The Salem Witch Craze’s First Victim
Tituba’s confession that she was a witch, and her accusation of other women as being witches as well, led to mass hysteria throughout the Salem region and colonial Massachusetts. Over the following months, a flood of accusations poured in, and the more farfetched they were, the more they solidified the populace’s belief in the potency of witchcraft and enhanced the panic. When the godly and regular churchgoer Martha Corey was accused of witchcraft, the accusation did not give the good people of Salem pause. Instead, it merely redoubled their fears: if solid citizen Martha Corey could be a witch, then anybody could be a witch.
On May 27th, 1692, the colony’s governor ordered that a special court be established to try the accused. Its first victim was Bridget Bishop, an unpopular older woman known as a gossip, and who had a reputation for promiscuity. She protested her innocence, but it did her no good. She was convicted, sentenced to death, and hanged on June 10th in what became known as Gallows Hill. Five more were convicted and hanged in July, another five in August, and eight more that September.
