Abigail Williams - Salem Witch Trials

Salem Witch Trials

Abigail was born on July 12, 1680. She and her cousin Betty Parris were the first two accusers in the Salem Witch trials of 1692. Williams was around eleven or twelve years old at the time and she was living with her uncle Samuel Parris in Salem. According to Rev. Deodat Lawson, an eyewitness, she and Betty began to have fits in which they ran around rooms flailing their arms, ducking under chairs and trying to climb up the chimney.

This troubled the villagers of Salem. Samuel Parris, who was the local minister, decided to call in a doctor to determine whether or not these afflictions were medical. The physician, William Griggs, had difficulties understanding the actions of the two young girls. Griggs believed it was not a medical issue, rather, he suggested it must be witchcraft. One of Parris’ slaves, Tituba, was then asked to bake a witch cake— rye mixed with the afflicted girls’ urine— and feed the mixture to a dog. The theory was that if Abigail and Betty were bewitched, the dog would exhibit similar symptoms and prove that witchcraft was indeed present and being practiced. Another reason may have been food poisoning: the girls may have eaten a "Witch's Stew" as part of their games that may have contained inedible or uncooked ingredients. In 1976, Linnda R. Caporael put forward the theory that these strange symptoms may have been caused by ergotism, the ingestion of fungus-infected rye.

Because of Abigail and Betty's claims to be possessed, false accusations would soon be made, causing 20 deaths . On February 29th, 1692, three women were arrested for suspicion of witchcraft: Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba herself. They were all found guilty, but the only one to confess was Tituba. Since the other two women did not confess, Good was hanged, and Osborne died in prison. Tituba was luckily released out of jail a year later, when an unknown person paid her fees for release. Nonetheless, Abigail and Betty’s trend of accusing innocents rapidly spread throughout Salem and nearby villages (especially Andover), leading to the death of several innocent people. Martha Corey was hanged, and her husband Giles was executed by crushing. John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse were executed, and one dog was also hanged.

As the witch trials were coming to an end, Abigail ran away from Salem. There were rumours that twenty years later, Abigail turned up working as a prostitute in Boston.