Frank MahoneyBurroughs
George Burroughs
I decided to do my blog on George Burroughs a man who was
tried as a witch in Salem in 1692. George started life back in Suffolk, England
back in 1652. Burroughs moved to Massachusetts and was raised by his mother right
in Roxbury. George grew up and eventually went to and graduated from Harvard in
1670 with high honors. He would later move to Salem where he became the village
minister from 1680 to 1683. While he was minister in Salem Burroughs borrowed
some money from the Putnam family and this caused strain on the relationship
due to Burroughs not being able to pay off the debt. Burroughs would eventually
pay back the debt to the Putnam family but not until 12 years later after he
moved to Wells, Maine. There he thought he was done with the Putnam family how
wrong he was.
Burroughs was charged with witchcraft in 1692 and was
brought back to Salem to face trial. Among some of the few who accused him was
Ann Putnam the daughter of the family who he had once borrowed money from. Some of the “facts” in his case were as
obscure as being able to life a rifle up with just his fingers in barrel with
his “extraordinary strength”, or how he practiced his Puritan faith, some saw
him as a dissenter. At his trial Burroughs was asked if all of his children
were baptized and he responded that only one of his children was actually
baptized. Many of his accusers made claims that he would ask them to write in
his book of witches, or that he had taken them up on top of mountains and showed
them many worlds using his powers. Burroughs was accused of being a “Ring
leader” and trying to persuade people to leave the grace of God and join Satan.
While on the gallows Burroughs gave a speech declaring his
innocence to the crime of witchcraft, but in the end he was tried and sentenced
to death by hanging on August 19, 1692 at the infamous Witches Hill. After his
death Burroughs’ was cut down and dragged to a shallow grave about two feet
deep. His clothes were torn from his dead body and then thrown into his final
resting place.
New England’s Witches and Wizards. By Robert Ellis Cahill
Frank, Thank you for this post. It is important to tell all the individual stories of the people who were tried and put to death during the Witch Trials.
ReplyDeleteFrank, taking this course has been a real eye opener for me. Do you know people still believe in witchcraft in some parts of the world? The experience Mr Burroughs went through is eerily similar to somethings I witnessed growing up. Looks like history is repeating itself.
ReplyDeleteThe witch trials will always be an interesting topic. Like Ruth said, people still believe and "practice" a sort of witch craft today. I guess that in their defense it is the only things that they can go on to make a medicine.
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