Forsaken History: The Salem Witch Trials

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The Salem Witch Trials [pic] In America Witchcraft has a very storied History dating back to the Salem Witch Trials Of The late 1600’s with that in which 19 men and woman were escorted to Gallows Hill to be hanged. These trials were just apart of witchcraft, which dates back to the seventh century. Christianity was a new religion on its own, so witchcraft was taken relatively lightly. It wasn’t until the end of the Middle Ages and early renaissance that witchcraft was taken more arduously. The 15th century was the most consequential. The trials of Joan of Arc, Guilles de Rais and the Duchess of Gloucester to name a few were tried as witches and subsequently either burned at the stakes or stoned for what they believed in. A book…show more content…
The first occurrence of witchcraft began with Mrs. Anne Hibbins, years earlier her husband perished in 1654; he was of importance, a merchant in Boston, and also a colonial agent. Mrs. Anne Hibbins was also rumored to be the sister of Governor Bellingham. In her community and specifically in her church she spoke her mind often and was eventually censored for being open minded, one such instance actually was not her fault. Mrs. Anne Hibbins saw two neighbors conversing, she came up to them and told them she knew exactly what they were talking about and then preceded to reword their entire conversation. Mrs. Anne Hibbins convinced the neighbors enough to believe that she was possessed by the devil or some other kind of evil and that she had preternatural knowledge of people thoughts and ideas. In 1655, this attention was brought to trial, the Magistrates actually saw past the situation and declined to read the verdict in front of everyone so the case was brought to general court, where she was eventually found guilty of being a witch. She received the penalty of death by hanging. This case shows that the common people were more ready to believe that witchcraft actually existed, more ready to believe it then the leaders of the society, the case also showed that if you speak your mind or have some history of craziness and violence then you had more of a probability of being possessed by
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