First Years, Lesson Three

"Good morning, everyone," Gabrielle greeted. "No time to waste, get ready to write because this is going to be a big one. Behave yourselves, and we'll go on a field trip after we get through this topic." She turned around and put a header on the board saying 'The Salem Witch Trials', and cleared her throat.

"1692, Salem Village, Massachusetts. Salem is a port town, so you have all sorts of trade coming into the harbour, and a thriving economy. You'd think this would be a great thing, right?" she asked, somewhat rhetorically. "However, as you may well know, there are always those who are resistant to change. So you have on one side the people who are tied to the port economy, making their money in trade and growing the town, and on the other side, you have the Puritans. The Puritans were primarily farmers, very religious - Christianity, naturally, although highly opposed to the Catholic church, even more so than the Church of England was - and set in their ways. They did not approve of the individualism the sea trade was creating. You know, individual wealth through capitalism and all of that." She paused to take a drink, giving the students a chance to rest their hands.

"The Puritans, meanwhile, were very communal. This was centred around the church, naturally. So in order to solidify the divide between the central business distract and the farmlands, the Puritans established their own parish in the year 1689. This congregation was led by, importantly, the Reverend Samuel Parris, and they began their worship in the Salem Village meeting house. The Reverend Parris is of note especially here because he had a nine year old daughter, Betty, and an orphaned twelve year old niece, Abigail Williams. The Puritans believed that idleness and play were things that could lead to the corrupting influence of Satan," Gabrielle paused, briefly, to let that sink in, "and that the devil could grant the power of witchcraft, which was a great evil, and against the word of the Lord. Feels bad, doesn't it, my little hellspawn?"

It was a pretty heavy lesson, but Gabrielle soldiered on. "These two girls, along with a few others, began to have fits, and the doctor could not find a sign of any ailment. It was therefore believed that the girls had been cursed by witches. Behind the Reverend's back, his slave Tituba and her husband John Indian were ordered to bake a 'witch cake', which would supposedly allow the girls to name their tormentors." Gabrielle cleared her throat. "Now, this is pretty disgusting, but the witch cake was made from rye mixed with the urine of the afflicted, which is then fed to a dog to see if the dog displays symptoms. I'm no healer, but it sounds...pretty dubious. Nevertheless, the girls spoke, and named Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good of the grievous sin of witchcraft." There was a gentle sarcasm in her tone, despite the heavy nature of the lecture. She at least wanted to deliver it in good humour.

"So these three women, why would they be accused of witchcraft? Well, they were all outsiders. Sarah Osborne was elderly and did not attend church, which was considered sinful. Sarah Good was homeless, and a beggar. She would mutter under her breath if people did not give her alms, possibly cursing. People would attribute her visits to the death of their livestock. And Tituba, of course, was known to the girls. She was a slave from the West Indies," Gabrielle explained, unable to hide a look of distaste at that, despite her better judgement. "The low social standing and different race made her a prime target for accusation."

"These women, along with others, were interrogated and branded as witches. They were executed for their alleged crimes, being hanged. Previous witch hunts had burned witches at the stake. Of course, real witches would simply use the flame-freezing charm. Wendelin the Weird was said to have allowed herself to be caught for witchcraft up to forty-seven times just because she liked the sensation of the flames after the use of the charm." Gabrielle hoped that tidbit lightened the mood a little bit. "But of course, regardless of whether the original accused were witches or not, this dealt a huge blow to relations between the magical and non-magical communities, relations which were already strained. And so, later in 1692, the International Statute of Secrecy was established, and has remained in force ever since." Witch-hunts were still practiced in parts of the world, but Gabrielle didn't need to bog the students down with a depressing fact right now.

Gabrielle stopped to take a drink of water, looking around at the tired faces of the students and giving them a smile. "Sorry, that was pretty long. Don't worry, that's the longest lecture you'll have for a while. For homework, I'd like you to have a bit more of a look in to the witch trials, and write a short essay on the trials or anyone associated with them, if you want to look back to the previous witch hunts please be my guest. Let me know if you're having any trouble." She dismissed the class with a smile, glad that she wouldn't have to give such a lengthy lecture to those poor first years again this year. Unless they started acting up even more. Then she was sure she could come up with something.

Homework
RP the lesson. Extra credit for the assigned essay, please list sources. Apologies for the late posting and thank you for your patience!

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

The game of tug-of-war was supposed to be just a game, but from what Tori had seen, there was something else going on. Eury had said she wanted to join the boys and honestly, Tori kind of wanted to echo her sentiment. Not that she was giving up on the girls, but... since the introduction back in the first weeks of the school year, she hasn't even spoken to her assigned sister and she's spent more time with Veronica than Rose has. She's not even completely sure Rose knew who Veronica was - does that make sense to anyone? Tori didn't want to suggest that maybe there are too many girls all in the same room together, but... well the management could maybe use some sprucing up. She didn't want to say anything against the leader but there seemed to be a theme she was not exactly happy with - not that she had any say in the matter at all.

