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 On February 29, 1692, the Salem witch trials began in colonial Massachusetts. Tituba, the female servant of the Reverend Samuel Parris, and Sarah Good were the first to be accused of witchcraft. Parris declared, “God only knows how many devils there are in this very church.”
“The ravages of the Indian wars, the break-up of families it brought about, and the widespread feeling that the godly people of New England had somehow become corrupted and were being punished in consequence, was the long-term background to the Salem witch hysteria of 1692.” (Paul Johnson, A History of the American People, p. 79)
William Phips, the first governor of Massachusetts, appointed a special commission to examine the evidence of witchcraft in Salem. It was the civil authorities of Massachusetts that tried and executed the supposed witches, not the church.
The authorities arrested and imprisoned hundreds of people. They convicted and executed twenty men and women – hanging nineteen and pressing one man to death with stones. Four other accused witches died in prison. Dozens languished in jail for months without trials – including an accused four-year old girl. Two dogs were executed as suspected accomplices of witches.
“Only an unfortunate combination of an ongoing frontier war, economic conditions, congregational strife, teenage boredom, and personal jealousies can account for the trials.” (Douglas Linder, An Account of Events in Salem, www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/sal_acct.htm)
 It was largely the influence of the Puritan minister Increase Mather (who returned from England in the fall of 1692) that put an end to the trials.
Increase Mather’s book, Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits, suggested that the real work of the devil was the hanging of an innocent woman. He persuaded the civil authorities to pass a motion denouncing the action of the judges in the trial. Mather believed that the very operation of hunting for witches might be a work of the devil and characteristic of the way the great Deceiver led foolish men into wickedness. (Paul Johnson, A History of the American People, p. 82)
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