The year is 1692, you, a widowed woman (now your only identity in the village of Salem), sit quietly in your small house. The villagers do not like to associate with one another due to their extreme fear of disease, and their constant battles against their Native American neighbours and groups of French settlers have resulted in the isolation of the village. To ease the pain in your heart, you decide to learn methods and remedies for curing other people. Your motive is simple, your script of loss should not be repeated by any other woman. However, a noble cause never really attracted a kind reaction, especially when it is done by a woman. Frantic men with eyes glowing red with wildness break into your peace. People stand behind them, like spectators of a grand theatre. They steal glances, murmur comments, while the mighty pride of the men stands taller than them. They drag you, and, as if pulling a sack of grains, take you out of your house, while your neighbours stare down, watching each scene of the theatre roll. You stand against the court, head bowed, not with shame but utter confusion. The judge uses words with no relation to you: “witchcraft”, “Cannibal”, “Devil’s attendant”, “pagan”, and so many more. No one believes your plea of truth; your motive is now false. Finally, the ending scene rolls, the one that had called in the audience. Will you confess to a crime you never committed, or will you deny it. One will lead to life, covered in a coat of lies, and another will lead to the end. So, dear witch, what shall you choose? A life where each beat is a lie, or a death where the rope around you is made of threads of dignity?

This was a mere mirror to what the accusers of witchcraft faced back in 1692 and 1693. The Salem Witch Trials are widely known as one of the most inhumane chapters of history. A vivid portrayal of how justice is often shaped by human beliefs rather than truth. These pages of history bear with them how even the force of truth crumbles before human extremism and rigid faith. Salem, an isolated village in Massachusetts, was established by a group of English Protestants, called the Puritans, back in 1626.  The people survived on the terror of starvation and disease, and in the year 1692, Salem faced one of the harshest winters. The beginning of the atrocious witch hunt was marked by the weird behaviour expressed by the 9-year-old Betty Paris, and the 11-year-old Abigali Williams, two cousins. The physician was unable to find anything wrong with their bodies, and told the village that both the cousins were under the “devil’s hand.” In the faith of the Puritans, it is said that the Devil uses agents, or witches, to turn the human world upside down. The spreading of the news revealed more people admitting to having the listed symptoms. Almost 12 people agreed to having fits and feeling a weird sense of pricking on their skin. Soon, four girls accused three local women of practicing witchcraft, and spreading torment: Sarah Good, a poor pregnant mother, Sarah Osborn, a woman who was absent from the church for a long time, and Tituba, one of the slaves of Betty Paris. Tituba, even though having denied the accusations laid upon her, later agreed to them and said she was practicing under the devil’s order. He also dragged the other two women, and three of them were sentenced to jail, even though Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn continued to maintain their innocence. Sarah Osborn died in jail, and Sarah Good gave birth in the confined bars and lost her child there. Sarah Good’s husband turned against her in court, and even her 4-year-old daughter gave testimony against her mother. At the end, Good was hanged. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Paris was sent away to live with her relatives to escape the uproar. Abigali Williams, however, played a prominent role in accusing 57 people of witchcraft. Her fate later is lost under the piles of accusations. Ann Putram Jr., who later joined the congregation, accused 60 people of witchcraft. Elizabeth Hubbard ended up testifying against 29 people, out of which 13 were executed.

Accusations were thrown like stones against one another, and the voice of the truth was hanged, thousands beckoning the action. Courts heard nothing except testimonies and gave out orders based on an extremist religious mindset. Nothing was left to be proven when you are accused of being a witch. The accusation brought in so much shame that even the loved ones fell before it and lied if they wished to. At the end, this series of injustice ended in May 1693, resulting in more than 200 accused, 30 found guilty (or rather forced to be), and 25 dead. They died in jails, even pressed to death, but most were publicly executed with viewers embracing the scene. 

Witches are often defined as people who are driven by malice; they gain their powers from local demons and are believed to be the absolute opposite of human morality. Almost all cultures from around the world have the evil spirit of a witch in them, their forms may just be different. However,  it is safe to say that the concept of witches, as a whole, once served us to set up a basic morality, and played a very prominent role in building up the concept of justice. Yet, what happens when the very system that we built to oppose the wrong evolves to become the hub of wrongdoings? The trials held at the courtrooms of Salem show us that when culture dominates, it is justice that loses its position. The age-old belief of women being the weaker gender, and hence being more prone to being the servants of such malicious practices still runs deep in our minds. Independent, lone, or educated women appeared more suspicious because of the patriarchy that existed. The very concept of women being subjects to men, or always being dependent on them resulted in women being accused of evil practices if they did not fit the mould. Breaking the cage, back then, was not breaking free but escaping into torture. 

It would be unfair not to highlight the fact that even though it was mostly women who faced accusations, men were also held guilty in the courtrooms. The fear of the agents of the devil turning the world upside down had helped in the spreading of the mass hysteria. And, when hysteria engulfed the village, it did not forget to take in the patriarchy too. Although most accusations were based on the ‘women are weaker’ concept, that did not save innocent men from being executed as well. Courtrooms in Salem not only reflected the societal beliefs, but also became a hub of their cultivation. Justice was an abstract concept in the courtrooms where a macabre of injustice took place. People were often pushed into believing or confessing that they were witches, mostly because denying it would result in either death or years in prison. Testimonies were taken into consideration without any proof being presented. Mothers were separated, daughters were hanged, while the culture tightly held onto the empathy of people. The culture that always represented women being the dependent gender, spoke the loudest in the courtrooms where orders were passed as if a life did not depend on them. The courts believed what they served was justice because that is how their culture portrayed it. But if we look beyond it, all we see is mass hysteria instigated by fear, and people reacting recklessly to it. Once culture acknowledges courtrooms, the real malice begins.

Since the times of the Salem Witch trials, our courtrooms have significantly evolved into aiming precisely for justice and serving it as righteously as possible. They are now mostly focused on evidence rather than only on testimonies. They aim for more reliable sources. The concept of gender credibility still rests like fog in the back of our minds; however, with the introduction of more neutral laws, it has been reduced to an extent. However, the courtrooms are still far from becoming what they were built for. We shall not forget that even though the concept of witches has almost faded away and now exists more in mere folktales, patriarchy is not yet confined to pages, but is very much omnipresent.