The Salem witch trials of 1692 are a fascinating and complex event in American history. This page has been created to assist educators as they incorporate this important subject into their curriculum.
Our FAQ page has been developed to answer commonly asked questions related to this topic.
Our Student Question Video Series also addresses many of these questions, and includes short videos for younger audiences, as well as longer videos about twentieth century witch hunts for older learners.
Check out our Recommended Reading list for suggestions of books about the Salem witch trials, witch trials in New England, European witch trials, and for young readers.
This overview of the existing Salem Witch Trials Primary Sources describes the various surviving records of the witchcraft trials and provides links to digital transcriptions.
We offer virtual programming for students from elementary through university level. Current programs include; The Salem Witch Trials (grades 6-12); The Crucible Fact vs. Fiction (grades 9-12); Life in Colonial New England (grades 3-7); Witches: Evolving Perceptions (grades 9-12); The Salem Witch Trials and Public Memory (grades 9-12); The Salem Witch Trials and Seventeenth-Century Law (grade 12 and university courses).
Each year our Department of Education offers virtual lectures covering a variety of subjects. Past lectures include: “Learning from our Mistakes: Researching the Salem Witch Trials”; “Race and the Salem Witch Trials”; “Hidden History: Japanese Internment and Other Asian American Witch Hunts”; “‘Crazed in her Understanding:’ Women’s Woes During the Salem Witch Trials,” “Beyond Salem: The Witch Trials in Torsåker Sweden”; and more!
Our Witch Trials Online Sites Tour allows you to view sites related to the 1692 Salem witch trials in Essex and Middlesex counties, plus the greater Boston area. Select a town or city to learn about relevant locations and view pictures. Included are original houses, foundations, grave sites, historical markers, and approximate locations of homes that are no longer standing.
Lesson Plans
Elementary
Life in Colonial New England Make Your Own Fabric Doll Activity
Life in Colonial New England Make Your Own Hand Loom
Middle School
Salem Witch Trials Creative Writing Lesson Plan
High School
Salem Witch Trials Primary Sources Lesson Plan
Arthur Miller and House Un-American Activities Committee Lesson Plan
Archival Resources
Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
This is an exceptional online resource containing primary source and secondary source materials related to the Salem witch trials. If you would like to view images of the original court documents from the Salem witch trials, this website has a selection of many of the digitized records.
The Danvers Archival Center houses a rich collection of objects, including several items related to the Salem witch trials. In 1692, what is now the town of Danvers was known as Salem Village. The first afflictions, witchcraft accusations, and examinations took place in this area. This website contains a lot of great information, including an “Ask the Archivist” FAQ, information about Salem witch trials sites located in Danvers, and information about the Danvers Witchcraft Victims Memorial.
Located in Rowley, Massachusetts, this library is one of the oldest in the country and houses numerous seventeenth century documents. Primary and secondary sources can be viewed by appointment. Additionally, a selection of witch trials documents included in the Peabody Essex Museum’s collection can be viewed here.
Congregational Library and Archives
The Congregational Library and Archives is an excellent resource for early colonial history. They have created a research guide to help find resources related to the Salem witch trials. These include church records from communities involved in the trials, such as Danvers (formerly Salem Village), Salem, Marblehead, and Topsfield as well as records from Boston’s Second Church where both Increase Mather and Cotton Mather served as ministers.
Imagery of Witch Trials
There are no contemporary illustrations of the Salem witch trials. However, over the centuries artists have envisioned both the Salem witch trials as well as fictionalized colonial witch trials. Below is an impartial list of some of these notable illustrations.
“The Witch No. 1,” J.E. Baker, c. 1892, held in the collection of the Library of Congress
“Martha Corey and her Persecutors” in Stranger’s Illustrated Guide to Boston and its Suburbs, James Stark, 1882.
“Arresting a Witch,” Howard Pyle, 1883-07, held in the collection of the New York Public Library
“The Trial of George Jacobs,” Thomas H. Matteson, 1855, held in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum
“Examination of a Witch,” Thomas H. Matteson, 1853, held in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum
“Witch Hill” or “Salem Martyr,” Thomas Satterwhite Noble, 1869, held in the collection of the New York Historical Society
“Witchcraft at Salem Village,” in Pioneers in the Settlement of America, William A. Crafts, Vol. I, 1876
Illustrated editions of “Giles Corey of Salem Farms”, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1868
“A Salem Witch Trial,” by Frank O. Small, in Stepping Stones of American History, 1904.
“The Trial of the Salem Witches,” George Fuller, 1897, replicated in International Studio, 1922.
