In January 1692, a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts became consumed by disturbing “fits” accompanied by seizures, violent contortions and bloodcurdling screams. A doctor diagnosed the children as being victims of black magic, and over the next several months, allegations of witchcraft spread like a virus through the small Puritan settlement. Twenty people were eventually executed as witches, but contrary to popular belief, none of the condemned was burned at the stake.
In accordance with English law, 19 of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials were instead taken to the infamous Gallows Hill to die by hanging. The elderly Giles Corey, meanwhile, was pressed to death with heavy stones after he refused to enter an innocent or guilty plea. Still more accused sorcerers died in jail while awaiting trial.
The myth of burnings at the stake in Salem is most likely inspired by European witch trials, where execution by fire was a disturbingly common practice. Medieval law codes such as the Holy Roman Empire’s “Constitutio Criminalis Carolina” stipulated that malevolent witchcraft should be punished by fire, and church leaders and local governments oversaw the burning of witches across parts of modern day Germany, Italy, Scotland, France and Scandinavia.
Historians have since estimated that the witch-hunt hysteria that peaked between the 15th and 18th centuries saw some 50,000 people executed as witches in Europe. Many of these victims were hanged or beheaded first, but their bodies were typically incinerated afterwards to protect against postmortem sorcery. Other condemned witches were still alive when they faced the flames, and were left to endure an excruciating death by burning and inhalation of toxic fumes.
Timeline: Salem Witch Trials
Reverend Samuel Parris’ 9-year-old daughter Betty and his 11-year-old niece, Abigail Williams, begin exhibiting strange symptoms in Salem, Massachusetts. These symptoms reportedly include convulsions, seizures and barking like a dog. More
A doctor examines Betty and Abigail. He concludes someone has bewitched them. Two other girls, 12-year-old Ann Putnam Jr. and 17-year-old Elizabeth Hubbard, begin experiencing similar symptoms. The girls accuse three adult women of bewitching them: Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, a Native American woman enslaved in Reverend Parris’ house. More
On March 1, magistrates interrogate Good, Osborne and Tituba. Under pressure, Tituba confesses to practicing witchcraft and implicates Good and Osborne (she later recants). More girls and women begin to experience symptoms, and accuse other women of witchcraft. More
After arresting Elizabeth Proctor for witchcraft, authorities arrest her husband, too. John Proctor is an outspoken critic of the Salem witch hunt and the first man to be arrested for witchcraft in Salem. More
On May 10, Sarah Osborne dies in jail in Boston, becoming the first causality in the Salem witch hunt. So far, none of the accused has actually stood trial for witchcraft. On May 27, the governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay approves the creation of a special court to conduct the trials.
The first Salem witch trial takes place on June 2, and finds Bridget Bishop guilty of witchcraft. On June 10, she becomes the first person to be hanged in the infamous witch trials. In July and August, authorities hang 10 more people, including Sarah Good and John Proctor. More
In September, authorities kill 71-year-old Giles Corey for refusing to recognize the special court’s authority by pressing him to death with stones, and hang eight more people for witchcraft. By this point, public opinion is turning against the trials. The governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay dissolves the court in October.
After spending over a year in jail, Tituba—one of the first people accused in the Salem witch hunts—finally goes to trial on May 9, 1693. The jury does not indict her, and she is released. After that, we don’t know what happens to Tituba: She disappears from the historical record.
