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Pilgrims were the first colony of people to travel from England to 'New England' in North America.New England consisted of six states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The Pilgrims formed the Plymouth Colony.
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Ten years after the Pilgrims arrive from England, the Puritans arrive in New England and settle north of the Plymouth Colony in Boston. They form the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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English law makes witchcraft a capital crime.
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Records indicate that Alse Young was the first person to be executed for witchcraft within the many American colonies. She was part of the Conneticut Colony.
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Margaret Jones was the first person to be executed for witchcraft in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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Ann Glover was executed for the bewitchment of the Goodwin children. Her story influenced Cotton Mather's book.
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Over 500 people in Salem died due to a smallpox epidemic. Many people thought that this epidemic occured due to the work of witches.
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Cotton Mather, a respected religious leader amongst the community, published the book "MEMORABLE PROVIDENCES, RELATING TO WITCHCRAFTS AND POSSESSIONS" which caused social hysteria in Salem.
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Elizabeth Parris, 9, and Abigail Williams, 11, began to exhibit strange behavior, such as blasphemous screaming, seizures and trance-like states. Within a short time, several other Salem girls began to demonstrate similar behavior.
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Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, a Native American slave, was arrested for Witchcraft.
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Tituba confessed to conducting magic and revealed that there was a conspiracy of witches within Salem.
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John Proctor was accused of Witchcraft after defending his wife, who was also accused. He was the first male to be accused in Colonial America.
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The Proctors' servant and accuser, Mary Warren, admitted to lying and accused the other girls of lying. This is significant as it questions whether the accusations made by the other girls were actually authentic.
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Sarah Osborne dies in prison; first accused person to die, even if it was not due to execution.
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Sir William Phips arrives from England and becomes the new governor of the colony.
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Governor Phips set up a special Court of Oyer and Terminer. This court comprised of seven judges who tried the accused witches.
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Bridget Bishop is tried, sentenced and then hanged at Gallows Hill.
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George Jacobs Sr., George Burroughs, John Willard, and John Proctor are announced to be guilty and are sentenced to hanging.
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Elizabeth Proctor is excused from execution as she is pregnant.
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Sheriffs administer 'Peine Forte Et Dure' (a form of torture where the victim is subjected to heavy rocks being placed upon him) to Giles Corey after he refuses to enter a plea to the charges of witchcraft against him.
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Giles Corey dies from the pressure of the torture.
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After 20 people had been executed in the Salem trials, Thomas Brattle wrote a letter criticizing the witchcraft trials. This letter had great impact upon Governor Phips, who ordered that reliance on spectral and intangible evidence (when the afflicted girls were having their fits, they would interact with an unseen assailant – the apparition of the witch tormenting them) no longer be allowed in trials.
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Governor Phips closed the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
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The Massachusetts Bay Colony created the Superior Court to try the remaining witchcraft cases.
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The rest of the accused witches were tried, but this time no one was convicted.
