Soon a wave of witchcraft allegations throughout the year swept up more than 200 accused witches, including at least one child. The girls blamed their odd behavior on three women considered social outcasts, including Tituba, a slave, whose confession may have been coerced. Sheer vindictiveness is now considered a plausible explanation as well. вЂњMany modern theories suggest the girls were suffering from epilepsy, boredom, child abuse, mental illness, or even a disease brought on by eating rye infected with fungus,вЂќ according to The History of Massachusetts blog. The chilling mayhem unfolded during the winter of 1692 in Salem Village, now the town of Danvers, Massachusetts, when three girls allegedly having strange visions and fits were вЂњdiagnosedвЂќ with bewitchment by a doctor. The Salem Witch Trials occurred just as EuropeвЂ™s вЂњwitchcraft crazeвЂ™вЂ™ from the 14th to 17th centuries was winding down, where an estimatedВ tens of thousands of European witches, mostly women, were executed. And a court that accepted accusations so flimsy they would seem laughable today if they werenвЂ™t so horrifyingly unjustвЂ¦ Accusations Spread So much of the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials comes down to the failure of the court and the laws during that time: Laws that made such things as visions, dreams, and even the testimony of spirits permissible evidence. Dozens suffered under inhumane conditions as they waited in jail for months without trials many of the imprisoned were also tortured, and at least one died in jail before the hysteria abated in 1693. One man was pressed to death under heavy stones, the only such state-sanctioned execution of its kind. Twenty of those people were executed, most by hanging.

But it wasnвЂ™t until legal failings, mass paranoia, and Puritan religious and societal rules converged against a backdrop of economic and political uncertainty that the most horrifying witch-hunt against innocent people occurred in Colonial Massachusetts.Дuring the Salem WitchВ TrialsВ of 1692, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft.

More than 300 years ago, it was a felony to practice witchcraft in the American colonies, defined by English law as acting with magical powers bestowed by the Devil. But those frivolous and fanciful witches we know today-cackling in black garb and pointy hats with broomstick in hand-have evolved a great deal over the past several centuries. In fact, witches are the most popular adult Halloween costumeВ year after year. To understand and commemorate this dark period in our countryвЂ™s legal history, weвЂ™re looking back at the court proceedings andВ laws during the Salem Witch Trials and their impact on the American legal system.ДЇrom Hocus Pocus to The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, itвЂ™s clear that people love witches. The most horrific part? The Salem Witch Trials happened under the auspices of вЂњthe law.вЂќ More than 300 years ago, twenty people were put to death for the вЂњcrimeвЂќ of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.

Salem witch trials