The Witch Killing Frenzies Continued
When brought before local magistrates, Tituba confessed. That confirmed the suspicions of those who already believed, and squelched any skeptics. All three accused witches were jailed, and witch]hunting began in earnest.
Over the next four months, 200 people were jailed as witches. "Victims" of witchcraft, many of them young girls, cited "spectral evidence," claiming that the specters of witches attacked them and caused contortions. Accused witches were also checked for birthmarks, believed to be signs of the devil.
Most accused witches were not executed, but 19 people were hanged and one crushed to death by stones before the witchcraft fervor waned in Salem. Ironically, Cotton Mather's father and fellow minister, Increase Mather, was among those protesting the persecution of witches. As an increasing number of respectable, popular residents were accused, doubt that so many could be influenced by Satan also increased.
In October 1692, Governor William Phips suspended witchcraft]related arrests and dissolved the court that had tried accused witches. By the following spring, all accused witches were pardoned. Although it would take years for Salem society to fully recover, the era of witch trials in America was over.
We look back on past eras with a sense of superiority over their gullibility. Still, the power of witches and wizards is a theme in a good deal of contemporary fiction whether, adventure, comedy, fantasy or mystery in books and in film and on TV. Halloween is rivaling other big holidays in the amount of money spent on the paraphernalia bought to celebrate it.
So it seems that humanity is not entirely ready to rid itself of the possibility that some people may have or can obtain occult powers to be used by them for good or for evil.
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