Short answer
The Salem witch trials of 1692 to 1693 in colonial Massachusetts had no single cause. Historians point to a combination of widespread belief in witchcraft and the Devil, fear and instability on the frontier, long-running local rivalries, a legal system that accepted weak forms of evidence, and the accusations of a few young people whose illness was blamed on witchcraft. The people accused were ordinary colonists, not practitioners of a witchcraft religion.
Background
The colonists of Massachusetts were largely Puritan and took the reality of the Devil and of witchcraft seriously, as did most Europeans of the time. Witchcraft was a crime in law. Earlier witchcraft cases had occurred in New England, and some had ended in executions.
The 1690s were also tense. Colonists in the region had been affected by conflicts with neighboring Native American groups and French forces, which left refugees and anxiety in places like Salem. The colony was also without a settled charter for some years, and a new one arrived in 1692.
Timeline
- Early 1692: Betty Parris (the daughter of Salem Village minister Samuel Parris) and her cousin Abigail Williams, along with other girls, began showing fits and strange behavior. A doctor is reported to have suggested a supernatural cause.
- February to March 1692: Accusations were made against Tituba, an enslaved woman in the Parris household, along with Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. Examinations followed.
- May 1692: The new governor, William Phips, created a special court, the Court of Oyer and Terminer, to hear the cases.
- June 1692: Bridget Bishop was the first person convicted and hanged.
- Summer to September 1692: More trials and executions followed. In all, nineteen people were hanged. Giles Corey, who refused to enter a plea, died after being pressed with heavy stones. Several others died in jail.
- October 1692: Phips dissolved the special court after concerns grew, including from clergy such as Increase Mather, about the use of spectral evidence.
- 1693: A different court, the Superior Court of Judicature, handled remaining cases and acquitted or released most of the accused. Phips later pardoned the remaining prisoners.
More than 200 people were accused over the course of the episode. Figures given by different sources vary slightly, so it is best to treat exact counts with care.
Causes
- Belief in witchcraft. The idea that the Devil recruited human agents was mainstream.
- Spectral evidence. The court at first accepted testimony that a suspect’s “specter” had appeared to the afflicted, which was nearly impossible to refute.
- Local conflicts. Salem Village had disputes over its minister, church membership and land, and some accusations followed those fault lines.
- Social and gender factors. Many of the accused were women, often outsiders or people who had been in disputes, though men were also accused.
- Fear and contagion. Once the first accusations were made, accusations spread, and confessions, often given to avoid execution, appeared to confirm the problem.
Contested explanations
Other theories have been proposed, including ergot poisoning from contaminated rye, encephalitis, and mass psychogenic illness. Most historians do not consider ergot a convincing sole explanation, since the symptoms and the pattern of cases do not fit well. Social and religious explanations remain the most widely accepted, but the debate is not fully settled.
Aftermath
In the years after, the colony expressed regret. In 1697 Massachusetts held a day of fasting and repentance, and one of the judges, Samuel Sewall, publicly apologized. In 1711 the colony passed legislation restoring the names of some of the convicted and awarding compensation to families. Further exonerations followed centuries later, including the 2022 exoneration of Elizabeth Johnson Jr.
Lessons
Salem remains a cautionary example of how fear, weak evidence and social pressure can lead to injustice. It also illustrates the difference between witchcraft as an accusation and as a chosen practice, discussed in our overview of witchcraft. For what practicing witchcraft means today, see what it means if someone practices witchcraft.