The New World Times

     The day of the the last hanging in the Salem Witch Trials was September 22, 1692. Over 200 people were accused of witchcraft before the witch trials ended. Multiple people contributed to the fall of the trials such as Giles Corey, John Proctor, and George Burroughs.

     In 1962 several reasons led to the end of the witch trials. The people lost confidence in watching innocent people die. Multiple people were also inspired by the story of Giles Corey. Giles Corey was one of the many people who inspired the people of Salem Village to stop hanging innocent people. Giles Corey was a prosperous farmer, and married 3 times. During the time of the witch trials, Giles was about 80 years old, and was living with his wife, Martha, in Salem village. He was accused of witchcraft, and arrested on April 18, 1692, which was the same day that Bridget Bishop, Mary Warren, and Abigail Hobbs were arrested. Giles refused to plead guilty or not guilty. If he pleaded not guilty, he would go to jail and be hanged. If he pleaded guilty then he would be able to return home, but there was a possibility that the colony would take his family goods. Giles, not wanting to take that chance, refused to say anything in court. This led to his death, which was caused by a method called peine forte et dure. Peine forte et dure is French for “strong and harsh punishment.” It is a method of torture where the defender who refused to plead would have heavy rocks placed on him, one by one. Eventually, Giles was crushed to death. His death influenced, and inspired many people in 1692. Multiple people started to believe that it was not right to kill people like this. Even a respected minister started to believe that innocent people were being accused.

     George Burroughs also had a big part of how the trials came to an end. George Burroughs was born in 1652 in England. George graduated from Harvard in 1670, and became the minister of Salem village in 1680. He was the minister from 1680-1683. George was not a necessarily good man, and during one of his visits to Salem he borrowed money from the Putnam family, and was unable to pay it back. This created conflict with him and the Putnam family, and caused him to leave Salem. When Burroughs eventually returned, 12 years later, he paid back the Putnam family. Although he paid, when he returned George was immediately arrested and put in jail. When the Salem Witch Trials began, multiple people testified against him, because he had different religious beliefs then the other Puritans. On August 19,1692 George Burroughs, George Jacobs, John Willard, Martha Carrier, and John Proctor were all taken to be hanged. As Burroughs stepped on the ladder to be hung, he performed a speech pleading his innocence, and after this he flawlessly recited the Lord's prayer. At the time, a common belief was that witches could not recite the whole Lord’s prayer without making a mistake. When people realized that Burroughs had recited it perfectly, they started to doubt themselves. The people of Salem village started to understand that maybe witches were not real, and that all of these people were innocent. These events led to a decrease in the hysteria of the population.

      Sir William Phipps, also known as Governor Phipps, had a role in the ending of the witch trials. Phipps was born on February 2, 1651 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. William Phipps was born a poor shepherd boy, who had no father or money. He moved to Boston and began leading treasure hunts, in hope of finding lots of money. Phipps did in fact find lots of money from a sunken ship on one of his expeditions and became famous throughout Boston and London.  He became the Governor of Massachusetts from May 16, 1692 to November 17, 1694. Meanwhile, he went to Salem during the start of the witch trials. William Phipps originally was okay with the trials, and how they worked. This was all before his wife was accused by one of the afflicted girls. After this, Governor Phipps decided to shut down the trials. He saved multiple people from being hanged, and pardoned everyone else. There were several factors that led to the fall of the Salem Witch Trials in October of 1692. Multiple of them were because the people were influenced to end this cruelty. After a few months, people in Salem Village began to realize that all of this bloodshed was not necessary.

     After the trials ended, some of the important people from the trials apologized to the public. Samuel Sewall was one of the people who apologized. Samuel Sewall was a judge during the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony. He attended Harvard in 1667, and later wrote an essay about how he was opposed to slavery. Samuel Sewall is mostly known for his apology to the public. He publicly apologized after the trials for all of the lives that were lost. Sewall was not the only person who apologized, but everybody was glad that he did. His apology made people feel better.

     Ann Putnam Jr. also apologized for her role in the Salem Witch Trials. Ann was born October 18, 1679 in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony. She was friends with the afflicted girls, and said that she was afflicted herself. Ann was responsible for 62 accusations. In 1706,  Ann publicly apologized for accusing multiple people. This surprised multiple people, because Ann was one of the girls that had these strange symptoms. This is a quote of Ann Putnam’s public apology. "I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family in the year about '92; that I, then being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood; though what was said or done by me against any person I can truly and uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for I had no such thing against one of them; but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded by Satan. And particularly, as I was a chief instrument of accusing of Good wife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, and to be humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families; for which cause I desire to lie in the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those unto whom I have given just cause of sorrow and offence, whose relations were taken away or accused.” In this quote Ann talks about how she was deceived by Satan. She said that she would to earn forgiveness from God. For one of the girls to write such a long apology really meant something to the people of Salem village. The other girls who had started the Salem Witch Trials were not heard from, but for Ann to make such a public apology was very important.

     These are all of the reasons why the Salem Witch Trials ended. People eventually began to believe that no one had to die. If these trials had not ended when they did, multiple more people would have died. The people who contributed to the end of the trials all helped change the way people thought.