“What a sad thing it is to see Eight Firebrands of Hell hanging there,” in “Stories of Salem Witchcraft,” Winfield S. Nevins, Part II, New England Magazine, September 1891-February 1892.
Illustrated editions of “Mable Martin: A Harvest Idyl”, John Greenleaf Whitter, 1876
Illustrated editions of “Dulcibel: A Tale of Old Salem” by Henry Peterson, 1907
“The Witches,” Walter MacEwen, c.1893
Portraits of Individuals Involved in the Salem Witch Trials
There are very few surviving portraits of individuals involved in the Salem witch trials. No contemporary illustrations survive of any of the victims nor any female involved in this infamous witch hunt.
Chief Justice William Stoughton
Recommended Articles and Lectures
- “Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: Fact & Fiction (or Picky, Picky, Picky)”, Margo Burns. Created by historian Margot Burns, co-editor of Records of the Salem Witch Hunt, this website gives a detailed overview of the many historical mistakes and exaggerations in Arthur Miller’s famous play The Crucible.
- “The Case of Giles Corey,” David Brown, Essex Institute Historical Collections, Volume 121, October 1985, pg. 282-299. This article considers the major misconceptions surrounding the traditional explanation for the pressing of Giles Corey. Rather than submit to this brutal torture to save his land, Brown illustrates how this is longstanding interpretive error is actually contrary to the law in Massachusetts of the day.
- “That Child, Betty Parris’: Elizabeth (Parris) Barron and the People in her Life”, Marilynne Roach, Essex Institute Historical Collections, Volume 124, January 1988, pg. 1-27. Written by historian Marilynne Roach, author of the Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege and Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials, this article gives detailed information about the lives of Samuel and Elizabeth Parris after the witchcraft trials.
- “Cotton Mather and the Salem Witch Trials: Separating Fact from Fiction,” Marilynne Roach, Rachel Christ-Doane, Tricia Peone. This collaborative lecture hosted by the Congregational Library and Archives and Salem Witch Museum delves into Reverend Cotton Mather’s complicated involvement in the Salem witch trials and subsequent portrayal in popular culture.
- Historian On Set: The Filming of Three Sovereigns for Sarah, Richard Trask, Danvers Archival Center. This fascinating article describes the process of bringing accuracy and realism to the filming the PBS mini series Three Sovereigns for Sarah. Richard Trask is a noted historian and Archivist of the Town of Danvers.
- Portrait of Samuel Parris, Danvers Archival Center. This website gives a brief overview about the only known portrait of Samuel Parris.
- “Salem Gallows Hill Project”, Marilynne Roach. This lecture discusses the search for the site of the 1692 executions.
- “The Salem Witchcraft Trials and Ergot, the ‘Moldy Bread’ Hypothesis”, Margo Burns. This is lecture gives an engaging overview of the ergot theory, how it was debunked, and why this misconception has remained prevelent in popular culture to this day.
- The Salem Witch Trials Memorial: Finding Humanity in Tragedy, Jill Christiansen and Rachel Christ-Doane, Smithsonian Folklife Magazine. Published during the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Salem Witch Trials Memorial, this article gives an overview of the complicated process of creating this monument.
- “The Untold Story of Dorothy Good: A Tragic Life After the Salem Witch Trials”, Rachel Christ-Doane. Written by the Salem Witch Museum’s Director of Education, this article discusses the discovery of records which shed new light on the tragic adult years of Dorothy Good, the youngest person arrested during the Salem witch trials.
- “Why I Wrote the Crucible” Arthur Miller, The New Yorker. Reflecting on experiences from the sociopolitical landscape of the 1940s and 1950s as well as his personal life, this 1996 retrospective discusses Miller’s motivations to write The Crucible
Modern Witch Hunts
- Salem Witch Museum Witch Hunt Wall Project
- Virtual lecture with Dr. Leo Igwe, Director of Advocacy for Alleged Witches, about ongoing witch hunts in Africa.
- New York Times article, published May, 2023 about ongoing witch hunts in India.
- Massachusetts Witch Hunt Justice Project has been attempting to exonerate the remaining individuals convicted of witchcraft in Massachusetts who have yet to be cleared.
- Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project is a dedicated volunteer coalition that successfully led the 2022-2023 initiative to exonerate those wrongfully accused of witchcraft in Connecticut. The group has now turned its focus to establishing a permanent memorial for the Connecticut victims of witch trials.
- End Witch Hunts is an advocacy group which facilitates education on witch-hunts of the past and the present in order to advance the elimination of witch-hunting by touching minds and influencing changes in thinking and behavior.
- Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany by Monica Black delves into surprising surge of witchcraft accusations which arose in the aftermath of World War II.