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Timeline for the Salem Witch Hunt
| 1542 | Parliament passes witchcraft Act | 1648 15 June | Margaret Jones of Charlestown executed for witchcraft |
| 1656 10 June |
Ann Hibbins of Boston executed for witchcraft (fictionalized character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter) |
| 1684 23 Oct | Mass Bay Charter revoked by King James II (which nullified witchcraft laws) |
| 1680 | The Rev. George Burroughs minister of Salem Village |
| 1681 | Joseph Glanvill’s Saducismus Triumphatus published |
| 1687 | Wilmot Reed of Marblehead accused of witchery with no result |
| 1688 | The Goodwin Children’s behavior leads to conviction of Goody Glover (Irish Roman Catholic) for witchcraft; Cotton Mather involved |
| Nov | The Rev. Samuel Parris first preaches in Salem |
| 1689 | Cotton Mather’s Memorable Providences (about trial of Ann Glover) published |
| Samuel Parris stops studies at Harvard | |
| 18 June | Samuel Parris hired as minister for Salem |
| 19 Nov | Samuel Parris ordained minister in Salem Village, settles in parsonage with wife Elizabeth, daughter Elizabeth (Betty), niece Abigail Williams, slaves John and Tituba Indian |
| 1691 | |
| 15 Oct | Some villagers seek to dismiss Samuel Parris and stop his salary |
| 1692 | |
| 15-20 January | Betty Parris and Abigail Williams started having fits, led to other girls also “afflicted” |
| February | Dr. William Griggs offers diagnosis of girls as “under an evil hand” |
| 25 Feb | Mary Sibley has Tituba and Indian John bake and feed a witchcake to a dog to discover who is causing the bewitching |
| 27 Feb | Elizabeth Hubbard claims stalked by wolf (bewitched) |
| 29 Feb | Warrants issued and magistrates (John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin) bring in Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba |
| 1-5 March | Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba examined, Tituba confesses to witchcraft and conspiracy |
| 5 March | Tituba’s last day of testimony, gives ideas of Devil’s involvement |
| 7 March | Tituba, Good (with her 5-year-old daughter Dorcas), and Osborne sent to jail in Boston. |
| 14 March | Martha Corey summoned to magistrates who questioned them |
| 19 March | Warrant for Martha Corey’s arrest; Abigail Williams denounces Rebecca Nurse; Rev. Deodat Lawson observes |
| 21 March | Martha Corey examined, plead innocent, afflicted girls react, jailed |
| 23 March | Edward and Jonathan Putnam complaints against Rebecca Nurse |
| 24 March | Rebecca Nurse, Dorcas Goode examined |
| 25 March | Parris discusses the Devil with covenanted church members |
| 27 March | Parris criticized Mary Sibley for “raising Devil in Massachusetts” |
| April | John and Elizabeth Proctor, Mary and Philp English examined |
| 8 April | Warrants issued for Sarah Cloyse and Giles Corey |
| 11 April | John Proctor protests accusation against spouse Elizabeth and her interrogation, himself accused; Sarah Cloyce interrogated |
| 18 April | Bridget Bishop, Mary Warren, Abigail Hobbes, Giles Corey accused |
| 19 April | Bridget Bishop, Mary Warren, Abigail Hobbes, Giles Corey examined; Abigail Hobbes confesses to witchcraft |
| 20 April | Abigail Hobbes denounces The Rev. George Burroughs |
| 21 April | Warrants for Mary Easty, Edward and Sarah Bishop, Deliverance and William Hobbs, Sarah Wilds, Mary Black, Nehemiah Abbot Jr., and Mary English |
| 30 April | Warrants for George Burroughs, Dorcas Hoar, Sarah Morey, Phillip English |
| 4 May | Burroughs arrested in Maine, extradited |
| 10 May | Sarah Osborne dies in prison; George Jacobs Sr. arrested and granddaughter Margaret examined, she denounces herself, grandfather, and Burroughs |
| 14 May | New governor, Sir William Phips, arrives in Boston with new charter; Increase Mather also returns from England |
| 18 May | Mary Easty released |
| 27 May | Gov. Phips establishes of Court of Oyer and Terminer: Wm. Stoughton, Samuel Sewall, Bartholomew Gedney, John Richards, Waitstill Winthrop, Peter Sargeant |
| 29 May | Mary Easty arrested again as blamed for Mercy Lewis’ affliction; Sarah Osborne died in prison |
| 31 May | Martha Carrier, John Alden, Elizabeth Howe, Phillip English, Wilmott Redd examined; Captain John Alden arrested in Boston |
| 2 June | Oyer and Terminer Court convenes and convicts Bridget Bishop |
| 8 June | Nathaniel Saltanstall resigns from Court of Oyer and Terminer; replaced by Jonathan Corwin |
| 10 June | Bridget Bishop hanged (first person) |
| 15 June | “Return of Several [12] Ministers:” signed letter sent to government saying that court should stop using spectral evidence for convictions |
| 29 June | Rebecca Nurse, Susanna Martin, Sarah Good, Sarah Wyles, Elizabeth Howe on trial; Nurse acquitted first, found guilty on re-hearing |
| July | Captain John Alden escapes from prison |
| 19 July | Rebecca Nurse, Susanna Martin, Sarah Good, Sarah Wyles, Elizabeth Howe hanged |