Tori tried to keep up with the lecture, but she'd never been very good at listening to people talk at her, always preferring a more hands on approach to things. She didn't like History much, and so she didn't really like this class much either, but was determined to do well, because she just had to. The tale of Salem was equal parts disturbing and horrifying. She wasn't surprised to be honest, as she knew a little about the Puritans and this did seem like it would have been right up their alley. Of course it was unlikely that any actual witches died in the process, which just meant poor lady muggles were getting the stake. She cringed at some parts of the lecture, but kept her quill moving because she knew she would only manage to fall behind if she risked it. When the lecture finally ended on the Statute of Secrecy, Tori let her pull drop, taking a long, deep breath and shaking out her hands. Her fingers hurt, cramped from writing what the professor had said almost verbatim - but she had it all, so now she could use it. She wasn't sure how to tackle the assignment, but she'd get there, probably.​

 

[Lilith Ilves]

It was only the third lesson, but Lilith was quite fond of History of Magic already. She loved learning about the things from the past, one of her favourite things growing up had been when her grandmother had told her stories from her life and everything she'd done. There was so much to learn and so many things to take from history that sometimes it almost felt like her head was bursting from the seams trying to work what information would be best utilized where. That being said the young Ravenclaw took her seat and placed a parchment and a quill neatly in front of her, ready to write some notes.

The lesson was an interesting one to her. The Salem Witch Trials were something of an obsession for her at one point in time. She was kind of hooked onto learning more and more about it, in all it's brutality she found it to be quite interesting what different methods they came up with in terms of figuring out who was tormenting those young girls. Surely today it sounded absurd, but Lilith had no doubt that in that hysteria that the village must have been experiencing it probably sounded rather reasonable. Her quill didn't not falter at any point, not even at the execution parts, she was rather familiar with it already. Had read those fates and many different versions of them many times, much to her parents dismay. Lilith nodded more so to herself than anyone else at the mention of the International Statue of Secrecy, she was familiar with it too. She was kind of disappointed when the lesson eventually came to an end, in her opinion they could have made it a little longer. She surely wouldn't have minded hearing more in depth about the trials, though she had an inkling not everyone in the room was feeling that way. Lilith was glad that at least she could in her homework assignment use the library, that ought to have many books on the subject. Ones that she had yet to read.

Salem Witch Trials
Between February of 1692 and May 1693, more than 200 people were accused of the sin of witchcraft. 30 were eventually found guilty and each executed in different ways including hanging. Both men and women were accused and found guilty. Some of the accusers in the years after admitted lying about their accusations and fabricating so said evidence.

Even though it is considered to be one of the biggest cases of mass hysteria in Colonial America, it is by no means unique. Witch trials had taken the lives of thousands in Europe too, unfortunately it was just a manifestation of the worlds state in those times. The Salem Witch Trials have been used for good though, they have served as a cautionary tale of what religious extremism and false accusations could cause. Many historians consider the Trials to be of significant influence in the history of the United States.

In 1992 there were events held to commemorate the victims of the trials on their 300th anniversary. During those events a park in Salem and a memorial in Danvers were dedicated to those who lost their lives due to the times injustice. In the years after many of the victims have also been absolved and exonerated of their sins.

While these events may not have been the most pleasant or just, they serve a purpose of understanding the dangers of mass hysteria and they have worked to educate many generations after, of what not to do. They also led to the International Statue of Secrecy, which perhaps isn't such a bad thing. After all jealousy, religion or simply bitterness can drive us humans into indescribable injustices.

Source​

 

[Elijah Edogawa]

Eli settled into his seat next to his sister Rose, letting her lean into him as the lecture started. The Salem Witch trials is the kind of thing anyone who's picked up a book probably knows, but it's mostly American history and that's not as much Eli's specialty. He picked up his quill to take notes, jotting down anything that he thinks will be the most important. As the professor described the tension between the Puritans and the town's growing trade community, he made sure to list anything he felt important about, how had this tiny, bustling port town eventually become shadowed by suspicion and hysteria? It seemed so strange to think about how it could have escalated so much. His eyebrows knitted into disgust as Professor Moncrieffe explained the "witch cake" and her gentle sarcasm seemed a little misplaced, but felt necessary to lighten the atmosphere of the lesson. He was kind of glad that there was a witch who seemed to find some amusement out of the whole thing when the professor mentioned Wendelin the Weird. As the professor wrapped up the lesson, he left the room, ready to dive into more research on the trials.​