The Trials

By Mollie Medine

April 2, 1692
Just last month, the witch trials began.

deep night. Another source admits to us that

They started with 9-year-old Betty Parris and

he followed the group to their meeting spot in

11-year-old Abigail Williams. Just two little

the woods and witnessed them sacrifice

cousins playing around the house, when their

unbaptized babies to the Evil One. Our

imaginations took off. They were acting

source got frightened and ran away when he

crazy, trying to fly, and making strange

saw one of the members of the group take a

noises. So the girls parents got a doctor to

bite out of an infant (Levack 923).

come see what was causing these innocent

In the town meeting on Friday, the

young girls to act so insane. The doctors

members voted that we will be taking more

diagnosis is something that none in the town

precaution and investigating any person

of Salem would ever like to hear; they are

whom we believe could be participating in

bewitched. When citizens of the town caught

such evil acts. So much as the word witch

word, the young girls started to point their

be

fingers at people in our community. This

consequences(Nadel 423).

used,

and

there

will

be

caused 20 people in town to loose their lives.

The truth in the matter is that there

Despite the rumors circulating around, 19 of

actually is none. Our little town let the

that 20 was hanged and one was crushed to

imagination and opinions of a few people

death while trying to extract a confession;

influence how we view and respect others.

however, no one was burned alive. Our

This is very wrong of us, especially with our

trending witch executions have spread to the

strong beliefs in Christianity. We judged

surrounding cities, and we have now

them, and decided their faith for them. God is

accumulated 1693 deaths (Goodheart 46).

the only one who should be judging our

We have reason to believe that we

people.

have executed most of the members of the

Witches follow the religion Wicca. It

nocturnal group, The Witches Sabbath.

is centered around mother nature, and they

Witnesses have noted that these witches

believe that higher powers can be found all

gather and perform promiscuous acts with

around us. Witches in our town also follow a

other witches and even demons during the

simple, straight forward creed: An it harm

none, do what thou wilt (Crum). This

philosophe means to treat others how we
would want to be treated. It could also mean
what goes around comes around, which is
karma. So basically, these witches have been
accused of so many horrible things when in
reality they are so much different than our
accusations. They are healers, and believe in
doing good for others. They do not believe in
personal gain from their gifts, only using
them to enhance the lives of those around
them.
We should be thankful for the lives of
the Wicca followers in our town. They bring
so much positivity and peace. Though we
have treated them like vicious animals, they
have still remained silent and in the shadows.
Most likely afraid when the next trials will
be.
A solution we can all strive for in our
small community is to start treating others
with the same respect and rights that we
would want to be treated. Take advice from
those we have executed.