| 23 July | Proctor and others ask for change of venue in letter to several ministers |
| Summer | Deodat Lawson’s A Brief and True Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages relating to sundry Persons afflicted by Witchcraft at Salem Village and [anonymously] Samuel Willard’s Some Miscellany Observations On our present Debates respecting Witchcrafts, in a Dialogue Between S. & B. published |
| 2 August | Testimony in Essex County by William Beale that ghost of Phillip English harmed him and killed son |
| 5 August | George Burroughs, John and Elizabeth Proctor, John Willard, George Jacobs, Martha Carrier tried |
| 19 August | George Burroughs (despite prayer), John Proctor, Martha Carrier, John Willard, and George Jacobs St. hanged |
| 6 September | Dorcas Hoar tried |
| 9 Sept | Martha Corey tried and found guilty; Giles Corey refused to plead; Sarah Cloyce indicted |
| 9-17 Sept | Mary Easty petitions court for reforms that “no more innocent blood may be shed” |
| 11 Sept | Martha Corey exiled |
| 16 Sept | Giles Corey refuses to plead |
| 17 Sept | Court convicts nine more |
| 19 Sept | Giles Corey pressed to death according to peine et forte dure |
| 22 Sept | Martha Corey (despite prayer), Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Margaret Scott, Wilmot Reed, Mary Parker, and Samuel Wardwell hanged (last to be executed) |
| 3 October | Increase Mather condemns use of spectral evidence and favors direct accusation (better ten witches escape than one innocent condemned) |
| 8 Oct | Thomas Battle’s “A Letter to a Reverend Gentleman,” critical of hunt |
| 12 Oct | Gov. Phips ends trials and bans publications |
| 29 Oct | Gov. Phips dissolves Court of Oyer and Terminer |
| November | Increase Mather’s Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits published |
| 5 Nov | New accusations in neighboring Gloucester |
| December | Ann Foster dies in prison |
| 1693 | |
| January | Cotton Mather’s, Wonders of the Invisible World published |
| 3 Jan | Superior Court of Judicature to handle further trials; of 56 still accused, condemns 3; for 5 more Stoughton signs death warrants; but Gov. Phips reprieves the 8 condemned; the other 49 of 52 survivors released because accusations based on spectral evidence; use of such evidence prohibited |
| 27 Jan | Elizabeth Proctor gives birth to a son in prison |
| 31 Jan | Chief Justice Stoughton walks off bench (to protest course of trials) |
| April | Capt. John Alden cleared by proclamation in Boston |
| May | Afflicted girls accuse wife of governor?; Gov. Phips pardons all suspected witches still in prison |
| July | Gov. Phips receives instructions from Queen Mary confirming the end of the trials |
| 1694 | Witchcraft removed as a legal offense |
| 1696 | Samuel Parris resigns |
| January | 12 Jurors of former Court of Oyer and Terminer submit apology |
| 10 June | Elizabeth Proctor petitions for name to be cleared |
| 17 December | Acting Governor Stoughton asks for day of Prayer and Fasting about “the late tragedy, raised among us by Satan” |
| 1697 | |
| January | Samuel Parris leaves Salem and transfers to Boston; New minister Joseph Green tries to reconcile parishioners |
| 14 Jan | General Court has Day of Fasting and Prayer about the trials; repentance of Judge Samuel Sewall read in church |
| 1698 | Robert Calef’s More Wonders of the Invisible World published |
| 1702 | General Court decides that spectral evidence and witchcraft procedure had been improperly used Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana and John Hale’s A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft published |
| 1706 | |
| 14 Feb | Ann Putnam Jr.’s statement asking forgiveness read in church |
| 1709 | Survivors and relatives of the dead ask for compensation |
| 1711 | |
| 17 Oct | Act of Reversal of Attainder by the Massachusetts Great and General Court: legislation to restore rights to accused and pay restitution carried out by Samuel Sewall |
| 1712 | Rebecca Nurse’s excommunication withdrawn |
| 1957 | Massachusetts removes any stigma from those accused and their descendants |
| 1992 | Various Memorials dedicated for Tercentennial in Danvers and Salem |
| 2017 | Memorial dedicated on Gallows Hill/Proctor’s Ledge |
| Ten
Theories about the Causes of the Witch Hunts: ideas by historians about the origins of the Witch Hunts |
Ten Common Errors and Myths about the Witch Hunts: corrections to mistaken ideas people frequently have about the Witch Hunts |
Timeline of the Hunts to 1800: chronology of key events, sources and people involved in the witch hunts |
| The SALEM WITCH HUNT TedED video Online Sources Pictures Annotated Books & Articles |
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| Primary Source: Letters from the Witch Trial of Rebecca Lemp: a family deals with accusations. |
Torture: a review of torture in the witch hunts and today. |
Suffer your own persecution! Try a witch hunt simulation: make choices to survive or not. |
