Salem Witch Trials
Please post your comments and suggestions for this article.
Comment by Eileen Williams on May 12th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
“Several others, including Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor and Abigail Faulkner were convicted and sentenced to death, but the sentence could not be carried out immediately because the women were pregnant. The women would still be hanged, but not until they had given birth.”
The above sentence is inaccurate because it suggests that Elizabeth Proctor was hanged after giving birth; in fact she was not.
Comment by David Doose on May 26th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Can you provide a reference that supports your point? I would be glad to make a change once you provide it. Thanks.
Comment by Margo Burns on August 24th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Hi!
This sentence in the article is misleading: “In March, Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Dorothy Good (incorrectly called Dorcas Good on her arrest warrant), and Rachel Clinton were condemned.” None of these people were legally “condemned” in March. They were arrested and questioned by the magistrates in March, who then found sufficient cause to hold them over for formal prosecution. Only Corey and Nurse were ultimately “condemned” by the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Nurse in July, and Corey in September. Clinton petitioned to be released from Ipswich prison in late 1692 (See Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, No. 702), and Dorothy Good was released in December 1692 on recognizance (See Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt No. 719).
Regarding the comment by Eileen Williams: Elizabeth (Bassett) Procter and Abigail (Dane) Faulkner Sr. are both referenced in Calef’s More Wonders of the Invisible World as having been pregnant at the time of their convictions, and having their executions put off because of it. See Calef as reprinted in Burr’s Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases: p. 360 for Eliz. Procter, p. 366 for Faulkner. Both women survived the episode, and in 1703 were parties in an appeal for a reversal of attainder on their capital felony convictions (See Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt No. 877).
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