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Beginning
The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. -
Rev Samuel Parris
By the end of May 1692, more than 150 “witches” had been jailed, and by September, 19 people had refused to confess and were hanged, and another had been pressed to death for refusing to make a plea. -
Ending
as the accusations of witchcraft extended to include his own wife, Governor Phips once again stepped in, ordering a halt to the proceedings of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. In their place he established a Superior Court of Judicature, which was instructed not to admit spectral evidence. -
John Proctor
When proctors wife was accused, he stood up for her and him and his whole bloodline were then accused of being witches. -
Abigail Williams
Abigail’s increasingly strange behaviour (described by at least one historian as juvenile deliquency) came to include fits. She accused 57 people and then after the Salem witch trials, Williams ran away from home.