Under the guidance of the Malleus Maleficarum, a witch-hunt panic broke out in Salem Village. Over 200 people were accused of witchcraft, and 19 were hanged. Legend holds that witches made cloth or clay dolls representing victims and inflicted pain through needles or burning. The trial records are preserved in full at the Massachusetts State Archives and constitute the most famous judicial event of the American colonial period.
Account
Under the guidance of the Malleus Maleficarum, a witch-hunt panic broke out in Salem Village. Over 200 people were accused of witchcraft, and 19 were hanged. Legend holds that witches made cloth or clay dolls representing victims and inflicted pain through needles or burning. The trial records are preserved in full at the Massachusetts State Archives and constitute the most famous judicial event of the American colonial period.
Sources
- Salem witch trial court records
- Massachusetts Historical Society archives
- Malleus Maleficarum