Witch Trials facts

While investigating facts about Witch Trials In Europe and Witch Trials England, I found out little known, but curios details like:

During the Salem Witch Trials, when Sarah Good was asked to confess at her execution, she told minister Nicholas Noyes "You are a liar! I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink”. 25 years later, Noyes died of a haemorrhage.

how witch trials started?

Author Nathaniel Hawthorne added a W to his last name to hide his relation to his great-great grandfather John Hathorne, the only judge in the Salem Witch Trials to never repent of his actions.

What caused the salem witch trials?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what started the salem witch trials. Here are 50 of the best facts about Witch Trials In America and Witch Trials Scotland I managed to collect.

who died at the salem witch trials?

Writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ray Bradbury, actors Christopher Reeve and Linda Hamilton, and astronaut Alan Shepard are all descendants of Mary Bradbury, a woman tried and sentenced in the Salem Witch Trials who escaped death and lived to age 85.
It is believed that one of the reasons for the paranoia and bizarre behavior that led to the Salem Witch Trials was caused because of a fungus, Ergot, which grows on rye plants and is a close cousin of LSD. Mistaking it for large rye grain, Salem villagers ground it into their bread and ate it.
None of the ~35 people killed in the Salem Witch Trials died from burning at the stake. 19 were hanged, 1 was pressed to death, all others died in jail.
Sarah Jessica Parker, who played a witch convicted in the Salem witch trials in the Disney movie "Hocus Pocus", later discovered that one of her ancestors was a real woman accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.
The Spanish Inquisition ended witch trials in Spain a full century before the rest of Europe because it required scientific proof of witchcraft - not just eyewitness accounts.
The costliest trial in US history was the McMartin Preschool Trial, a case of satanic abuse hysteria. The investigator's bias resulted in children recalling stories of witches flying, travelling in hot-air balloons, being flushed down the toilet, and having been assaulted by Chuck Norris.
During the Salem witch trials, no one was burned at stake. They were hanged, left to die in prison, or pressed.
The government of Nazi Germany memorialized the victims of European witch trials of the 16th to 18th centuries, as they thought witchcraft represented the remnant of an indigenous "Aryan" religion untainted by the Judaic influence of Christianity.
When the issue of witch trials arose at Charlemagne's Council of Frankfurt in 794, he had his bishops call the belief in witchcraft superstitious, ordering death penalties for anyone who burned witches. Incidentally, he had founded the first universities since the fall of Rome.
In the 17th century an old man on trial openly confessed to being a werewolf, but claimed to be good-natured, stating that he regularly went to hell with other werewolves to battle the witches and wizards of Satan to ensure a bountiful harvest.

witch trials facts — What happened during the salem witch trials?

Why did the salem witch trials happen?

You can easily fact check why did the salem witch trials end by examining the linked well-known sources.

Nobody was burned at the stake during the Salem Witch Trials. Most people convicted of witchcraft were hanged and one man was crushed with stones.

John Hathorne was the only judge in the Salem Witch Trials never to apologize for his actions. His great-great grandson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, added a W to his last name to distance himself from him. - source

The Salem Witch trials were in part caused by an outbreak of ergot, a fungus that causes hallucinations, on rye. - source

Many of the "witches" in the infamous Salem witch trials are now believed to have had Huntington's disease and their symptoms were mistaken for possession by the devil.

Legendary author Ray Bradbury was a descendant of Mary Bradbury, who was tried in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. - source

When did the salem witch trials take place?

Ergot poisoning, which has effects similar to LSD, is thought to be responsible for both causing the Salem Witch Trials and also influencing a number of Renaissance paintings.

How did the salem witch trials end?

Two dogs died in the Salem Witch Trials. In October 1692, a girl in Andover accused a neighbor’s dog of bewitching her. The villagers shot the dog immediately. After its death, the dog was declared innocent, since if the dog really was the devil in disguise, it would not be possible to kill it.

Salem Village that we know from the Witch Trials was renamed Danvers, MA and the current Salem was then known as Salem Town.

One of the methods used for identifying witches in the Salem Witch Trials, was to bake affected girls urine in a cake, feed it to a dog, and the controlling witch would then supposedly cry out in pain.

During the Salem witch trials people suspected of being the victims of black magic would have their urine baked into a cake. The cake would be fed to a dog who was then monitored for signs of witchcraft.

When did the salem witch trials end?

Dorothy Good, the youngest to be accused of witchcraft in the infamous Salem witch trials of 1692, was only four years old when interrogated by magistrates and five when sent to jail.

Zach Braff and Mitt Romney are distant cousins and descendants of Rebecca Nurse, a devout Puritan Protestant woman who was falsely accused of practicing witchcraft and hanged at the infamous Salem witch trials

Ergot, a grain fungus, which is responsible for causing hallucinations, paranoia, and convulsions, is suspected to be the reason for "bewitchment" during the Salem Witch Trials.

About the werewolf trials of Europe. In the early 15th century people were often prosecuted for being a werewolf as well as for being a witch. In the Netherlands a 13-year old boy claimed his family could turn into wolves by command of satan. His family was executed for witchcraft.

Nathaniel Hawthorne added the "w" to his surname because of his family's history. His great-great grandfather Jon Hathorne was one of the judges during the Salem Witch Trials and Nathaniel wanted to distance himself from that part of his family history.

How did the salem witch trials start?

Massachusetts was home to the Salem witch trials occurred in 1692 in the town of Salem.

Cotton Mather was a noted scientist and pastor. He advocated inoculation against smallpox, despite many believing it to be a sin. He's credited with changing the public perception of inoculations. This is the same pastor who played a pivotal role in the Salem Witch Trials.

Jennet Device, whose testimony at aged 9 against her mother, sister and brother during the Pendle witch trial in 1612 led to the execution of her family. This would set a legal precedent for children younger than 14 to testify at criminal proceedings.

324 years ago today (March 1st 1692) was when the Salem witch trials began, with Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba being interrogated before jailed.

Actress Elizabeth Montgomery (TV actress from "Bewitched") was a distant cousin of George Burroughs, the only minister executed during the Salem Witch Trials.

During the Salem Witch Trials that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693, 165 people were accused of being witches. 19 of the accused witches were executed.

The Wurzburg Witch Trial that occurred between 1626 and 1631 resulted in the deaths of 157 women, men, and children that had been accused of being witches. These people were burned at the stake which was a common method to kill witches.

There is an almost two-centuries-old monument in Dunning, Scotland honoring the victims of Scottish witch trials that is specifically dedicated to a woman—Maggie Wall—who records say never existed. The monument says she died in 1657 but there’s no record of the monument existing until 1866.

The accused at the Salem witch trials were not burned at the stake; about 15 died in prison, 19 were hanged and one was pressed to death.

One of the primary accusers in the Salem Witch Trials publicly apologized 14 years later and blamed Satan. The remaining Survivors and families of the victims accept her apology and reconciled with her.

The Salem Witch Trials were probably caused by everyone being high on hallucinogenic mold...

The church burned children of 3 and 4 alive at the stake in the Würzburg Witch Trials because they were said to have had intercourse with the Devil.

Benjamin Franklin's aunt was an accuser in the Salem Witch Trials, with her testimony contributing to the execution of accused witch Martha Corey

In 1692, an impoverished widow and mother of 8 named Susannah Martin fell victim to the Salem Witch Trials and was hanged. Her great-great-great-great Grandson would become the 21st President of the US, Chester A. Arthur.

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