We have all heard numerous stories of Salem witches. These are different legends, including even the stories of Bloody Mary and a school inhabited by scary ghosts in Massachusetts. It, as many for some reason suppose, was built on the graves of insidious witches who were killed during the great Salem witch hunt.
Many people believe in legends, but do not know the real historical facts, they are sure that witches were simply burned alive at the stake. However, those who were killed in Salem actually died at the gallows, but were not burned at the stake.
How did it all begin in this story?
The hysteria began in early 1692, when a group of nine teenage girls began to experience "strange attacks" and complained of severe, unexplained pain that appeared frequently and for no reason. Upon examination, the doctor found out that they were bewitched. When the two girls announced that Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne and their slave named Tituba had bewitched them, a real storm began in Salem. When the witch hunters questioned Tituba, she confessed that the devil came to her and asked her to faithfully serve him as a witch. The God-fearing inhabitants of Salem in 1692 were already on the verge of a nervous breakdown, as they unexpectedly faced a problem in a new country that is teeming with all kinds of evil spirits that could kill them at any moment. Tituba's confession is believed to have mixed with other factors, rumors, speculation,and this was the main impetus that provoked panic and brought terror and fear to the city dwellers.
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How were the Salem witches actually executed?
Over the next year or so, a total of 20 people were convicted and executed. One of them was an elderly man who was pelted to death with heavy stones. The remaining 19 people were taken to a place called Gallows Hill, where they were hung by their necks. So they hung until they died.
Many were puzzled by the question why the idea of burning at the stake became associated with Salem? These stories are believed to have been mistakenly linked to other witch trials in Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries.
Conclusion
The medieval laws of the Holy Roman Empire and other areas that existed at the time often indicated that if a malevolent witch was discovered, she should be burned at the stake. Perhaps it was just a convenient execution of the sentence, and since then, executions at the stake have become more common. Sometimes the accused witches were simply hung up and only then burned, but sometimes they were burned alive.
Victoria Ivashura