The document discusses the Salem witch trials and various misconceptions about what occurred. It notes that both men and women were accused of witchcraft during the trials, with around 30 men among the 130 total victims. Different "tests" were used to identify witches, including searching their naked bodies for marks. Those accused had limited options, such as denying the charges, remaining silent, accepting guilt to avoid harsh punishment, or enduring poor jail conditions while awaiting trial. Some historians believe ergot poisoning from contaminated grain may have played a role in the events at Salem by causing hallucinations, though this theory does not fully explain why only women were targeted.

1. Salem witch trials
Legends vs Fact
By: Bobby Rehren-Zepeda
Fall 2017
HIST 1161-301

2. We’ve all heard about what happened in Salem
long ago, but how much do we really know?
• Many people misinterpret the
events differently by mistaking
what happened in Salem with the
witch hunts that took place in
England during the Black
Plague.
• Some things pop culture has
made us believe are that only
women were the ones targeted
and that burnings took place, but
that’s not necessarily the case.
• After researching about these
and other stories, there are many
misconceptions regarding the
Salem Witch Trials that need to
be investigated.

3. Who was targeted?
Even though most people believe that it was
only the women who were tried as witches.
• Link: http://mentalfloss.com/article/55276/17-
signs-youd-qualify-witch-1692
• Whenever a blog makes a list about “Signs
that You’d Qualify as a Witch in 1692” most
parts of that list would focus towards the
female gender.
• This is credible due to how various websites
do point out that most of the victims were
women.
Why did they target women?
• Link: https://exemplore.com/wicca-
witchcraft/Gender-Bias-in-Witch-hunts
• Back then, Puritans had a great fear towards
Satan and that women were seen as the weaker
gender and unable to fight off Satan.

4. Who else was targeted?
• Link: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-witch-trials-victims/
• While most of the victims accused were female, there were men who
were accused too.
• Because according to Rebecca Beatrice Brooks (sole author of the
history of Massachusetts website) there were 130 victims with 30 of
them being male.

5. Witch tests
Because of how difficult it was to prove whether or not someone was a
witch, want to be witch hunters often relied on abnormal methods to
convict accused magic users.

6. Religious Tests
Link: http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-bizarre-witch-trial-tests
Prayer Test
• People believed that witches
weren’t able to read or quote the
bible aloud without mistakes.
• Even if mistakes were made due
to nervousness or illiteracy,
many people viewed this test
with respect in high regards
towards as evidence of the
devil’s trickery.
Incantation
• The way this test worked was
that they’d ask the accused to
verbally command the devil to
let go of the possessed victim.

7. Touch Test
Link: http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-bizarre-witch-trial-tests
• The way this worked was that if a victim were to start having fits, the
suspect would then be brought into the room to touch the victim.
• If the fits didn’t stop after they were touched, the suspect was
innocent.
• If the fits did stop however, the suspect was found guilty.

8. Acts of Nudity
Link: http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-bizarre-witch-trial-tests
Witch Marks
• Hunters would proceed in
stripping the suspect nude and
then search for any unsightly
blemishes believing them to be
their mark of the pact of Satan.
Pricking/Scratching
• Hunters would (if they had
difficulty identifying any distinct
witch marks) would proceed to
scratch the body with needles.
• Doing so under the knowledge
that marks were insensitive and
wouldn’t bleed.

9. What options did people have if ever
accused as a witch?

10. Plea or Deny it
• Link: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/what-options-did-an-accused-
witch-have-in-salem/
• Most people wanted to deny it due to how Puritans believed that
confessing to being a witch was sinful.
• Even if they might be tortured or hanged, in death, they’ll be innocent
in the eyes of heaven.

11. Being mute
• Link: https://www.therichest.com/shocking/15-dark-truths-you-didnt-
know-about-the-salem-witch-trials/
• Some people believed that being silent while under accusation would
save them from the courts.
• Little did they know the lengths of torture they’d be put through until
they either confess or die.

12. Link:
https://roadtrippers.com/stories/the-
tragic-tale-of-giles-corey-accused-of-
witchcraft-in-1692
• In one instance a man by the name
of Giles Corey, refused to stand
trial because if he were convicted,
his property would be claimed by
the state.
• As a penalty he was then stripped
of his clothes, and pressed by
heavy stones. During this process,
the 81 year old would simply
reply “More weight!” when he
was asked to confess.
Giles Corey

13. Where did the witch
burning myth come
from?
• Link:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/crystalro/i
-just-learned-witches-were-never-
burned-at-the-salem-
witch?utm_term=.yo9NGvxmr5#.klll
JOvKAV
• Many people believe that there were
burnings in Salem during the witch
trials due to how common the
practices of burning people in Europe
was during the Black Plague as well
as how often the media uses the
visual of burnings whenever they
reenact the Salem witch trials.

14. •Acceptance
Link: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/what-options-did-an-accused-witch-
have-in-salem/
• People realized that by accepting accusations of being a witch, they
had a better chance of living longer because of the differences in
punishments.
• The only problem however, besides the poor conditions of the jail, was
the Puritan belief that lying is a sin and will damn their souls.

15. •Jail Conditions
Link: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ma-salemcourt2.html
• Despite the escape of the
gallows, prisoners were not
treated kindly.
• To the population of the jail, it
felt more like a dungeon due to
the conditions.
• The rooms were small and
contained no bedspread due to
them originally only intending to
be temporary.
• Were infested with many rodents.
• Prisons sadly didn’t save you from
the church’s inspections, insults,
and inevitable damnation.
• Got hot in the summers but cold
during the winters with water
going to your ankles during the
high tides.
• Occupants were also bound with
rope and chains for many days.
• As well as any attempts to escape
leading towards immediate
execution.

16. Ergot Poisoning

17. What is it?
Link: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-deadly-bread-bewitched-a-french-
village-123126177/
• During the wet summer of 1951, a
small town called Pont Saint-Esprit
a baker is given a new surplus of
flour that’s oddly gray and with no
other choice to use it in his bread.
• In less than 48 hours, about 230
members of the community became
ill.
• At first the bread caused symptoms
similar to severe food poisoning,
causing people to vomit and have
days without sleep.
• The unlucky few, however, had
worse symptoms. By experiencing
crazy hallucinations, muscle
spasms, and inflamed limbs with
some even experiencing gangrene.
• Throughout a few weeks, the
“cursed bread” brought disorder to
the town. Causing five deaths in
total.
• Some people speculate that ergot
poisoning could be a likely cause.

18. Connection to Salem
Links: https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/drugged-salem-witchtrial2.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidence/1501/
• In the 1970s, Linnda Caporeal found a connection between the incidents
that took place in Salem during 1692 and a common grain fungus.
• Her reasoning pointing towards the symptoms the accused experienced
being similar to what happened in Pont Saint-Esprit.
• As well as the fact that, like the wet summer experienced at Pont Saint-
Esprit, Salem experienced a rainy summer in 1692 with knowledge how the
ergot spreads easily during damp weather.
• But some historians don’t think ergot was the cause in Salem with Dr. Peter
Hoffer quoted saying, “Why only the girls, why not others…Why only
[1692], why not previous years and later years?”

19. Conclusion
• It wasn’t only women who were targeted.
• Being accused as a witch didn’t lead towards immediate death
depending how you responded to it.
• Although there’s large amount of evidence towards the ergot poison
theory for what happened in Salem it doesn’t explain why only women
were targeted due to religious views.