Nathaniel Hawthone’s great-great-great-grandfather, William Hathorne, emigrated from England to the New World in 1630(Hawthorne in Salem). William Hathorne was a Puritan. Wikipedia p.2 Hathorne settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and approximately six years later moved to Salem. Id. He gained stature in the community by fighting with the Indians(Hawthorne in Salem). During his life held many important positions including a judge. Wikipedia p.2. He was known for severe punishments, including public whippings. Nathanial Hawthorne described his great-great-great-grandfather as a “bitter persecutor of Quaker.” (Hawthorne in Salem). He had a son named John Hathorne. Id. John grew up learning how to be a judge under his dads teaching. John Hathorne presided over the Salem witch trials. Wikipedia p.2
In 17th century, peopled believed that Satan existed and was actively working against Christianity(The Salem Witch Trials p. 16). We know today from reading Genesis that Satin and his demons are actually on this earth. Starting in the late 13th and 14th centuries people started getting accused and persecuted for practicing witchcraft(Id. at p. 16). When the Puritans settled in Salem, so did their believes and laws(Witches and Witch-hunts p. 70). Puritan law required death for anyone working with the Devil. (Witches and Witch-hunts. P. 70). Men and women in Salem believed that all the hardships were credited to the work of the devil(The Salem Witch Trials P. 28). For example, when it failed to rain enough for the crops to grow, people thought that someone was practicing witchcraft.
The Salem witch trials were a series of trials against people who were accused of witchcraft. Even though, they were called the Salem witch trials the trials they occurred other areas around Massachusetts and Connecticut(Witches and Witch-hunts p. 71).
The Salem witch trials all started with two young girls(The Salem Witch Trials p. 27). Nine year old Betty Parris and her 11 year old cousin, Abigail Williams began to make Venus Glass(By Faith Alone. P. 167). Venus Glass was the process of putting an egg white in a glass of water and holding it up to the sunlight to see something about their future husbands(Id). Betty and Abigail doing this one day and in their Venus Glass they saw a coffin(The Salem Witch-Trials. P. 27). Shortly thereafter, they began to have outbursts similar to epileptic fits and screaming chaotic and confused words(Id. p.28). The local doctors could not find anything wrong with the girls and diagnosed them with being with the Devil(Id). The strange behavior started to spread. So the whole town thought it was witchcraft and started accusing people. The first people to get accused were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba(Id. 32). Tituba testified as to many strange things including riding in the air on a stick(Witches and Witch-hunts p. 74). She was jailed but not killed. (Id). There was a huge rivalry between the Putnam and Porter families. The whole town would have debates on the two family’s and would end up in a all out fight.
Sarah Good was a pregnant, homeless beggar(The Salem Witch-Trials p.12, 32). She was accused because she had been mean to kids instead of leading them towards Christ. She was jailed along with her four year old daughter, Dorcas Good(Id). Dorcase was imprisioned for no reason for eighteen months(Id). Sarah Osborne was accused because she rarely attended church and the town thought that she was a self-centered person. She also got married and then left her husband. Tituba was a slave(Id). 31She was accussed of telling young girls stories about other witchcraft and stories about the devil(Id). All of the women fit the description of people that preform witchcraft. Martha Corey, Dorothy Good and Rebecca Nurse all got accused(Id. 37). The towns people got scared after that because they all went to church and were nice people(Witch and witch-hunts p. 76). So now they thought if those people could be witches then anyone could be a witch. So they just started accusing everyone and all the accusations just keep poring in. People like John Proctor, Giles Corey, and reverend George Burroughs all got accused(Id. 76). Evidence was lacking in these trials, they just pressured people to admit they practiced witchcraft. When they went to trial to see if they were witches or not they preformed all of these test but the biggest one was if you said that you had been practicing witchcraft then you would not be killed. If you denied that you have been practicing witchcraft then they would hang you.
There were over fifty people accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials(The Salem Witch Trial p. 62). There was at least twenty people killed during the trails but there could have been up to forty people killed. Nineteen people were hung, one person was pressed to death when he would not pledge guilty or not guilty, and then up to thirteen people could have died in jail.