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Salem Witch Trials
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The Salem Witch Trials were among the last outbreaks of persecution for accused witches, but it was ... one of the darkest times in American history. The episode began when a few young girls were caught playing with a crystal ball. In an attempt to escape punishment, they claimed to have been bothered by a witch. With almost an insane fervor, authorities—acting rashly—proceeded to seek out and punish the witch responsible for tormenting the girls.
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The Salem Witch Trials, which occurred between May and October of 1692, were among the last outbreaks of the persecution of accused witches - and it was ... one of the darkest times in the American history of religious tolerance. It has, over time, assumed almost mythic dimensions, coming to symbolize any systematic persecution of despised or marginalized people in society.
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The Salem Witch Trials began in February of 1692, when several adult members of Salem Village accused three women of witchcraft. The women were Tituba, who served in the household of the Reverend Samuel Parris, along with Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. The women were accused of causing illness in several children of the village, and they were sent to prison in Boston after being examined. The Salem Witch Trials might have ended here, as many accusations of witchcraft in the colonies did, but Salem Village was caught up in a witch hunting fever which continued unabated for over a year.
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The Salem Witch Trials, which began in 1692 (... known as the Salem witch hunt and the Salem witchcraft episode), resulted in a number of convictions and executions for witchcraft in both Salem Village and Salem Town, Massachusetts. It was the result of a period of factional infighting and Puritan witch hysteria which led to the death of 20 people (14 women, 6 men) and the imprisonment of scores more.
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In the tradition of Arthur Miller's McCarthy-era play The Crucible, this two-part TV dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials was heavily influenced by the present-day political scene. Rev. Parris (Henry Czerny), spiritual leader of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, needs a unifying issue to end the intramural squabbling between the town's Puritans. When the daughters of Ann and Thomas Putnam (Kirstie Alley and Jay O. Sanders) begin behaving in a bizarre, disruptive fashion, Parris knows that he has found something that can be transformed into a target of unilateral hatred for his flock. Before long, the Putnam girls and the family's servant Titubea (Gloria Reuben) have been labeled as witches, and eventually the hysteria spreads throughout the town, with anyone who doesn't agree with the status quo running the risk of public ostracism, and ultimately, execution for witchcraft (the eventual fate of 20 unfortunates). The climax is devoted to the notorious witch trials, staged at the behest of the Massachusetts colony's politically ambitious deputy governor (Peter Ustinov). Shirley MacLaine makes a rare TV appearance as the ill-fated Rebecca Nurse.
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The Salem Witch trials were a lot of chaos and nonsense. Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams who “saw” the shape of a coffin on an egg yolk that they cracked over a crystal ball started the hysteria. After that, they started to act strangely. They went into fits and talked gibberish.
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Salem Witch Trials