Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

Witch trials were quite the frenzy about 350 years ago. From Europe to the New England Colonies, witch trials are a big part of history. About 30 years before the Salem Witch Trials, there were trials over in Connecticut. Eleven people were hanged and 46 prosecutions took place. Connecticut was the first of the American Colonies to have gone through the witch hunt frenzy. Hartford, Connecticut was the first New England town in America to have a witch hunt and trials. A young 8-year-old girl had died suddenly coming home from her neighbor’s house in March, 1662. She suddenly fell ill after she returned to her home. The parents of little Elizabeth, John and Bethia Kelly, had grieved the loss of their daughter. It was not long before they pointed a finger, and accused their neighbor, Goody Ayres of witchcraft. Goody Ayres was accused and …show more content…
She lived in Windsor, Connecticut and was sent to hang at Hartford’s Meeting House Square, on May 26, 1647. After the trial of Ayres, fingers were being pointed in all different directions. Witchcraft was one of twelve capital crimes decreed by Connecticut’s colonial government in 1642. (http://www.history.com/news/before-salem-the-first-american-witch-hunt) Five others had met similar fates 30 years before the Salem Witch Trials, in Hartford. Not long after Elizabeth Kelly’s death, a girl named Ann Cole had said that she had been bewitched by her neighbor, Rebeccas Greensmith. Soon enough, the accused were accusing others and even spouses, a vicious circle. Neighbors accusing neighbors and even Goody Ayres husband is thought to have accused someone possibly in the intention to save his wife. Greensmith had testified that she met with seven other witches in the woods. Three of the seven included Goody Ayres, Mary Sanford and Elizabeth Seager. Seager was accused of being seen dancing in the woods and cooking in a black