Crucible+-+Trial+basics

The witch trials of [|Salem], Mass. (March to September 1692), were America's most notorious episode of [|witchcraft] hysteria. Belief in witchcraft was carried to colonial America from Europe, where in the two centuries before 1650 thousands had been executed as witches. The Salem incident began when two young girls in the household of the Reverend Samuel Parris began to behave oddly. The girls had participated in meetings at which incantations had been cast and attempts made to foretell the future; they were examined by a doctor, ministers, and magistrates, who concluded that they were bewitched. The resulting frenzy spread rapidly. Hearings began on March 1, and by the middle of May, 100 persons were in prison awaiting trial.
 * Salem Witch Trials **

**Salem Witch Trials** The witch trials of Salem. Mass. (March to September 1692), were America's most notorious episode of witchcraft hysteria. Belief in witchcraft was carried to colonial America from Europe, where in the two centuries before 1650 thousands had been executed as witches. The Salem incident began when two young girls in the household of the Reverend Samuel Parris began to behave oddly. The girls had participated in meetings at which incantations had been cast and attempts made to foretell the future; they were examined by a doctor, ministers, and magistrates, who concluded that they were bewitched. The resulting frenzy spread rapidly. Hearings began on March 1, and by the middle of May, 100 persons were in prison awaiting trial. During the witchcraft excitement of 1692, the Puritan leader Cotton Mather wrote the minister's statement exhorting the judges to be cautious in their use of "spectral evidence" against the accused, and he believed that "witches" might better be treated by prayer and fasting than by execution. On the other hand, in writing about the trials in the pamphlet shown here, he defended the judges and their procedures more than seems consistent with his earlier precautions. His writing and preaching about witchcraft sustained the fires of public hysteria longer than they would have without his involvement. The Bettmann Archive

Zeichner, Oscar. "Salem Witch Trials." //Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.// Grolier Online, 2010. Web. 6 Dec. 2010.