San Antonio College Library

In 1693, the village of Salem, Massachusetts was overcome with superstitious hysteria. At the peak of the madness someone hundred fifty people, male and female, were accused of being witches. Twenty of them were executed.

"An account of the witch hunts from their humble beginnings in 1691 to their dramatic conclusion, this new work contains a wealth of information gleaned from various contemporary records, and the personal archives of descendants on both sides of the conflict. Includes extensive transcriptions in modern English from the court files and other sources which help the reader feel the true impact of the events, along with excerpts from the first-hand observations...

The Salem witch trials stand as one of the infamous moments in colonial American history. More than 150 people -- primarily women -- from 24 communities were charged with witchcraft; 19 were hanged and others died in prison. In his introduction to this compact yet comprehensive volume, Richard Godbeer explores the beliefs, fears, and historical context that fueled the witch panic of 1692. The documents in this collection illuminate how the Puritans'...

During the bleak winter of 1691 in the rigid Puritan community of Salem Village, Massachusetts, a group of young girls began experiencing violent fits, allegedly tormented by Satan and the witches who worshipped him. From the girls' initial denouncing of a black slave, their accusations soon multiplied; in less than two years nineteen men and women were hanged, one was pressed to death, and over a hundred others were imprisoned and impoverished.This...

"The Salem Witch Trials is based on over twenty-five years of original archival research (including the author's discovery of previously unknown documents), as well as on newly found cases and court records. From January 1692 to January 1697, this history unfolds a nearly day-by-day narrative of the crisis as the citizens of New England experienced it, while providing details of the communal, colonial, and international events that influenced the...

Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people...

It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister's daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death. The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, parents and children each other. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent...

More than 300 years after the Salem witch trials led to the deaths of 19 innocent people, behavioral psychologist Linnda Caporael has been searching for a rational explanation for the symptoms of bewitchment. Her work has sparked an investigation into wrenching convulsions, vivid deliriums, contaminated crops, hallucinogenic drugs, and a murder victim buried in a bog for 2,300 years. Was bread tainted with toxic fungus the real cause of the symptoms...

"Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America. Villagers--mainly young women--suffered from unseen torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being haunted by specters. Believing that they suffered from assaults by an invisible spirit, the community began a hunt to track down...