Salem Witch Trials: The Aftermath of People vs. Bridget Bishop

Bridget Bishop

Salem, 1692

We the people decide Bridget Bishop should go to trial in a higher court-the Court of Oyer and Terminer. They will decide if Goody Bishop should be hanged.

Seven judges have condemned Bridget Bishop based largely on the testimonies of my friends, the "afflicted" girls. Did I do the right thing in not speaking out? If I do, I will be the next accused. I am no witch but I will surely die if I speak. If I stay silent I may also be accused. Are my friends playing games? Do they know they are playing with someone's life? Why do they do this? Are they truly afflicted?

On Friday, June 10, 1692, sometime between 8am and noon, Bridget Bishop will be executed at Gallows Hill and buried at the execution site in unhallowed ground.

Bridget Bishop Hanged June 10, 1692
Salem Witch Trials Memorial, Salem,MA

The witch hysteria soon spreads to other nearby towns: Topsfield, Andover, Beverly, Wenham, Reading, Marblehead. Almost half the accused witches are under 40 years of age. One is only a baby of five years of age, one is an elderly woman and one an elderly man. Those who confess go to jail and lose their property. Those who deny the accusations go to trial and are executed. There is no easy way out. Neighbors are accusing friends, relatives and even strangers! When will this madness end?

All images c. Susanna's guardian QNPoohBear

Images from:

"Cry Innocent," History Alive, Old Town Hall, Salem, Mass., August 21, 2017

Salem Witch Trials Memorial, Salem, Massachusetts

Salem Old Town Hall Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

Read more:

Cry Innocent / History Alive

Bridget Bishop: First Salem Witch Executed

Bridget Bishop

Bridget Bishop: Witch or Easy Target?

Bridget Bishop's Social Network

Salem Witch Trials Timeline

The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: An Account

Life During the Salem Witch Trials

Famous Trials -Salem

Examine the documentary evidence

Goss, K. David. Daily Life During the Salem Witch Trials. Greenwood, 2002.

Hill, Frances. Hunting for Witches. Commonwealth Editions, 2002.

Hill, Frances. The Salem Witch Trials Reader. Da Capo Press, 2000.

Women's History Month: Bridget Bishop, Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1692

Bridget Bishop

Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1692

The People vs. Bridget Bishop

The people gathering in the streets are eager to hear the Town News. Ships are coming and going filled with precious cargos, the needs of the townspeople, and accusations of witchcraft!

Goodwife Bridget Bishop (That's Goody Bishop in the red dress) has been accused of practicing witchcraft on children of Salem Village : Ann Putnam, Jr., Mercy Lewis and my friend Betty Parris! She is accused of keeping poppets (dolls) with headless pins in them. Several have been found in her house. She will go to court to testify this very day! (Read the actual court transcript of the examination of Bridget Bishop)

I pay a fee to enter the pre-trial examination to hear the testimony against Goody Bishop. Will she be sent to trial? If so, what will happen to her then? Will the accursed ever recover?

Bridget denies the accusations and fights arrest.

She is dragged to the courtroom in chains.

The afflicted persons charge her with having hurt them many ways: sticking pins in them, pinching them, making them have fits. [My friends are having fits in the courtroom!] They say she tempted them to sign the devil's book. Betty Parris has not recovered from her fits. She is quite ill they say.

The afflicted" girls cry, scream, writhe and mimic Bridget's movements

Bridget is very angry and shakes her head at them. She says their claims are false. She claims she has never seen these people before! Can my friends be telling the truth or are they in the devil's snare themselves?

Bridget denies being a witch over and over. She claims no one here can be a witch. Isn't that for the learned men of the jury to decide?

!

She was accused of hurting a child who died. Goody Bishop claims she did not mean to scratch him, just to scare him away from stealing her apples.

Goody Bishop has been accused of associating with the wrong people, keeping "unseasonable" hours, hosting drinking and gambling parties, and behaving immorally. Some men claim her spectre visited them at night.

She has been seen arguing with her husband in public on the Sabbath! Before that, she had another husband who died under mysterious circumstances. Neighbors say Goody Bishop thew him out the window. She was accused once before in 1679 and again in 1687, according to her husband! Goody Bishop even wears a scarlet bodice. She is not a very moral woman.

Bridget insists these people are from the village not the town. She has never seen them before.

My friends are screaming, crying, choking in court. One accuses Goody Bishop's spirit of taking her from her spinning wheel, dragging her to the river and threatened to drown her. Another friend claims Goody Bishop's apparition is here in court!

Susannah Sheldon (another Susanna, not me) also testified that she saw the spirit of Thomas Green’s twin boys who told her that Bridget Bishop had bewitched them to death. The other Susannah claims Bridget Bishop’s spirit told her she had killed four women!

Goody Bishop is asked to say the Lord's Prayer to prove she is innocent. She stumbles!

It's the work of the devil! Seven girls are falling in fits, freezing in postures, complaining of biting and pinching.

(If you are visiting from the future, you can time travel and watch the trial proceed https://photos.app.goo.gl/3FgwoN00qBk1WRUg1 )


Time to vote. Is Bridget Bishop innocent or guilty of witchcraft? You decide. Read my next page to find out what happened next.

Women's History Month and a Visit to Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony 1692

Women's History Month

Hello my friends,
I have been very busy moving to a new house! I never wrote about my last adventure in time. I will make a series of posts on Women's History Month.

Let's start with Bridget Bishop, Salem 1692

Let me give you some background information first. You will understand what happened to Bridget better. You will know why I made the decision I did. Here we go! Travel back in time with me to Salem, both a village and a town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

About the Puritans

My great-grandparents came here earlier in the century to practice their religion the way they wanted to, not the way the King of England told them to. My grandparents were "Puritans." Puritan means we want to purify the Church of England and take away the Papist (Catholic) trappings like incense and Latin prayers. We do not believe in holidays (holy days). Every day is a day to worship God! We know God decides who is going to heaven before we are born. If you are among God's elect you will show outward signs of being "godly." Most likely you will be clean, read your Bible, attend Meeting (what we call church) and obey the rules. If you are dirty, slovenly, drunken, mean, bad, crazy, do not attend Meeting, you will probably not go to heaven. If a person or a group of people does not behave in a godly manner, then God will bring His wrath down upon them!

About Children

My parents believe my sisters, brothers, other children and myself were all born sinners. We have to have the sin stamped out of us. We work hard at our chores: cooking, spinning, gardening, tending livestock, watching younger children and anything else we need to do to survive.

About Witches and the Devil

A witch is any woman or man who hath signed a pact with the devil and is capable of inflicting serious harm. If you are a witch, you are an associate of the devil and you will most assuredly NOT go to heaven! Long ago in England (1500, 1650) witches were burned at the stake. We are now civilized so we hang witches instead.

In 1692 Salem is on the frontier. Some people in the village came from a settlement up in Maine.
In January, the French invaded and killed about 50-100 English colonists, took 70-100 hostage, killed livestock and burned the settlement. Indians in league with the French also attacked the settlement. Many children were left without parents. It must be the work of the devil!

In February, the King sent us a Royal Governor who issued a new charter. Many people are unhappy about this. We made our own laws for over 50 years. Why aren't they good enough?

Here in the town children are getting sick and no one knows why!

Ministers are competing for town and village churches!

Strangers who do not share our beliefs are taking control!

This winter was the coldest anyone can remember!

The summer was hot and stormy!

What have we done to incur God's wrath?

Children are having fits (Including my friend Betty Parris, a minister's daughter)!

The devil is afoot in Salem and the town must be saved!