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Mary-Elizabeth Hollis
Ms. Tia Lee
English 10A
11/13/2022
Injustice by innuendo and prejudice
1692 Salem, Massachusetts, the church and rival families were in a stir, a time of mass
tragedy. Little girls became “possessed” while the whole town went into hysteria. The town was
in a witch craze similar to Europe, but rather, they loved to accuse others of witchcraft. The sad
ugly truth, though, was that the accused, who the villagers murdered, were never witches; they
were victims of lies, gossip, and religion. Witchcraft had become an obsession in the town of
Salem, leading to mistrust in the community, with the villagers' gossip creating a hostile
environment and unnecessary deaths.
The Putnams and Reverend Samuel Parris used spiritual evidence to convict these
innocent town folk who were accused of witchcraft. The Putnams were the main accusers in
almost every case, with an example being, “Although … afflicted girls were … main accusers
during … trials, many historians believe … girl’s parents, … Thomas Putnam and Reverend
Samuel Parris, were egging … girls on … encouraging them to accuse specific people in the
community that they didn’t like … act of revenge.” - (Brooks). The Putnam’s encouraged the
girls to target people for being witches, especially those whom they didn’t like. Thomas Putnam
and Reverend Samuel Parris were definitely at fault for the first deaths in this unjust time of false
accusations. As for the girls pointing fingers, they were not the ones who physically put those
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innocent people to death; they were only used to accuse and persecute those whom their elders
didn’t like very much.
The villagers also accused “Rebecca Nurse, a mature woman of some prominence. As …
weeks passed,” more than likely would not have had the Putnams not done so first, “many …
accused proved to be enemies of … Putnams, … Putnam family members and in-laws would
end up being … accusers … dozens … cases..” - (Wallenfeldt); It is believed that the village
nurse was a target of all of the girls, and in this case, it was one this was of the many times they
used spectral evidence to try and convict an innocent person of being a witch. The Putnams
only had spectral evidence to convict Goody Nurse, but they still took her to court. This use of
spectral evidence by Thomas Putnam and Reverend Samuel Parris gave them a way to use the
girls to “legally” murder people. The “witches” they killed were purely based on their emotions
instead of any actual evidence.
The girls were Betty Parris (Age 9), Abigail Williams (Age 12), and Ann Putnam (Age
12); they were the ones at the beginning of this horribly unjust time that everyone believed were
bewitched, soon afterward, other girls joined them in telling the lies that were unjustly setting
people to be persecuted and killed. The girls fed into the hysterics about witches by accusing
those who would become known as the first witches. “Chief instigators … twelve-year-old
ringleader Ann Putnam, Elisabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, Mary Warren, Elisabeth Proctor,
Mercy Lewis, Susan Sheldon, … Elizabeth Booth. Encouraged by … elders … joined by …
peers, … girls began accusing anyone they disliked … feared of being witches. “ - (Purdy), Once
the girls were claimed to have been bewitched, they knew they had over the village and
understood this power well. Instead of believing the adults being accused, these young ladies
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managed to frame, ridicule, and have their victims killed. The girls were definitely the main
catalyst for death in the community, and if no one had believed these young girls, no innocent
lives would’ve been taken. There have been many theories as to why the girls might’ve acted
like they were bewitched, although one, in particular, seemed the most plausible.
“The litany of odd behavior also mirrored that of the children of a Boston family who in
1688 were believed to have been bewitched, a description of which had been provided by
Congregational minister Cotton Mather in his book Memorable Providences, Relating to
Witchcraft and Possessions (1689) and which may have been known by the girls in Salem
Village.”- (Wallenfeldt) One of the many theories of why the girls started acting in such ways
was the book of Congregational minister Cotton Mather as the book describes a family in
Boston who was bewitched. The girl used the acts in the book to convince others that they were
bewitched, which in turn helped them prosecute innocent people. An example of how they
convinced others their targets were witches were gossiping; the villagers tended to believe
anything if enough people banded together, so when the girls banded together, they rallied the
other villagers to gang up on the accused. The girls would lie that they saw the accused
performing witchcraft, which always “confirmed” the accused as a witch.
The spectral evidence was barred from the court after many cases of unfair trials.
“Governor Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer. In January 1693, the newly created
Superior Court of Judicature began hearing the remaining witch trials.” - (New England Law),
Governor Phips finally dissolved the court for witchcraft trials which had helped many be
released. Governor Phips realized that the Court of Oyer and Terminer was unjust in the way
they decided guilty and innocent. “The judges could not accept spectral evidence, and most of
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the remaining trials ended in acquittal. Phips pardoned the rest.” - (New England Law); Spectral
evidence was more or less witness testimony that would fall under hearsay. The witches
couldn’t be proven in court simply because no one had concrete proof that the accused was a
witch. The accused were finally released due to the new law that judges could not accept
spectral evidence. Governor Phips pardoned the falsely jailed victims after his new law was
enacted. Finally, the trials ended, and the hysteria slowly ended.
Sadly, there’s no way of returning these people from the tragedy of the lies that killed
them. Spectral evidence murdered those people, and the people who used those girls in such a
way were awful, although the girls weren’t any better as they were at fault too. The obsession
with witchcraft resulted in many deaths, which gossip and rumors caused.
Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice, and → View All Posts By Rebecca Beatrice Brooks. “History
of the Salem Witch Trials.” History of Massachusetts Blog, 18 Aug. 2011,
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials/
“Records of the Salem Witch Trials.” The National Endowment for the Humanities,
https://www.neh.gov/article/records-salem-witch-trials
“The True Legal Horror Story of the Salem Witch Trials.” New England Law Boston,
www.nesl.edu/blog/detail/a-true-legal-horror-story-the-laws-leading-to-the-salem-witch-trials.
Wallenfeldt, jeff. “Salem Witch Trials American History.”
www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials.
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