Abigail Williams Behavior

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Abigail Williams, aged 11 in 1692, played a major role as a prominent accuser in the Salem Witch trials. She was one of the girls who made the first witchcraft accusations in Salem village at the end of February 1692. She and her 9 year-old cousin Betty Parris were entertained by magic, voodoo and fortune telling from Tituba, her Uncle Reverend Samuel Parris’s Indian salve. Both Abigail and Betty began to exhibit strange behaviour by mid-January 1692. They behaved erratically and exhibited extreme physical contortions, described as “at first [she] hurried with Violence to and fro in the room sometimes making as if she would fly, stretching up her arms as high as she could, and crying “Whish, Whish, Whish!” several times. Presently after she…show more content…
William Griggs to examine them. He concluded that the girls were under the influence of an “Evil Hand”; in other words, were victims of witchcraft. The topic of witchcraft soon began to spread in the village and when their frightening behaviours continued, the townspeople begged the girls to name their wicked tormentors. On March 1692, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne were accused for afflicting Abigail, Betty and other girls such as Ann Putnam Jr. They were three social outcasts despised and distrusted by the town; a slave, an old woman who had married her slave and homeless beggar. Abigail and the local girls appeared at the trial hearings. Tituba, frightened after being beaten by Reverend Parris, confessed to being a witch and named others. Soon after, the girls began to point fingers at other townspeople and on June 2nd 1962 the trials began. In the coming months, 19 lives were hanged, the former pastor of Salem included. Giles Cory and 4 other men and women died in jail. However, after the girls spat out names of the most respectable names of Massachusetts including the governor’s wife, people began to doubt the girls. Soon enough, the witchcraft hunt
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