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Confusion Leads to Persecution

Can Rebecca Nurse be a witch?
By John

Yesterday, on the 28th day of June, in the year of our Lord sixteen hundred and ninety two, five women, including well-regarded and highly respected Rebecca Nurse, were put on trial for witchcraft. For some time now, the accusations have been kept to a minimum of people who have an appearance of some evil, as well as a low reputation in the community. The first few accusations included Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba. These were all people of the low rank and all had already some marks against their reputation. Goodwife Nurse, however, is “a venerable lady," whose conversation and bearing are so truly saint-like. Goody Nurse has been going to church for almost seventy years now. She has always attended service and obeyed the law. Her case is even more unusual as she is an invalid of extremely delicate condition and appearance. Most notably, Goody Nurse is respected as a mother, as she has a large family, embracing sons, daughters, grandchildren, and one or more great-grand children.
Because Rebecca Nurse is a woman of "piety, and simplicity of heart,” thirty-nine neighbors have come forward to sign a petition on Goody Nurse’s behalf. People are also writing very exquisite things about Nurse. They are stating that she is a good member of the community and how she always went to church and devotedly raised a family.
The matter has become so heated that people around Salem village are gathering to protest. Most of the protesting villagers have declared that this matter of the ‘spectral evidence’ is only a way for the afflicted girls to have the power to decide who is guilty and who is not, rather than relying on visible evidence and sound judgment. Despite the protest, the afflicted girls are not reacting any differently to Goodwife Nurse than to any other accused witch.
As the number of “bizarre accusations” begins to rise, one gentleman in our community has invoked that “us as a whole unit must open our eyes and realize that this witch hunt business is tearing the Salem community apart with nothing to cause it but our own minds.”
The question remains: Is this matter of witchcraft reality, or are people just convincing themselves into believing that this matter of witchcraft is reality? We will hopefully find out the answer as time progresses. Our prayers are with Goodwife Nurse and her family.

 

How the Witch Trials Began

By Maya, Remy, Kori and Anasatsia

‘Tis horrible that in this land of uprightness there should be any such pranks of wickedness.’

Reverend Parris, the minister of Salem, is in the middle of these terrible events.  He arrived in our village with a reputation that he would fight for slaves.  Half of our town was in favor of his appointment and half was not.  Because of his knowledge of the Bible and his many efforts to visit our people in the evenings, he has won everyone over.
Reverend Parris is now at the center of events because of his very slave, Tituba.  According to some in our village, Tituba and her stories have started this madness.  It is reported that she would be in the Reverend’s house when many of our young innocent girls visited during the dark winter evenings.  Sipping tea around the fire, Tituba told the young girls stories of her life in Barbados.  She told fortunes and spoke of meeting the devil and dancing round rings of fire.
According to our sources, “Many young people were being led away [from goodness] with little sorceries.”  For soon, after one such meeting, Reverend Parris’ daughter, Betty, and his niece, Abigail, became ill. The other girls are also now showing signs of being ill.  They are reported to be yelling out, screaming, rolling in convulsions, seeing shapes of birds and even people.  They are in pain as they are being pricked by pins and being poked by needles.
It is reported their illness is at the hand of the devil because these young girls would never behave like this willing.  Rumor has it the witches are behind it.
Most recently, the innocent young girls have been observed having uncontrollable fits during prayers.  It seems the good words of the Bible are making them worse.  Some are laughing, some screaming and some are even gasping for air.
All of these signs are surely the devil’s hand at work. The people of the town have been ordered to wait for God to finally give mercy on the girls and fight the devil out of them.
The villagers are not going to wait.  No one is certain of any sign – good nor bad.  Everyone is suspicious and everyone is pointing fingers.  The Salem Witch Hunt has begun!

                       

Another Look at the Very Beginnings

The Salem Witch trials began with several little girls playing games and listening to stories about witches and the devil.  Little did they know that what they were doing would end up killing over 24 people, and 2 dogs.

It all started with Reverend Parris’s daughter, Betty Parris, and his niece, Abigail Williams. The family had a servant named Tituba who would tell stories and perform voodoo. The girls were so interested by this that they wanted to hear more, but they were not allowed to speak of witchery. They kept their interest a secret and started to have meetings with Tituba who would speak to them of witchery and tell them stories.  Soon, other girls came to these meetings to listen to Tituba.  Nobody knew about these meetings except for Tituba and the girls present at the meeting. 
After a while, the girls began to act like animals, throw fits, interrupt church, and everybody thought they were in the hands of the devil. It is assumed that the girls did this out of guilt.
The girls were so scared that Reverend Parris would find out about the meetings that they blamed their behavior on Tituba.  They claimed that she was the witch making them do this. They also blamed two other women. One was Sarah Good and the other was Sarah Osborne. Sarah Good was a poor old woman and nobody would believe her. Sarah Osborne married her indentured servant and had not been to church in years so she was already in a bad position. The girls saw these women as easy targets whom nobody would believe.

How long have there been witches?

All the fear of witches started way back in 560 B.C., but by the 14th and 15th centuries there were about 40,000 to 50,000 killed in Europe as witches. Authorities in Geneva, Switzerland burned 500 accused witches at the stake in 1515. Nine years later in Como, Italy there were as many as 100 executions. About 1640 things started to die out.
How did this all start? This question has been asked many times. The main factors that started and fueled the trials were politics, religion, family feuds, economics, and the imaginations and fears of the people.