In their treatment of Giles Cory, the judges ordered the 81-year-old man to be pressed to death to attempt to literally press an answer out of him that he was in fact a witch. 2. If any black marks were found on the accused's body, the mark was often considered Satan's mark and proof that she was a witch. The witchcraft hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts resulted from the strict Puritan code which aroused the girls interest in superstition and magic and caused strange behavior. The Jury is not suckered they are full of opinions. Witchcraft can have, Red Scare and The Salem Witch Trials were both events that left a mark in American history. A total of 172 people are known to have been formally charged or informally cried out upon for witchcraft in 1692. They vote based on the evidence proposed against a person is good enough to be found guilty or not guilty. Hysteria had swept through. Religious fanaticism, power-hungry individuals, local disputes, misogyny, anxiety, political turmoil, psychological distress, and mass hysteria all contributed to the atmosphere surrounding the infamous Salem witch trials. By the end of August 1692, three confessors had agreed that there were 200 people present at their black Sabbaths. Our Privacy Policy sets out how Oxford University Press handles your personal information, and your rights to object to your personal information being used for marketing to you or being processed as part of our business activities. The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692 and took place in Salem, Massachusetts. The 28 people who were tried by the Court of Oyer and Terminer and who pleaded “not guilty” were all condemned to death by the judges—an unprecedented one-hundred percent conviction rate. The Red Scare was known as the widespread promotion of anti-communism. The judges of the Salem Witch Trials appointed by the governor were well-educated. Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. The confessors provided fuel for more accusations. Poor and marginalized members of society tended to be the victims of witchcraft accusations, but in 1692, many leading members of the colony were accused. Then, according to an article published by A&E Television Networks, a notable group of 10 people who were brought in for questioning, by midwife's examination. People like Franklin Jr. Mixon, Linnda R. Caporael, Dr. Allan Woolf, Elaine G. Brewslaw, and Isaac Ariail Reed take into account one of the three: economics, medicines and culture, My response: The Hollywood Blacklist was an event that occurred in America where some people who worked in Hollywood were accused of working with the communists. In 1692 a major tragedy occurred in America, the Salem witch trials. Evidence not being exposed to the Jury about a defendant and so on . The Jury of today’s Court Rooms are suckered also . So, confessing to witchcraft did not guarantee one’s ultimate survival but at the least it seemed to rule out speedy execution.”. However, even the men of the highest-status in Salem, such as ministers, were cried out to be witches. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses revenge as the main theme throughout the playwright. With the exception of Samuel Wardwell, who recanted his confession before trial, no one who confessed to being a witch was executed. The court makes mistakes but people are trying to repeal the death penalty and the people locked up can be set free. Today, thousands of people travel to Salem every year to learn more about the community’s unique place in American history. To illustrate what makes the Salem witch trials so significant, we’ve compiled some interesting facts: 1. The causes of the famous outbreak of witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts are rooted in social, economic, and political aspects of the late 17th century Salem community. Joseph McCarthy’s campaign against communism, what makes the Salem witch trials so significant, the order of the prosecutions reveals the judges’ intentions. They were part of a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe in the 14th century. These factors converged in 1692 to “produce what was by far the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in American history …  threaten[ing] to bring down the newly formed Massachusetts Bay government of Sir William Phips.” The witch trials left a lasting impression on the early American colonists, and subsequently provided citizens of the American republic with a cautionary tale about the dangers of persecution, intolerance, and bigotry. According to an article published by Online Highways LLC, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) brought in many Hollywood writers, producers, and directors to question (Hollywood Blacklist). “This was a dangerous game to play, as prior to 1692 in Europe or America a confession of witchcraft almost universally resulted in a speedy conviction and execution. Though such scenarios seem unfathomable in our modern culture, it was a reality for hundreds of New England settlers. I have been called for Jury Duty and was excused when I was examined by the Judge of my knowledge of the Sucker’s game being on a Jury . Others reported hearing of more than 300 active witches in the region. Today, the court system in the United States assumes innocence until proven otherwise; the courts in Salem appear to have assumed the opposite and “the order of the prosecutions reveals the judges’ intentions. The Red Scare began in 1917 and took place across the United States. And if it is found that evidence has been hidden from the court then that can become a case. These trials enforced western society as a whole to step away from blind faith and instead search for a greater comprehension of the incomprehensible. Required fields are marked *. Salem witch trials (1692–93), a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted ‘witches’ to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Nineteen of the accused, fourteen women and five men, were hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem Village.