Nurse's trial was featured in an episode of the CBS radio program "CBS Is There," which aired on July 28, 1947. Scholars offered up competing explanations for the strange behavior that occurred in Salem, with scientists seeking a medical cause for the accusers afflictions and historians more often grounding their theories in the communitys tense sociopolitical environment. 150. Dozens of people from Salem and other Massachusetts villages were brought in for questioning. According to oral tradition, Nurse's family secretly returned after dark and dug up her body, which they interred properly on their family homestead. How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials, Order in the Court: 10 Trials of the Century, https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials, Bill of Rights Institute - The Salem Witch Trials, World History Encyclopedia - Salem Witch Trials, Ancient Origins - Salem Witch Trial hysteria and the courageous stance of Giles Corey, Salem Witch Trials - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Salem witch trials - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Strange but harmless. The hunts were efforts to identify witches rather than pursuits of individuals who were already thought to be witches. Maybe if we stop talking about J.K. Rowling, she'll go away - Los Rebecca Nurse, Yarmouth, England 1621. Their initial accusations gave way to trials, hysteria, and a frenzy that resulted in further accusations, often between the differing factions. An important turning point was the Black Death of 13481350, which killed a large percentage of the European population, and which many Christians believed had been caused by evil forces. But it was only in July 2022 that Elizabeth Johnson Jr., the last convicted Salem witch whose name had yet to be cleared, was officially exonerated. Casting a spell to be wealthy or lucky in love is an example of witchcraft. Around 1622, however, once the Virginia colony had stabilized and its English population grew, the colonists began to turn their suspicions inward, no longer focusing their accusations on the Indians, but on each other.