Witches of Salem

 Witchcraft or mass hysteria?

The infamous Salem trials took place in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 to 1693. These trials were a series of hearings for people accused of witchcraft. People's obsession with witches has been a pressing topic for years now. But was it just that? Or was it something much more sinister. The story reveals the dirty truth of politics and prejudice of the human race.

In the 17th century, there were two Salem's on the north coast of Massachusetts. The Salem village and the town of Salem. The two Salem's had their regular conflicts for political and religious matters. The members of the Salem community were very religious in nature. They strictly followed the Bible and weren't very forgiving towards people who didn't. 

In 1689, Samuel Parris, a local religious man, became the minister of the Salem village. But many were not happy with it as he was not the greatest man of all time. Regardless, his family moved in from Boston and they started living in the assigned ministry home. 

One day Samuel's 11 year old daughter, Betty and his niece, Abigail went missing for a short period of time. Which they probably ran away to escape everything for a moment. But it raised some eyebrows in the conservative community. They returned home safely shortly after but in February of 1692 both of the girls started showing strange symptoms. They had severe fever, they would hide under tables and cry out of some kind of pain and their body would convulse into unhuman positions. The girls claimed to be bitten and pinched on their neck, arms and back. The family tried everything they could to help them but the home remedies and the prayers didn't help. So they decided to call in the town physician and minister. After analyzing the girls, both of them came to the conclusion that the girls were bewitched. This led to one of the largest witch hunts in history. 

The news of the historical diagnosis spread very quickly in the community and with that many other young girls were found with similar symptoms. No one in the community had any logical answers and they were just looking to blame someone.

 Even though the Parris sisters were the first girls to be diagnosed with bewitchment, they weren't the first ones to get arrested. Because they belonged from a wealthy family, they were considered as the "victims". The first person to be arrested for afflicting them was their family servant, Tituba. It was most likely for her ethnic and racial differences. Tituba pleaded with them but because she was a slave, no one listened. The prejudice here was ever so clear. But this was just the beginning.

The same year many other girls were also diagnosed with bewitchment. When asked, one of the girls, Ann blamed two women by the names of Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good. Sarah Osborne was being accused because she wasn't the most religious person in the community and also had some legal dispute with a higher social status family. Then there was Sarah Good and she mostly was being accused because she was underprivileged and relied on her neighbors for support (which led people to believe that other women who were also relying on their neighbors were also practicing witchcraft). Her neighbors as well as her husband accused her of witchcraft. 

On March 1st, the 3 women were interrogated. Both Sarah's denied all allegations, but Tituba admitted to being a Devil's servant. Many believe that it was an attempt to save herself since denying the allegations was clearly not working. Regardless, on July 29, 1692 a total of 5 women were hanged convicted of witchcraft.   

Slowly more women, as well as children started getting accused of witchcraft. 4 other people were accused of witchcraft the same month. Even Sarah Good's 4 year old daughter was also accused. But the upper class people of society also started to get accused. One of the women, Martha Corey, was an active 80 year old member of the church. When her husband stood up for her, he was also convicted of witchcraft. And when refused to enter a plea, he was killed under torture. 

Most of the people who were accused were women (78%). Women who went against the norms and challenged the system. But also people who were slaves, native Americans or of lower economical conditions. Regardless, the last trial was held in the May of 1693. 

The root of these trials was mass hysteria among young women which led people to believe that they were bewitched. For years historians tried to find what was causing it. Recently it was discovered that it may have been caused by a fungus called, Ergot. This fungus is believed to grow on rye and can cause ergotism in creatures. So many believe that this fungus caused mass hysteria and made the victims go manic. And the prejudice in society turned it into witchcraft.

From 1692-1693, more than 200 hundred people were accused and 20 were executed, which included both men and women as well as children. For decades people tried to seek justice for the innocent people who were convicted in the Salem witch trials. In 2001, on the 300th anniversary of the Salem trials, the Massachusetts Legislature passed the act to exonerate the convicts and named each of them innocent.  

The unsolved case of the Wyrick family house

 The girl who saw spirits

This case took place in 1989 in Ellerslie, Georgia. When the Wyrick family moved into the small town. Andrew and Lisa Wyrick thought that it would be a good place to raise their 3 year old daughter Heidi. 

At first things were going good for the young family. Then one day Heidi started having an imaginary friend. According to her parents she would have these long conversations with her imaginary friend. So one day Lisa asked her about who she was talking to and Heidi said that it was this old man named Mr. Gordy. Lisa found it odd that her daughter's imaginary friend was an old man. She also said that they would meet near the swing set and play in her room and the backyard. Also Heidi said that Mr. Gordy had told her that there was money buried in the backyard. 

Regardless, Mr. Gordy seemed to be a constant presence in Heidi's life. When she would go on walks with her mother, she would pretend to hold Mr. Gordy's hand with her one hand. Her parents paid attention to it but they figured it was normal for kids her age to have imaginary friends. So they tried to be supportive towards it.

