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The children described, each one of them separately, seeing Sarah and the other women flying as specters through the night. The children, despite the threats they must have received from the women, they were brave and told the truth about what had happened. Other townspeople came forward with evidence I hadn't even heard of -- milk and cheese going rotten after a visit from one of the witches; animals tended by the women had deformed offspring;
As the trial went on, I was more and more convinced that poor Sarah had, in her desperation, turned to dark powers bigger than us all. It would have been easier if she would have confessed and plead on the mercy of Mr. Parris and his friends. I had seen what those poor young girls had suffered at these women's doing -- convulsions, fits, babbling, seeing into the evil spirit world -- and I knew that it had to stop. I was afraid for my own children, and the power of my past friendship was not enough to overrule my concern for the children and people of our town. When the verdit was declared, I was relieved and terribly saddened. Though I believed the evidence presented at the trial, it was heart-wrenching to think of what my friend had done.
I have been praying for Sarah's soul since her hanging. It is my greatest hope that Satan has released his hold on her and that she is able to rest in peace. Despite my agreement with the elders, and despite my relief at having Sarah and her companion witches away from our town and my children, I do not wish for her to live in eternal...
Was her life here on earth not torment enough? We have suffered enough death and destruction in this town, with the Indian war raging a mere day's ride from my very own home. I cannot believe that she would have willingly brought more to us. What must Satan have promised her to convince her to turn to his side? It surprised no one that she uttered a final curse at the moment of her execution. Good called out from the scaffolding, "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." If anyone had any doubts about her powers, they were put aside when poor Mr. Noyes, the man she had cursed, died from being taken over through the mouth by blood. Even if I had found all of the past proof unconvincing, I believe this alone would have been enough to sway me into accepting the terrible truth. What more evidence is required of the power of Satan unleashed than the power to kill a man merely through a curse, through calling on the power of evil to do your bidding. It was a terrible end to this entire circumstance. Sarah Good gave herself over to evil, but I will continue to pray for her to find some sort of peace in her eternal rest.
REFERENCES
"The Examination of Sarah Good, March 1, 1692." Salem Trials. Web. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASA_GOOX.HTM. Retrieved on March 18, 2010
"Sarah Good." Salem Trials. Web. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_BGOO.HTM. Retrieved on March 17, 2010.
REFERENCES
"The Examination of Sarah Good, March 1, 1692." Salem Trials. Web. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASA_GOOX.HTM. Retrieved on March 18, 2010
"Sarah Good." Salem Trials. Web. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_BGOO.HTM. Retrieved on March 17, 2010.
In this sense, the only category of convicts which were burned to death was that of the so-called "satanic Blacks" as this was considered to be the only way of destroying their 'evilness.' In Puritan New England ideology, Blacks were associated with Satan. This belief was the remnant of an old European image of Satan as a black man which dated back to long before the contact between Africans
Salem Witch Trials The event of Salem witch trials happened in the year 1692 in the Suffolk and Middlesex counties of Massachusetts. The case was highlighted due to property disagreements, hysteria and jealousy. All because of personal vendettas, a dozen or more people were hanged even though there was no evidence but only stories and assumptions by the town's women and girls. The case was stretched for more than a year
And their could be other, more personal reasons for the accusations. For instance, John Westgate's testimony includes a tale of how Mary Parker came to a tavern and chastised her husband for drinking. When John Westgate called her unseemly for coming to the tavern, as he himself testified, "she came up to me and called me rogue and bid me mind my owne busines…." Late 17th century men were not
As the Puritan leadership took the stand that their decisions were made directly from the scripture (indeed there was an absolute marriage of Church and State within these communities) any challenge to their processes (such as a newcomer objecting to the financial controls placed upon them) could be then perceived as evidence of a person who is not in alignment with God. Newcomers were more likely to propose challenges
Salem Witch Trials In the months of June to September 1692, nineteen men and women were hung near Salem Village, Massachusetts, for the crime of witchcraft. One man, Giles Corey, close to eighty years of age at the time of the accusations, was crushed to death under heavy stones for refusing to be tried. Hundreds of other people also faced accusations of witchcraft, and a large proportion of the accused
Law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM)." Tibuta immediately became suspect as being a witch and making the young girls become witches. Arrest warrants for her and two other village women were soon issued as the illness spread among more young girls. And the Salem Witch Trial hysteria was underway. CAUSES The of the trials was based in hysteria. People did not understand what was wrong with the young girls who initially became ill and they became fearful as