May 11th, Friday – Off We Went – Again

Today was going to be another day of sight-seeing.  Today would be Lexington, Concord and the American Revolution.  Since these locations were much closer to home we had no need to rush out this morning.  Therefore, we took our time, got things together, and finally off we went.

But before we get to today, let’s go back to yesterday and finish up our tour of Salem.  Salem, as I hope you have gathered by now, is much more than the witch trials.  Salem is witches, and ocean ships, making waves through literature, settlers, pirates and trading.

Yet, when one thinks of Salem it is true that they almost always think of witches.  This for

a fact is the event that Salem is most known for during 1692.  What caused the hysteria?  What were the circumstances leading up to it?  Many believe it began with the Reverend

Samuel Parris, who became Salem Village’s first ordained minister in 1689, and was disliked because of his rigid ways and greedy nature. The Puritan villagers believed all the quarreling was the work of the Devil.

In January of 1692, Reverend Parris’ daughter Elizabeth, age 9, and niece Abigail Williams, age 11, started having “fits.” They screamed, threw things, uttered peculiar

 

sounds and contorted themselves into strange positions, and a local doctor blamed the supernatural. Another girl, Ann Putnam, age 11, experienced similar episodes. On February 29, under pressure from magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, the girls blamed three women for afflicting them: Tituba, the Parris’ Caribbean slave; Sarah Good, a homeless beggar; and Sarah Osborne, an elderly impoverished woman.  The following is a picture from the Salem Witch Museum Tituba teaching the young girls.

 

All three women were brought before the local magistrates and interrogated for several days, starting on March 1, 1692. Osborne claimed innocence, as did Good. But Tituba confessed, “The Devil came to me and bid me serve him.”

This is a dramatization of one of the trials based on actual records from that day.

With the seed of paranoia planted, a stream of accusations followed for the next few months.  The result was that in only three months’ time 19 innocent people, 14 women and  men, were hanged, and one man was pressed to death.

The following is a picture of an in-floor mural with the names of those unlawfully charged and killed.

It was a time of hysteria, when courts believed in the devil, spectral evidence and teenage girls. Following the trials and executions, many involved, like judge Samuel Sewall, publicly confessed error and guilt. On January 14, 1697, the General Court ordered a day of fasting and soul-searching for the tragedy of Salem. In 1702, the court declared the trials unlawful. And in 1711, the colony passed a bill restoring the rights and good names of those accused and granted £600 restitution to their heirs. However, it was not until 1957—more than 250 years later—that Massachusetts formally apologized for the events of 1692.

The question now becomes What has been learned from the Salem Witch Trials?  The witch trials represent more than just a creepy moment in history: they stand for the terrible victory of prejudice over reason, and fear over courage – a contest that has been replayed, with different actors, again and again since 1692. Modern witch hunts include the roundup of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the pursuit of Communists in the ’50s and today?  The Salem witch trials are a vivid illustration of what can happen when individuals, communities, even an entire country are overtaken by mass hysteria.  The Salem Witch Trials and what fueled them need to be remembered so that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated today.

So we are at the end of our day.  Tomorrow I’m going to bring everything up to date, in particular what we discovered today.   Today was another remarkable day of discovery, of standing where history was made, and learning of the patriotism that brought about the freedoms we enjoy today.  Once again we traveled the road of discovery hand in hand, side by side, enjoying our time together.  We hope you had an equally great day as well.  If not, then remember there is always tomorrow.  In closing, a thought for all of us:

The Past cannot be forgotten, changed or erased

However, the lessons learned

Can and should prepare us for a better tomorrow

So that’s it for now.  As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.  Thanks again for sharing our day with us.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before