for Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams life in 17th century Salem was strict as daughter and niece of the Reverend Parris they were not allowed to have games or toys such play was a sign of idleness when they should be concentrating on chores and Bible verses but unbeknownst to the Reverend Betty Abigail and other girls were spending evenings by the kitchen fire with Paris's Caribbean slave to Cuba Tituba would entertain them with magic fortune-telling and stories from her native island of Barbados such activities were strictly forbidden by Puritan : in January Betty and Abigail began to exhibit strange behavior screaming pushing and rolling on the floor the village doctor was certain that the girls were the victims of witchcraft the first public display of their affliction came the last Sunday in January as her father read from the pulpit Betty Parris screamed and fell into a fist other girls including 12-year old and Putnam followed one barked like a dog another flat her arms like a bird others riot as if being choked frightened by the hysteria the townspeople begged the girls to identify their wicked tormentors with pressure mounting the girls finally cried out three names to Cuba Sarah Goode and Sarah Osborne a slave a homeless beggar and a sickly old woman who had married her servant three social outcasts who were despised and distrusted by the townspeople when the three accused witches appeared before the magistrates Osbourne and good maintained their innocence but Tituba perhaps frightened after being beaten by Reverend Parris confessed and claimed there were other witches in Salem her admission of witchcraft sparked a wave of paranoia and accusations the girls began to point fingers at other townspeople they claimed that spirits of the alleged witches would secretly visit and hurt them no one was safe from their accusations there was Rebecca nurse the gentle grandmother and pious churchgoer John Proctor the wealthy farmer who had warned against the girls outbursts even Dorcas good the little four-year-old who would spend months chained to the prison wall by the middle of spring more than 150 were in jail including some of the villages most prominent figures the Salem witch trials began June 2nd 1692 eight days later local tavern owner Bridget bishop became the first alleged witch to be hanged on gallows Hill in the coming months 19 more innocent victims were hanged including the former pastor of Salem just before it is hanging George burrows flawlessly recited the Lord's Prayer supposedly impossible for a witch but this proof of innocence could not save him another man Giles Corey was pressed to death under a pile of stones after he refused to stand trial for other men and women would die in jail the accusations continued into October as the afflicted girls cried out names of Massachusetts most reputable citizens including the governor's wife people began to doubt the girl's accusations and cries of protest spread across the colony the Boston Minister increase Mather spoke out against the trials it were better that ten suspected witches should escape that that one innocent person should be condemned with the tide of public opinion turned Governor Phips ordered an end to the witch trials stop the executions of all convicted witches and pardoned those still in prison after the witch hunt hysteria subsided most people went back to their daily lives the judges went on to successful careers in business or politics the girls whose accusations had sparked this tragedy married or moved away only one of the girls and Putnam ever publicly acknowledged her role in the hysteria in 1706 she stood before the church and the pastor read her statement it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me at that sad time I desired to lie in the dust and earnestly beg forgiveness but even for those pardoned life would never be the same most would live out their lives in poverty and sickness their reputations for every charge [Music] [Music] you [Music]