Bridget Bishop was the first person that was tried and executed during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was accused of anything from being caught signing the devil’s book to harming and bewitching others in their sleep. There were a series of accusers that testified against Bishop and their testimonies were used as evidence in her case.
Each so called witness had a different experience to tell, yet they were also very similar in some ways. Starting with John Louder, he stated that he was sleeping and he felt a large form of weight upon his chest. He claimed that Bishop was sitting on his stomach with her hands around his neck, choking him. He had no strength to help himself out of this situation and yet was a servant, and therefore was …show more content…
John and William were both hired to take down Bishop’s cellar wall in the house she formerly lived in. They allegedly saw multiple holes in the walls of the cellar, that each held many poppets. In today’s terms, poppets are known as voodoo dolls where each doll is supposed to represent a person and when the doll is stabbed with a pin, the person the doll represents is technically also supposed to be stabbed. They also witnessed one of their sows having a strange fit shortly after meeting with Bishop to be sold. It was seen jumping everywhere, knocking it’s head against the fence many times, acting blind and deaf, as well as foaming from the mouth. The Bly’s strongly believed that Bishop bewitched their sow. They were not alone on their accusations, making their testimonies very strong against …show more content…
If those in Salem believed that the Devil was near and that there were witches in the town and also having approximately seven witness’ that claimed I had done something to them, people are not going to believe you no matter what you say, that is a fact. She had no witness’ defend her so ultimately she was alone and had no one to help her. Later on in the trials if you confessed to being a witch, most could escape execution, in Bishop’s case, since she was the first one to be convicted, that path could not have helped her much at all. These charges are extremely farfetched to blame Bishop for your child being “sick” or your sow becoming “bewitched” because there is no solid evidence to prove that other than your word against
Each so called witness had a different experience to tell, yet they were also very similar in some ways. Starting with John Louder, he stated that he was sleeping and he felt a large form of weight upon his chest. He claimed that Bishop was sitting on his stomach with her hands around his neck, choking him. He had no strength to help himself out of this situation and yet was a servant, and therefore was …show more content…
John and William were both hired to take down Bishop’s cellar wall in the house she formerly lived in. They allegedly saw multiple holes in the walls of the cellar, that each held many poppets. In today’s terms, poppets are known as voodoo dolls where each doll is supposed to represent a person and when the doll is stabbed with a pin, the person the doll represents is technically also supposed to be stabbed. They also witnessed one of their sows having a strange fit shortly after meeting with Bishop to be sold. It was seen jumping everywhere, knocking it’s head against the fence many times, acting blind and deaf, as well as foaming from the mouth. The Bly’s strongly believed that Bishop bewitched their sow. They were not alone on their accusations, making their testimonies very strong against …show more content…
If those in Salem believed that the Devil was near and that there were witches in the town and also having approximately seven witness’ that claimed I had done something to them, people are not going to believe you no matter what you say, that is a fact. She had no witness’ defend her so ultimately she was alone and had no one to help her. Later on in the trials if you confessed to being a witch, most could escape execution, in Bishop’s case, since she was the first one to be convicted, that path could not have helped her much at all. These charges are extremely farfetched to blame Bishop for your child being “sick” or your sow becoming “bewitched” because there is no solid evidence to prove that other than your word against