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
Põlula witch trials in 1544, she was arrested and sentenced to death, but it is unknown if the sentence was executed. The Põlula witch trials is significant as the first witch trial in the Baltics with more than one execution, and alongside the Paide witch trials in 1615 (where nine people where executed), it remained one of the largest witch trials in the region, where witch trials commonly only resulted in one or two executions at the same occasion and almost never more than four. In the Baltic countries, witch trials conducted in the private courts of the landowners where to become common,