Executed
Taken from http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people?group.num=G01.
- Bridget Bishop: "Bridget Bishop was the first person to be executed during the Salem witchcraft trials. In Salem folklore, she is portrayed as a feisty, fun-loving, lusty, innkeeper who can't seem to keep herself out of trouble. Recently, historians have painted a somewhat different picture, owing to the confusion with Sarah Bishop who also appears in the court records of the witch trials. Indisputably, the Bridget Bishop who was tried and hanged possessed a quick wit and independent spirit that could not be crushed by the court of Oyer and Terminer."
- Rev. George Burroughs: "George Burroughs was the only Puritan minister indicted and executed in Salem in 1692. He served as minister of Salem Village from 1680 until he left in 1683. As one of the succession of three ministers who left the Village in the years leading up to the trials, he became involved in the Village's social conflicts. During his stay in Salem he borrowed money from the Putnam family and when he was unable to pay it back, conflict with the Putnams arose. It was at this point that he left. Although he eventually repaid his loan, twelve years later, he was charged, arrested and brought back to Salem from Wells, Maine. Many members of the Salem Village and Andover testified against him and called him the "ring leader" of the witches, a virtual priest of the devil. Cotton Mather also took particular interest in the trial because of Burroughs' unorthodox religious beliefs and practices. He was found guilty and executed on August 19, 1692. His hanging was the only one attended by Cotton Mather, who urged the sympathetic crowd against him."
- Martha Carrier: "Calling her a "rampant hag" and the "Queen of Hell," the Reverend Cotton Mather harbored no doubts that Martha Carrier deserved to be executed as a witch during the Salem outbreak on August 19, 1692. The Salem documents themselves, however, reveal that her crime was not witchcraft but an independence of mind and an unsubmissive character. A daughter of one of the founding families of Andover, Martha married a young Welsh servant, Thomas Carrier, in 1674, by whom she had four children. The Salem accusation against Martha came only two years after the selectmen of Andover blamed a smallpox epidemic on her witchcraft. Although historians have blamed her accusation on causes ranging from a conspiracy against Andover's proprietary families to reaction against threats to patriarchal inheritance, her contentious spirit and the earlier charge of witchcraft seem the most plausible explanation."
- Martha Cory: "The accusation of Martha Corey marked a turning point in the Salem witch trials crisis of 1692 in Massachusetts. Corey was a newly accepted member of the village church and broke the established mold of only social pariahs being accused of practicing witchcraft. Major contributing factors to the case being brought against her were an illegitimate son born to Corey in the 1670s, and her outspoken criticisms of the trials and the judges involved in the convictions. Although Martha espoused her innocence throughout her whole ordeal, she was put to death on September 22, 1692.
- Mary Easty: "The story of Mary Easty, the 58-year-old sister of Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyce from Topsfield usually draws the portrait, now legendary, of a courageous martyr fighting for her innocence. Her case gives insight into the workings of the trials, and her eloquent and legally astute petitions have been said to help bring them to an end."
- Sarah Good: "Sarah Good was born to a prosperous innkeeper in 1653. However, her father's estate became entangled in litigation leaving Sarah Good in poverty. After the death of her first husband, she married William Good. The Goods lived a life of begging and poverty in Salem Village. Sarah was regarded as an unsavory person and has come to be regarded through literature as the stereotypical witch, a disreputable old hag. Good was among the first three women accused of witchcraft in 1692 and was the first to testify. She never confessed guilt, but, like Tituba, she did accuse Sarah Osburne, an act that was credited with validating the witchcraft trials and accusations. Good was hanged as a witch on Tuesday July 19, 1692, but not until after the imprisonment of her six year old child Dorcas, also accused of witchcraft, and the tragic death of her infant in prison."
- Elizabeth How
- George Jacobs Sr.: George Jacobs, Sr. was about 72 years old when he was hanged as a wizard on August 19, 1692, along with three other men and one woman -- the first time men were executed for witchcraft in Salem. He was accused, among many others, by his granddaughter, Margaret Jacobs who was also accused and imprisoned. Depending on scholarly opinion, he has been seen as the victim of personal grudges, the casualty of the socio-political climate of Salem, or the target of cultural system's effects on young, socially subordinate women."
