Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials are hearings that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in the years 1691 and 1692. There were more than 200 people accused, resulting in around 20 executions of suspected witches, who tended to be women. At the time, Massachusetts was controlled by Puritans and religion and politics are together. Despite the name, these witch trials did not happen only in Salem. They happened in the surrounding towns of Danvers, Salem Town, and Ipswich. These events are considered influential in US history in the 1780s when the US constitution was written and the 1980s when people were being accused of witchcraft 300 years later by Christian conservatives.