In January of 1692, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, 11 year old Abigail Williams and her cousin 9 year old Elizabeth Parris began exhibiting strange behaviour. They were having convulsions, screaming fits, and were talking in ways that were unfamiliar to their families.
The Salem Witch trials took place Between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 100 people were imprisoned. 30 people were found guilty of witchcraft. 19 were executed. 14 women. 5 men. And it is said a further 13 may have died in prison.
All it took was two young girls displaying unusual behaviour, and their word against three older women.
Chit Chat History.
Sources:
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daily.jstor.org/caused-salem-...
law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects... 2%2C 1692%3A Bridget Bishop,is hanged at Gallows Hill
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Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem possessed: the social origins of witchcraft. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1974.
Demers, Patricia, ed. *From Instruction to Delight: An anthology of children’s literature to 1850*. 3rd ed. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Hollitz, John. *Thinking through the past: A critical thinking approach to U.S history*. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010.
Setran, David. “Igniting the “Family Sacrifice”: Cotton Mather and Familial Christian Education in Puritan New England.” Christian Education Journal 11, no. 2 (Fall, 2014): 350-366.
Vaughan, Alden T and Francis J. Bremer. *Puritan New England: essays on religion, society, and culture*. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1977.