Witch Trials hosted by Katherine Howe. Howe is a novelist and a descendant of two accused witches, Elizabeth Proctor and Elizabeth Howe. The documentary features interviews with many historians and authors.
Is spectral evidence still used?
A new court convened in January 1693, to consider the remaining cases; this time, the use of spectral evidence was firmly limited. Almost all of those brought before the court were acquitted; and in May, Phips issued a general pardon, bringing the trials to an end.
Were the Salem Witch Trials justified?
In the Salem an medical practitioner judged that an illness which touched some children had come from the acts of sorcery. That was the beginning of a long and bloody witch hunt. Death sentences in the Salem trial were also justified with applying medical and physical categories to show the objectivity of a witchcraft.
What was illogical or unfair about the Salem Witch Trials?
One of the most illogical aspects of the witch trials was how do deal with an accusation made against an individual.
What are some theories of the Salem Witch Trials?
There are other medical theories for the Salem witch trials Some say that a slave, Tituba, dosed girls with jimsonweed that caused them to experience symptoms of witchcraft, while other theories propose that encephalitis lethargica (the sleeping sickness featured in the film Awakenings) may have been present in Salem.
What is the best book about the Salem witch trials?
In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 by Mary Beth Norton.
Is the TV show Salem based on the Crucible?
Salem is an American supernatural horror television series created by Brannon Braga and Adam Simon, loosely inspired by the real Salem witch trials in the 17th century. The series premiered on WGN America on April 20, 2014, becoming the network’s first original scripted series.
When was the last person burned for witchcraft?
Janet Horne (died 1727) was the last person to be executed legally for witchcraft in the British Isles. The Witch’s Stone in Littletown, Dornoch. Horne and her daughter were arrested in Dornoch in Sutherland and imprisoned on the accusations of her neighbours.