"The Trial of George Jacobs, August 5, 1692." By T. H. Matteson, 1855.
Oil painting. © Peabody and Essex Museum

THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION

The first European settlement in present-day Danvers, Massachusetts, was called 
Salem Village. This village was established in the late 1630s when a group of 
farmers moved 5 miles from Salem Town to the area now known as "Danvers 
Highlands." The inhabitants remained legally part of Salem, though from the 
1660s they began petitioning for independence. By 1672 Salem Village became a 
separate parish at which time they built a meeting house and hired their own 
minister. In 1689 the village established a covenant church with Rev. Samuel 
Parris as their new minister. 

In early 1692, Rev. Parris's 9-year-old daughter Elizabeth, 12-year-old niece 
Abigail Williams, as well as other neighborhood girls began to fall into horrid 
fits. Their parents tried to discover what was causing their distress, and 
village doctor William Griggs gave his opinion that the girls were the victims 
of witchcraft. Put upon to tell who was causing their afflictions, the girls 
finally accused three village women, and warrants were sworn out for the arrest 
of Sarah Osburn, Sarah Good and Parris's slave, Tituba. 

On March 1, 1692, magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin conducted an 
examination at the Meeting House. Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn were separately 
examined and as they answered the questions put to them, the "afflicted" girls 
went into horrific fits. To all present, the girls were obviously victims of 
these women's witchcraft. Though the two protested their own innocence, Tituba 
unraveled a confession of meeting with the devil and stating there were still 
other witches in the neighborhood. This evidence was sufficient for the 
magistrates, and the three women were jailed. The girls' afflictions did not 
abate, however, and still more villagers became "afflicted." 

Soon more accusations were made, and by the end of March Church members Martha 
Cory and Rebecca Nurse were also arrested, examined and jailed. No longer were 
just the lowly being accused, but people formerly in good standing in the 
community. By May, scores of "witches," both men and women, had been examined 
in Salem Village, and jails were being filled with up to 150 accused persons 
from many towns including Salem, Topsfield and Andover. Dozens of people under 
excruciating religious, civil and family pressures found themselves confessing 
to being witches. 

In May, Governor William Phips called a special court to try the cases of 
those accused witches who had not confessed. Convening in Salem in June 1692, 
the court quickly condemned Bridget Bishop to death. During July, August, and
September, 18 people, including Nurse, Good and Cory were hanged. In addition, 
one man, Giles Cory of Salem Farms, died under torture. At least 5 others 
including Sarah Osburn died in jail. By the new year the colony was becoming 
exhausted with the witchcraft frenzy, and learned persons were speaking 
against the validity of "spectral evidence" being used in court. When the 
trials resumed, this former evidence was disallowed and proof was insufficient 
to condemn any other accused. The witch horror was over. Of the 19 people who 
were executed during this tragic yet heroic period, 12 came from the Salem 
Village area, dying rather than confessing to what they had not done. 

In 1752 Danvers was officially established as a township separate from Salem. 
The 1692 Salem Village witchcraft hysteria was a chilling era of our history. 
Yet its lessons have meaning for us today in that each generation must 
confront its share of intolerance and "witch hunts" with integrity, clear 
vision and bravery.