Old Salem Witch Jail
Housed accused people during the Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692-93 was a filthy rat infested dungeon located close to the north river. The Old Salem Witch Jail was used to house criminals who were generally waiting to be executed. Construction of the dungeon was approved by the town of Salem in 1683. The constuction of the Old Salem Witch jail was completed in 1684, and was constructed of hand hewn oak timbers and siding, and was 70 by 280 feet. There were no bars for strangely puritan prisoners accepted their punishment. The few who did not and escaped the Old Salem Witch were generally caught and killed. Either way the end result was the same. The prisoners had to pay for their food, and were generally kept short of water so as to make them more likeley to confess. Despite its terrible conditions the Old Salem Witch jail was a social gathering place. The Old Salem Witch jail staff sold alcohol to people who came in the night to play chess. The jailers stripped the women so as to examine and prick them in search of witches marks. Both the women and their family members were tortured for confessions. Many of the victims died in jail. The saleries of the magistrate, sheriff, hangman and other staff had to be paid by the accused. The prisoners were also billed for the fetters, chains and cuffs. Fees were also charged for being searched for witches markes. People with money were somtimes able to bribe their way out. Victims were taken from the Old Salem Witch jail by oxcart to the gallows hill. Their dead bodies left swaying from the branches of the locust trees could be seen from the centre of the town. Eventually with the end of the witch hysteria the Old Salem Witch jail was closed and sold into private hands and used as a residence. In 1863 it was purshased by Abner Goodell the state historian. In response to the public the Goodells opened the Old Salem Witch jail to the public in 1935.
Arras Witch Trials
Took place in Arras in France in 1459 - 1460. The victims of the Arras trials were tortured and then burned at the stake. The witchcraft trials were one of the earliest conducted in the area. The Arras affair began at Langres in 1459, when a hermit was arrested. Under torture, he admitted attending a sabbat, and named a prostitute and an elderly poet of Arras as his companions. The hermit was burned at the stake. The inquisitors arrested and tortured his accused accomplices. A widening pool of accusations, arrests, tortures and confessions spread like wildfire through Arras. People of all ages and classes were arrested. The inquisitor was spurred on by two fanatical dominican monks. The dominicans believed that one third of the population of Europe was witches, and if they had there way almost the entire population of Europe would have been murdered. Anyone against burning witches was in their opinion also a witch. The victims were placed on a rack and tortured. The soles of their feet were put in to flames, and they were made to drink oil and vinegar. They confessed to whatever the inquisitors wanted. They also named other innocent people in Arras in accordance with the inquisitors leading questions and torture. The inquisitors lied to the victims, promising them their freedom in return for a confession. But the victims were sent to the stake where they were denounced in public and burned alive. Eventually the witch hunt took a toll on business in the city. Arras was a manufacturing and trade centre and many people stopped doing business there. By the end of 1460 the Duke of Burgundy intervened and the arrests stopped. In 1461 the Parliament of Paris demanded the release of those imprisoned. In 1491 the Parliament condemned the cruelty and tortures of the catholic inquisition.
