The Salem Witch Trials accusers were a group of people who accused the Salem Witch Trials victims of witchcraft in 1692. The main accusers were a group of girls and young women from Salem Village who are often referred to as the “afflicted girls” because they claimed that witches were…| History of Massachusetts Blog
Reverend John Hale was a minister from Beverly, Massachusetts, best known for his role in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Born in Charlestown in 1636 to local blacksmith Robert Hale, as a child Hale witnessed Massachusetts' first execution of a convicted witch, in 1648, with the hanging of Margaret…| History of Massachusetts Blog
Captain John Alden Jr, the son of Mayflower pilgrim John Alden, was a merchant from Boston who was accused of witchcraft by a local child during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Alden had stopped at Salem in May on his way home from Quebec, where he had arranged the…| History of Massachusetts Blog
Rebecca Nurse was a 71-year-old grandmother and wife of a local artisan when she was accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Nurse was also the sister of accused witches Mary Easty and Sarah Cloyce and the daughter of suspected witch Joanna Blessing Towne. Born in Yarmouth, England in…| History of Massachusetts Blog
Tituba was a slave who worked for Samuel Parris during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The various documents and books about the Salem Witch Trials over the years often refer to Tituba as Black or mixed race, but the actual court documents from her trial refer to her as…| History of Massachusetts Blog
Salem Village was a farming community on the northern edge of Salem Town during the 17th century. It is famous for being the place where the Salem Witch Trials first began in 1692. The village is now a historic district within the town of Danvers, Massachusetts. The area was originally…| History of Massachusetts Blog
Reverend Samuel Parris was the minister at Salem Village during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Samuel Parris was born in London, England, in 1653. In the late 1650s, his father, Thomas Parris, moved his entire family to a sugar plantation that he had purchased in Barbados. Samuel Parris' Early…| History of Massachusetts Blog
George Burroughs was a minister who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. George Burroughs Childhood and Early Life: Burroughs was born in Suffolk, England in 1652 and migrated to the settlement of Roxbury in the Massachusetts Bay Colony with his mother when he was a…| History of Massachusetts Blog
Elizabeth “Betty” Parris was the first afflicted girl and one of the main accusers during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Born in Boston on November 28, 1682, Betty moved to Salem with her family and slave Tituba in November of 1689 when her father, Samuel Parris, was appointed the…| History of Massachusetts Blog
The Salem Village meetinghouse was located near the corner of Hobart and Forest Streets in Danvers, Massachusetts. Originally built in 1672, the meetinghouse served as a place of worship and a general gathering place for civil and military matters. The land for the meetinghouse was donated by Joseph Hutchinson, who…| History of Massachusetts Blog
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were killed during the hysteria. Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating. The following are some facts…| History of Massachusetts Blog
Wilmot Redd (also known as Wilmot Read and Wilmot Reed) was a woman from Marblehead who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Redd was the only person from Marblehead who was tried in the Salem Witch Trials. Wilmot Redd was married to a fisherman named Samuel Redd…| History of Massachusetts Blog
The Salem Village Parsonage archaeological site is the location of the Salem Village parsonage during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. The parsonage is where Reverend Samuel Parris, his wife Elizabeth Parris, their three children, including daughter Betty Parris, their niece Abigail Williams and their slaves, Tituba and John Indian,…| History of Massachusetts Blog