you know what's disturbing about the Salem witch trials quite a lot they started in the spring of 1692 in Salem Massachusetts after two girls accused women of being witches fear paranoia and hysteria snowballed into a societal nightmare many were brought before judges and sentenced to death with little to no evidence against them except for the baseless testimony of others needless to say things got out of hand destroying lives breaking apart families and thrusting their little village into disarray I'm Mike with lose 25 and from what caused the Salem witch trials to how they ended here are 25 disturbing facts about the Salem witch trials 25 confession under English law the trials at Salem didn't work the way we think of trials today with lawyers and strict rules about evidence often these trials would be heavily weighed against the accused and as such many saw the writing on the wall and confessed surprisingly those who confess to witchcraft weren't executed but the others who refused were 24 small pox right before the witch trials took place a smallpox outbreak spread through the town of Salem this only added to the brewing hysteria eventually Reverend Cotton Mather accused Martha Kerry of starting it through witchcraft calling her a rampant hag and queen of hell though historical documents show she was merely independent minded and none submissive 23 Abigail Williams and Betty Parris the brutal trials all started because of these two girls the historical records states they began having terrible fits and would claim to see invisible spirits when she was examined by the doctor and he claimed she was bewitched the trials began and little Williams started accusing many people including Tituba Sarah Goode and Sarah Osborne 22 swimming test during the trials many tests were created to determine if someone was a witch or not in this case an accused person would have their finger tied to the opposite toe and lowered into a body of water if they floated they were a witch but if they sank well then they weren't the danger of course was drowning if they left the suspect in the water too long 21 witch cakes another test involved creating a basic cake out of rye flour and the cursed persons a urine they'd feed the cake to a dog and if the dog show the same symptoms then witchcraft was proven at that point the dog would reveal the witch why a dog apparently they believe dogs had a close association with the devil 20 touch tests with this test it was believed while the inflicted person was having a fit if the witch touched them the fit would stop so they'd have the accused touch those having fits to see if to fit some stop as you might suspect once the accused touched those inflicted the fits would stop and then they'd point to the accused and call them a witch 19 witchcraft act these trials were mostly supported by a law passed by the United Kingdom's Parliament in 1542 called the witchcraft act out long witchcraft and making it punishable by death for hundreds of years more witchcraft laws would be written eighteen dog execution sadly animals were not excused from the trials like I said before dogs were suspect of potentially being linked with the devil or being the devil himself in one case a girl accused a neighbor's dog of bewitching her the villagers executed the dog with a firearm but their priest Cotton Mather claimed the animal wasn't the devil because the devil wouldn't have died 17 pressed to death the way they executed people during the trials was quite unusual in one case highly successful farmer Giles Corey was accused by three women of witchcraft when convicted the villagers put him on his back placed a wooden board on him and the gradually placed heavy stones on top crushing him to death this form of execution is called pressing Corey's last words were more weight 16 torture torture to get a confession was also a common practice during the trials usually it would lead to bizarre and fanatical confessions in one case while a slave named Tituba was being severely beaten she cried out the devil came to me and bid me serve him afterwards she talked about black dogs red cats and yellow birds plus a white haired man that made her sign the devil's book 15 rampant accusations of course I've already discussed the first two girls who made accusations of witchcraft this was merely the beginning after a while many accused others of witchcraft some took advantage of the hysteria to get back at rival families while others honestly bought into it records show a total of 200 people were accused and of those 140 to 150 were arrested 14 forget poisoning one theory about what caused the trials is that many in the village suffered from argot poisoning arrghh 'it is a fungus that affects rye grain in warm and damp Springs and summers something very common in Salem the symptoms of the poisoning are similar to what was described including spasms Fitts hallucinations delusions and vomiting 13 land and homes removed while torture and execution are certainly two of the scariest parts of the Salem witch trials another act was just as terrifying for many people land removal many of the accused were landowners and in some cases rather than killing them the local government would take away their land in heavily agrarian society not having land essentially thrust you into extreme poverty twelve door-to-door witch hunters eventually rather than accusations made by others the trials spawned real-life witch hunters going door to door and asking people to rat out their neighbors naturally this only added fuel to the fire scurrying many people and causing them to accuse others of witchcraft as well 11 the devil's mark a common source of evidence against the accused was the devil's mark it was believed the devil would make a pact with a witch by leaving a mark on their skin some believe these may have been lesions from a disease or a birthmark 10 mass hysteria back then it's doubtful many of the villagers in the Salem understood what was really happening they were all suffering from mass hysteria a social and psychological problem common in malnourished poor and stressed environments sadly the hysteria and Salem only snowballed and lasted for a while rather than fizzling out after a short time resulting in many casualties 9 Martha Corey not everyone bought into the validity of the trials for example this woman often spoke up against the examinations and tried to convince others to stop going to them unfortunately for her this put a target on her back then many pointed at her as a witch thinking she was obstructing the trials oddly enough when she stood trial for being a witch even her husband testified against her who was her husband Giles Corey the man who later was also accused of being a witch and pressed to death 8 governor's wife the governor of Salem what the trials continued for a full year until he caught wind that his own wife was accused of being a witch after that he put a swift end to the trials 7 gallows Hill and burials the place many of the accused were hung and executed is called gallows Hill for years many speculated on its location it wasn't confirmed to be a Proctor's legend till 2016 however even more mysteriously no one knows where many of the accused were buried since they weren't allowed a Christian burial six George Jacobs curiously another form of evidence brought forward by accusers was spectral evidence that's right a testimony of people claiming witches appeared to them in spirit or ghost form in George Jacobs case all the witnesses claimed he appeared to them as a ghost and beat them with a cane another story claimed Jacobs led a man to the water and tried to drown in there despite no concrete evidence Jacobs was found guilty and executed five if switch jail with so many people being accused of witchcraft authorities had to put them somewhere so many were placed in the local if switch jail which as you can imagine became very crowded fast the conditions were awful the prisoners were forced to do labor and if they couldn't afford meals they were only given bread and water they were also kept in total isolation up until they eventually were executed for George burrows during the trials pretty much no one was immune to the accusations of witchcraft even ministers this became especially true for George burrows the first and only minister during the trials to be accused of witchcraft he was sentenced to death and because of the heat wave was buried quickly in a shallow grave with his chin and foot still sticking out of the ground three burned at the stake while popular myth points to burning witches of the stake no one was executed this way during the Salem witch trials though some were burned at the stake in Europe hanging was the popular mode of execution in North America - one of many while the Salem witch trials are the most infamous in North American history they weren't an isolated incident other witch trials took place in America at the time and the practice was ramping Europe before and after one total casualties in total twenty people were executed due to the trials 19 of those people were hanged at gallows Hill and one child's Corey was pressed to death four other people died in prison while waiting for trial the other hundreds of accused were pardoned found not guilty never indicted evaded arrest or escaped from jail so have you ever been to Salem let us know in the comments below or tweet your answer to us at least twenty five enjoying our lists be sure to click that subscribe button on the bottom right and the notification bell so you don't miss out on new ones every Monday through Friday share them with friends and help us consistently conciliate curiosity and if you want even more lists check out these videos here or just head to our website at lists 25 calm [Music]