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00 : 06
You've been accused of a ____________________ you did not commit . It's impossible to ____________________ your innocence . If you insist that you're innocent anyway , you'll likely be found ____________________ and executed . But if you ____________________ , apologize , and implicate others for good measure , you'll go ____________________ . Do you give a false confession ? or risk a public ____________________ ?


00 : 29
This was the choice facing those accused of witchcraft in the village of Salem , ____________________ between February 1692 and May 1693 . They were the victims of paranoia about the supernatural , misdirected religious fervor ? and a justice system that valued repentance over ____________________ .


00 : 50
Salem was settled in 1626 by ____________________ , a group of English protestants . Life was strict and isolated for the people of Salem . Battles with their Native American neighbors and groups of French settlers were commonplace . People feared starvation and disease , and relations between villagers were ____________________ . To make matters worse , 1692 brought one of the coldest winters on record .


01 : 15
That winter , two cousins , 9 year old Betty Parris and 11 year old Abigail Williams started behaving very strangely . A physician found nothing physically wrong ? but diagnosed the girls as under ? an evil ____________________ . ? Puritans believed that the Devil wreaked havoc in the world through human agents , or witches , who blighted nature , conjured fiendish apparitions , and tormented children .


01 : 44
As news swept through the village , the symptoms appeared to spread . Accounts describe 12 so - called ? afflicted ? girls contorting their bodies , having fits , and complaining of prickling skin . Four of the girls soon accused three local women of tormenting them .


02 : 04
All three of the accused were considered ____________________ in some way . On February 29th , the authorities arrested Sarah Good , a poor pregnant mother of a young daughter , Sarah Osbourne , who had long been absent from church and was suing the family of one of her accusers , and Tituba , an enslaved woman in Betty Parris's home known by her first name only .


02 : 27
Tituba denied harming the girls at first . But then she confessed to practicing witchcraft on the Devil's ____________________ , and charged Good and Osbourne with having forced her . Osbourne and Good both maintained their innocence . Osbourne died in prison , while Good's husband turned against her in court , testifying that she " was a ____________________ or would be one very quickly . " Good's 4 year old daughter was imprisoned and eventually gave testimony against her mother . Meanwhile , Good gave birth in jail . Her baby died , and she was convicted and hanged shortly thereafter . Tituba was held in custody until May , and then released .


03 : 10
These three victims were just the beginning . As accusations multiplied , others , like Tituba , made false confession to save themselves . The authorities even reportedly told one accused witch that she would be hanged if she did not confess , and freed if she did . They were not particularly interested in thoroughly investigating the charges ? in keeping with their ____________________ teachings , they preferred that the accused confessed , asked for ____________________ , and promised not to engage in more witchcraft .


03 : 42
The court accepted all kinds of dubious evidence , including so - called ? spectral evidence ? in which the girls began raving when supposedly touched by invisible ____________________ . Complicating matters further , many of the jurors in the trials were relatives of the accusers , compromising their objectivity .


04 : 04
Those who dared to speak out , such as Judge Nathanial Saltonstall , came under suspicion . By the spring of 1693 , over a hundred people had been imprisoned , and 14 women and 6 men had been ____________________ . By this time , accusations were starting to spread beyond Salem to neighboring communities , and even the most powerful ____________________ were targets . When his own wife was accused , the governor of Massachusetts colony suspended the trials . Sentences were amended , prisoners released , and arrests ____________________ .


04 : 38
Some have speculated that the girls were suffering from hallucinations caused by fungus ; or a condition that caused swelling of the brain . But ultimately , the reason for their behavior is ____________________ . What we do know is that adults accepted wild accusations by children as hard evidence . Today , the Salem Witch Trials remain a cautionary tale of the dangers of groupthink and scapegoating , and the power of fear to manipulate human perception .