- Susannah Martin: "The sixty-seven year old widow Susannah Martin of Amesbury was hanged as a witch on July 19, 1692 on the basis of the testimony of the accusing circle of girls of Salem Village and other neighbors. Although she maintained her innocence to the end, a previous history of witchcraft accusations and the momentum of Salem's accusations carried her to the gallows. Martin figures in historian Carol Karlsen's account of the Salem outbreak as an example of a woman who was easily targeted as a threat to the orderly transmission of property down the paternal line because of Martin's role in an ongoing court dispute over her father's will."
- Rebecca Nurse: "Rebecca Nurse was an elderly and respected member of the Salem Village community. She was accused of witchcraft by several of the "afflicted" girls in the Village in March of 1692. Although a large number of friends, neighbors and family members wrote petitions testifying to her innocence, she was tried for acts of witchcraft in June, 1692. The jury first returned a "not guilty" verdict, but was told to reconsider, and then brought in a verdict of "guilty." Governor Phips pardoned her, but was later persuaded to reverse his decision by several men from Salem. She was excommunicated from the Salem church and hanged on July 19, 1692. Her house in Danvers, the former Salem village, still stands and is open to visitors. A large monument also marks her grave in the Nurse family cemetery on the grounds."
- Alice Parker
- Mary Parker: "Mary Ayer Parker of Andover came to trial in Salem Massachusetts, suspected of witchcraft. During her examination she was asked, "How long have ye been in the snare of the devil?" She responded, "I know nothing of it." Many people confessed under the pressure of the court of Oyer and Terminer, but she asserted the court had the wrong woman. "There is another woman of the same name in Andover," she proclaimed."
- John Proctor, Sr.: "John Proctor was an elderly man of 60 years of age when accused, tried, and hanged for practicing witchcraft in 1692. Maintaining his innocence until death, he challenged the court to reexamine the validity of spectral evidence. Though it did not save him, his legacy is remembered in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. Though not an historically accurate depiction, The Crucible does bring attention to the story of John Proctor and his struggle as an innocent man."
- Ann Pudeator: "Executed on Sept. 22, 1692, the widow Ann Greenslit Pudeator was one of the seven unfortunate victims of the final hanging on Gallows Hill during the Salem witch trials. Highlights from her trial included the usual testimony of the circle of accusing girls that Ann had afflicted them in "spectral" form. John Best, Sr. also accused Ann of having murdered his wife, whom Ann had served as a nurse. Mary Warren went to the extreme of implicating Pudeator in the deaths of four people. Historian Carol Karlsen speculates that Pudeator may have been targeted due to her profession as a midwife that placed her in direct competition with male care providers, as well as her defiance of the Puritan female gender ideal of meekness and submission to male authority. Although the details of Ann Pudeator's birth are unknown, it is estimated that she was between 70 and 75 when she was hanged, still protesting her innocence at the hands of false accusations."
- Wilmot Redd
- Margaret Scott: "The witchcraft accusations and trial of Margaret Scott, executed on September 22nd, 1692, long have been a mystery to historians. With the recently located depositions from her examination, the people, places, and events associated with Margaret Scott's trial can now be examined and the mystery surrounding her can be solved."
- Samuel Wardwell: "Samuel Wardwell was born on May 16, 1643 to a modest Quaker family in Boston. He studied carpentry and moved to Andover, Massachusetts in 1672 to find work. There he married his second wife, Sarah Hawkes, a wealthy widow with whom he had seven children. In 1692, he was accused of witchcraft and brought to trial in Salem. The fact he was found guilty is not surprising, as he had dabbled in fortune telling as a young man, had family members who were disliked in Andover, and had married a woman whom many did not think he was worthy of marrying. During his court examination, he confessed to being a witch by submitting a long and detailed story of his indiscretions in order to save his life. His conscience and personal courage led him to recant the story and claim innocence, knowing the risk involved. He was hanged on September 22, 1692."
- Sarah Wilds
- John Willard: "John Willard was accused of witchcraft at the end of April 1692, after refusing to arrest people that he believed were innocent. One of his main accusers was his wife's grandfather, Bray Wilkins, who claimed that after a mean look from Willard, he became immediately sick. While Wilkins' symptoms suggest that he was most likely suffering from kidney stones, his assumption that he had been bewitched is evidence of the widespread fear that occurred in Salem during withc trials. Willard was hanged on August 19, 1692, maintaining his innocence until his death."