Merry meet everyone, Today's topic is an easy one to do but its a topic that most witches today know about in some form. The biggest well know witch hunts was based in Salem back in June 1692 and didn't end until May 1693. Those times many women feared for their lives because they knew if they did something even remotely wrong in the eyes of the 'Judge' they would be put to death. This is such a big American history topic but its also a big topic for all witches because 19 poor souls were convicted as 'witches' which we still don't know if they were true witches or not but they were hanged for crimes that more than likely didn't happen. Many know about the Salem witch trails but there were many others around the world that took such a big part of the history we have today. As many of you know the witch trails and hunts started in Europe between 1300's and 1330's, theses didn't end until the late 18th century with the last well known witch being executed taking place in Switzerland in 1782. That being said the Salem witch trails occurred because of the abatement of the European witch-hunt fervour which first took part in 1580s-1590s to the 1630s-1640s. The biggest part of the witch trails took place in Europe, mainly taking place in western Germany, the Low Countries in France, Northern Italy and Switzerland. The number of trails and executions changed depending on the time and place but its well known that over 110,000 people in total were tried for witchcraft and out of these people between 40,000 to 60,000 were executed. Thats a lot of innocent people taken too soon for something they most likely didn't do. The poor souls of theses people will forever haunt our past but will also teach us what not to do in the future. Or thats my hope anyway. Theses hunts were done to find the identity of witches rather than pursuits of individuals who were already known or thought of as witches. Back then witches were considered to be followers of 'Satan' who would so call trade their souls for his help. Now we all know that Satan isn't part of witchcraft or parts of our pagan history. Satan was used by Christians to state power over our faith and power over the murders of many women, man and children. There hunters would speak about witches using demons from Satan in forms of animals that witches would call their 'Familiars'. They also said that witches back then would meet in secret in the woods and have orgies to please their 'Satan' God. Back then there was no doubt that some individuals did worship the devil and attempt to do his work in harming others, however before the witch trails no one had embodied the concept of a witch. This meant the process of identifying witches began from rumours and people spreading nasty comments about fellow neighbours. Most witches that were executed in the Salem witch trails were the result of a combination of reasons, such as the church politics, family feuds and children being hysterical about the 'bogyman' of that time which was witches. A well known family in Salem was a bit effect on the witch trails. This family of Samuel Parries, his wife and three children created the cause of many women being murdered. Now this may have started as revenge from their said slave who was called Tituba. She most likely told stories of voodoo tales to the three children that caused this uproar. Parries daughter Betty who was aged 9 at the time, his niece Abigail Williams aged 11 at the time and their friend Ann Putnam Jr aged 12 at the time began messing about with fortune telling. It was back in January 1692 that Betty and Abigail's strange behaviour was getting worse. From what was described in history as juvenile delinquency most likely caused the witch trails to start. Theses girls would have fits, scream, making odd sounds, throwing items about, contorting their bodies and complained about getting biting and pinching sensations. People more know a days in modern science has tried to explain theses strange behaviours as common illnesses we know today. But back then theses behaviours caused many witch hunts in Salem and many deaths. Because of theses behaviours Parris set out to identify the girls tormentor which made things worse when the girls blamed their slave Tituba for bewitching them. The were two other marginalized members of the community that was also blamed but theses were blamed because they didn't go to church regularly. These two women were called Sarah good and Sarah Osborn. Sarah good was a beggar and Sarah Osborn was an elderly bedridden women who had been scorned for her romantic involvement with an servant. Both of theses women protected that they were innocent. Tituba also claimed to be innocent but after being badgered she told the magistrates John Hathornbe and Jonathan Corwin what they wanted to hear. This was that she had been visited by the devil and made a deal with him. Within 3 days of vivid testimony she had described encounters with the devils animal familiars and with a tall dark man from Boston who had called upon her to sign the devils book in which she saw the names of Sarah good and Sarah Osborn along with those of seven others that she could not read. Because of this, they had the right to build upon the witch hunt and all hysteria broke lose. This became like a wild fire and other women and children started having fits, which created more hysteria. Ann Putnam Jr, her mother, her cousin and Mary Walcott and Putnam's servant mercy Lewis were among the women having the fits. Those who were identified as witches were no longer just outsiders and outcasts but rather upstanding members of the community. This began with Rebecca Nurse a mature women, and as weeks passed many of the accused proved to be the enemies of the Putnam's and Putnam family members and in-laws would end up being the accusers in dozens of cases. On May 27th 1692 after weeks of hearings accompanied by imprisonments the accused were forced to defend themselves without aid of counsel, this became damning for them because there was 'spectral evidence' against them. Their so called victims claimed to see unknown things and being attacked either biting and pinching by animals theses women would control. Many who confessed to the crimes were spared because they were believed damned by god and the ones who denied them were punished further. Bridget Bishop on June 2rd who was accused and found innocent of witchery over 12 years earlier was the first of the defendants to be convicted and she was hanged on the 10th of June. She was hanged on Gallows hill in Salem village and on July 19th five more convicted people were hanged including the two ladies Nurse and Good. Good responded before she was hanged as stating she was no more a witch as the judge was a wizard. That caused George Burroughs who was the judge at the time to be dragged out of his home and accused of being the witches ringleader. He to was convicted and hanged on August 19th. On September 22nd eight more people were convicted by hanging including Martha Corey whose husband Giles, upon being accused of witchcraft and refusing to plea his case had been subjected to the worse kind of death. He was pressed to death between heavy stones for two days until he died. Can you imagine the pain he went through for those two days. Horrified is not even the word to describe what I felt when I found this out. These trails took over like wild fire and accusations spread to individuals from other communities among them were Beverly, Malden, Gloucester, Andover, Lynn, Marblehead, Charleston and Boston. On October the 3rd Cotton Mathers father decided to use direct accusations inside of what evidence they used before. On October 29th theses accusations of witchcraft extended to include his own wife which Governor Phips had once again stepped in and ordered a halt of the trail, This was because a superior had instructed not to admit spectral evidence which meant to trail was even more rigged as before. These Trails resumed in January and February but because of the changes out of 56 people indicted only 3 were convicted and they along with everyone held in custody had been pardoned by Phips in May 1693. This was the end of the witch trails. Over this horrid period in history 19 people were hanged and 6 people had died in custody, with one being Giles Corey who was condemned to die after two days of a painful death. This subject when I was researching this and even while typing it out upset me so much. Knowing how theses women and men were treated about of fear. I bet most of theses weren't even witches but they lost their lives for nothing. This is our history and we should honour theses lives within every day that we breath. They are owed that much. I would love to hear your views on this subject matter, did this effect you in the same way it effected me? If you would like to become part of my ever growing community then join me on Facebook and Instagram under the name @Paganvibesonly and join in on the chats and posts. I love connecting with you all and I love to hear what topics you all would like to see in the future. I hope to see you all in the next blog post and please stay safe in theses strange times. Blessed be x PaganVibesOnly x
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