One day, the doorbell rang. Lisa was in the kitchen so Heidi answered the door. After answering the door she went back to the kitchen and told her mother that there was a man on the door, his name was Con and his t-shirt was soaked in blood because of his injured hand. Lisa was shocked but when she went to check there was no one there. So she called her husband and asked him to search the area. But they couldn't find anyone. 

Some time later, Lisa's sister Joyce moved in next door. So Lisa started telling her about everything that's been going on. Her sister gave her an idea that they should find out about the previous owners of the house and perhaps that would provide them with some information.

So Joyce asked their real estate agent to give them some information on the previous owners. According to the real estate agent, the previous owner of the house  was a woman by the name of Kelly. Then Joyce decided to set up a meeting with her. Kelly told her that before her the house belonged to a real estate investor named James Gordy. But he passed away in 1974. Soon enough Joyce was able to connect the dots. 

Joyce told Lisa about this. Which startled her as well. Regardless, she decided to speak to her daughter about it. But the first thing that came to Heidi's mind was that she wanted to visit James Gordy's grave. Lisa found it odd but took her to the graveyard anyway. After getting there Heidi immediately got out of the car and rushed to Gordy's grave. Which was strange considering the fact that Heidi has never seen his tombstone before and didn't know how to read either. But was somehow able to identify his grave. 

Then Lisa decided to contact Kelly herself. Kelly went to their house and brought some photos with her for Heidi to see. In the photos Heidi pointed to a man and said that's Con. Kelly told them that was her uncle, Lon and that he had passed away from cancer in 1975. She had also mentioned that he had lost one of his arms in a cotton gin accident. 

This is when Heidi's parents started to get concerned. They tried to come up with some sort of solution. In the end they ended up getting Heidi a dog to distract her from everything. But the dog only made things worse. It'd stare at corners and bark at empty spaces. It started creeping out Lisa because the dog was growling and barking at nothing. Soon the dog ran away and was never found. 

But then it wasn't just Heidi who was experiencing these phenomenons The rest of the family started feeling and hearing things too. Doors shutting, chairs moving and so on. Lisa said that at night she would hear voices and she felt as if they were talking about her. But this went on for years.

As the years went by, Heidi's perception changed. She was no longer seeing friendly ghosts but rather they appeared as a "dark figure" to her. She told her parents that every time a faceless dark figure entered her room she would feel the temperature drop and her nervous system rise. 

The intuitive sensations soon turned physical. As Heidi would feel someone pinching her and pulling her hair. One night she woke up with deep scratches on her face. The very next morning Heidi's father Andy, also woke up with scratches on his body and face. They tried to figure out what was going on but couldn't find anything. They were in no financial condition to make a move either. 

In 1994, Lisa and Andy welcomed their new child Jordan. So they figured it would be best to take serious actions about the paranormal activities they were experiencing. That is when they connected with Dr. Roll, a parapsychologist. 

Then Dr. Roll went to visit Heidi at their house with photos of many random people. Mr. Gordy was in one of the photos too. And right away Heidi was able to recognize him. Despite everything, Dr. Roll claimed that Heidi was just hallucinating and nothing was really going on in the house. 

Soon people and the media started finding out about Heidi. The gossip and the attention really affected Heidi's childhood. She continued to see Mr. Gordy till the age of 8. She said that she saw him as more of a guardian angel than a ghost. 

Lisa and Joyce looked deep into it and found out that what Heidi was experiencing probably ran in their blood. They remembered how when they were young, their mother would also see spirits.

Things took a different turn when Heidi's younger sister Joyce, began to see a little girl at the age of 3. Heidi said that she saw her too and she believed that the little girl was a good spirit. After this the family decided to call Dr. Roll again and this time he had a completely different approach to the case. 

He said that Heidi was probably psychic and had a strong sixth sense or ESP like most of the women in their family. Dr. Roll then connected them to a psychic medium who had no prior information on the family. According to her there was a good spirit or a caretaker but there were also 3 other bad spirits. She was also able to sense the presence of a little girl. She validated everything the family was feeling. 

But the family wanted more answers. So they contacted another psychic. This psychic also claimed that there were 3 demonic entities in the house. One of them lived in the living room from the master bedroom and above the bed. There was another one in Heidi's room but there was a good spirit protecting her as well. The family believed it was Mr. Gordy. And the last entity was trying to get settled into Jordan's room. 

In the end the family only had one question. Why? The psychic told them that there was a portal in their home. A portal that acted as a medium between the spirit world and the human world. The fireplace was an active portal. 

So then they decided to call in their pastor and do a cleansing of the house. They thought maybe finally it was over. But unfortunately for them it only got worse. 

One night they heard Heidi screaming from her room. When they went to her room they found her upside down, Hanging in the air. Heidi told her parents that some entity pulled her by her feet and hung her upside down. And that was the last straw for them. 

The Wyrick family finally sold the house and moved away. Later on Heidi went to college and had a family of her own. But she never stopped seeing spirits. Wherever she went, they were always there. Good or evil, it didn't matter.