Salem witch trials Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused, nineteen of whom were found guilty and executed by hanging (fourteen women and five men). One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death for refusing to plead, and at least five people died in jail. It was the deadliest witch hunt in the history of the United States. Twelve other women had previously been executed in Massachusetts and Connecticut during the 17th century. Despite being
Beyond the Witch Trials in Modern Europe", it dealt with the period following the Enlightenment. Brian Hoggard, an independent researcher from Worcester, England, authored a paper looking at the subject of Enlightenment-era popular magic from an archaeological perspective. Noting that the only published book dealing with the archaeology of British folk magic was Ralph Merrifield's "The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic" (1987), he argues that archaeology can provide scholars with evidence of popular magical traditions that were not recorded in the literate sources of the period. Beyond the Witch Trials Beyond the Witch Trials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe is an academic anthology