The Salem Witch Trials And The Witch - amazonia.fiocruz.br

The Salem Witch Trials And The Witch Video

Since witches were believed to have spurned the sacrament of baptism, it was thought that the water would reject their body and prevent them from submerging. According to this logic, an innocent person would sink like a stone, but a witch would simply bob on the surface. This custom was banned in many European counties in the Middle Ages, only to reemerge in the 17th century as a witch experiment, and it persisted in some locales well into the 18th century.

For example, inthe swimming test was used as evidence against a Hungarian woman named Dorko Boda, who was later beaten and burned at the stake as a witch. While it may have simply been a sign that the suspected witch was illiterate or nervous, any errors were viewed as proof that the speaker was in league with the devil. This twisted test of public speaking ability was commonly used as hard evidence in witch trials. During the Salem Witch Trials, the accused sorcerer George Burroughs flawlessly The Salem Witch Trials And The Witch the prayer from the gallows just before his execution. The touch test worked on the idea that victims of sorcery would have a special reaction https://amazonia.fiocruz.br/scdp/blog/purdue-owl-research-paper/the-discovery-of-leonardo-da-vinci.php physical contact with their evildoer.

In cases where a possessed person fell into spells or fits, the suspected witch would be brought into the room and asked to a lay a hand on them.

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A non-reaction signaled innocence, but if the victim came out of their fit, it was seen as proof that the The Salem Witch Trials And The Witch had placed them under a spell. Touch tests played a famous part in the trial of Rose Cullender and Amy Denny, two elderly English women charged with bewitching a pair of young girls.

The children had been suffering from fits that left their fists clenched so tightly that even a strong man could not pry their fingers apart, but early tests showed they easily opened whenever Cullender or Denny touched them. To ensure the reaction was genuine, Tne had the children blindfolded and touched by other members of the court. Cullender and Denny were both later hanged as witches.

2. Prayer Test

A bizarre form of counter-magic, the witch cake was a supernatural dessert used to identify suspected evildoers. During the hysteria that preceded the Salem Witch Trials, the slave Tituba famously helped prepare a witch cake to identify the person responsible for bewitching young Betty Parris and others. Witch-hunters often had their suspects stripped and publically examined for signs of an unsightly blemish that witches were said to receive upon making their pact with Satan.

In both cases, it was easy for even the most minor physical imperfections to be labeled as the work of the devil himself. Moles, scars, birthmarks, sores, supernumerary nipples and tattoos could all qualify, so examiners rarely came up empty-handed. In the midst of witch hunts, desperate villagers would sometimes even burn or cut off any offending marks on their bodies, only to have their wounds labeled as proof of a covenant with.]