In Massachusetts, 1692, a group of girls aged between 9-20 sat around
the fire listening to stories of a female slave, Tituba. Two of the girls became
hysterical. (Sometimes the girls experienced terrifying hallucinations, which
they claimed they were tormented by weird spectres that pinched and bit them;
often marks and bruises were found on the girl’s bodies. Terrors like these
left them temporarily unable to speak hear or see. A condition known as
hysteria). Shortly afterwards they were thought to have been bewitched.
Arrests
were made and a trial held. Of the 150 people accused, 19 people were hanged,
two crushed to death with stones and two died in prison.
The
trials went on until 1693, when local ministers stopped the craze. The execution
was the last for witchcraft in North America and also the end of witch trials in
Europe.
