T6 :Salem Witch trials

1)The Salem Witch Trials of 1692

In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village became ill. When they failed to improve, the village doctor, William Griggs, was called in. His diagnosis of bewitchment put into motion the forces that would ultimately result in the death by hanging of nineteen men and women. In addition, one man was crushed to death; seven others died in prison, and the lives of many were irrevocably changed.

Dr. William Griggs examines Betty Parris and declares  her possessed by the Devil.

To understand the events of the Salem witch trials, it is necessary to examine the times in which accusations of witchcraft occurred. There were the ordinary stresses of 17th-century life in Massachusetts Bay Colony. A strong belief in the devil, factions among Salem Village fanatics and rivalry with nearby Salem Town, a recent small pox epidemic and the threat of attack by warring tribes created a fertile ground for fear and suspicion. Soon prisons were filled with more than 150 men and women from towns surrounding Salem. Their names had been "cried out" by tormented young girls as the cause of their pain. All would await trial for a crime punishable by death in 17th-century New England, the practice of witchcraft.

Trial of Rebecca Nurse

In June of 1692, the special Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) sat in Salem to hear the cases of witchcraft. Presided over by Chief Justice William Stoughton, the court was made up of magistrates and jurors. The first to be tried was Bridget Bishop of Salem who was found guilty and was hanged on June 10. Thirteen women and five men from all stations of life followed her to the gallows on three successive hanging days before the court was disbanded by Governor William Phipps in October of that year. The Superior Court of Judicature, formed to replace the "witchcraft" court, did not allow spectral evidence. This belief in the power of the accused to use their invisible shapes or spectres to torture their victims had sealed the fates of those tried by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. The new court released those awaiting trial and pardoned those awaiting execution. In effect, the Salem witch trials were over.

The parallels between the Salem witch trials and more modern examples of "witch hunting" like the McCarthy hearings of the 1950's, are remarkable. http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/education/index.shtml 2) http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials     In January 1692, 9-year-old Elizabeth (Betty) Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams (the daughter and niece of Samuel Parris, minister of Salem Village) began having fits, including violent contortions and uncontrollable outbursts of screaming. After a local doctor, William Griggs, diagnosed bewitchment, other young girls in the community began to exhibit similar symptoms, including Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott and Mary Warren. In late February, arrest warrants were issued for the Parris' Caribbean slave, Tituba, along with two other women--the homeless beggar Sarah Good and the poor, elderly Sarah Osborn--whom the girls accused of bewitching them. Salem Witch Trials: The Hysteria Spreads .The three accused witches were brought before the magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne and questioned, even as their accusers appeared in the courtroom in a grand display of spasms, contortions, screaming and writhing. Though Good and Osborn denied their guilt, Tituba confessed. Likely seeking to save herself from certain conviction by acting as an informer, she claimed there were other witches acting alongside her in service of the devil against the Puritans. (...) Salem Witch Trials: Conclusion and Legacy .Though the respected minister Cotton Mather had warned of the dubious value of spectral evidence (or testimony about dreams and visions), his concerns went largely ignored during the Salem witch trials. Increase Mather, president of Harvard College (and Cotton's father) later joined his son in urging that the standards of evidence for witchcraft must be equal to those for any other crime .(...) The vivid and painful legacy of the Salem witch trials endured well into the 20th century, when Arthur Miller dramatized the events of 1692 in his play "The Crucible" (1953), using them as an allegory for the anti-Communist "witch hunts" led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. Did You Know? In an effort to explain by scientific means the strange afflictions suffered by those "bewitched" Salem residents in 1692, a study published in Science magazine in 1976 cited the fungus ergot (found in rye, wheat and other cereals), which toxicologists say can cause symptoms such as delusions, vomiting and muscle spasms. Read the texts above and watch the videos on the following link to be able to answer the following questions on the Salem Witch Trials: http://salemwitchmuseum.com/videos/ a-What led to the Salem Witch Trials? (Historical reasons/religious reasons/ specific event ). Name the historical figures that we saw on the film "the Crucible". How can the girls' "illnesses" be accounted for/explained ? b-What type of people were accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials? c-Were only women accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials? How many persons were convicted ? How many died ? d-How were people accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials?  e-How did the Salem Witch Court decide who was a witch?Explain what is "spectral evidence" . f-What happened to people convicted of witchcraft at the Salem Witch Trials? (Give two different "sentences" to death) g-How did the Salem Witch Trials end? h-What is a now called a " witch hunt "? Name a more recent historical period in the American History. WORDS: Find in the texts above the equivalent for: Text 1 Un procès :                        Passer en jugement :                  Etre déclaré  coupable : Une preuve :                      Etre libéré : Etre ensorcelé:                   Enchantement : Proche : Etre écrasé, broyé : La variole : Etre en guerre : Etre rempli : La potence/le gibet : Une forme (spectrale): Le destin/sort : Text 2 Un accès de/éruption : Montrer : un mendiant : Délivrer un  mandat : démonstration, étalage: Se tordre/contorsionner en tous sens: Condamnation: Un délateur/dénonciateur : Douteux/discutable : Inquiétudes : Héritage : perdurer :