History isn't just a list of names. It’s a clock. When you start looking at the Salem witch trials dates, you realize it wasn't some decade-long slow burn. It was a lightning strike. In a span of roughly fifteen months, a small, cold corner of Massachusetts lost its mind. Honestly, the timeline is what makes the whole thing so terrifying because it shows how fast a "normal" society can just... snap.
We’re talking about 1692. A year that basically lives in infamy.
But here is the thing: most people think it started with some spooky ritual in the woods and ended with people burning at the stake. Both of those are wrong. Nobody was burned in Salem. They were hanged, and one poor soul was pressed to death by stones. And it didn't start with magic; it started with a doctor’s visit in the dead of winter.
The Cold Start: January to February 1692
Winter in New England is brutal now, but in 1692, it was "Little Ice Age" brutal. People were cramped indoors, nerves were frayed, and the political atmosphere was a mess.
In mid-January, Abigail Williams and Betty Parris—the niece and daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris—began acting "odd." They screamed. They crawled under furniture. They contorted their bodies in ways that made people’s skin crawl. By late February, a local physician named William Griggs looked at them and, lacking any medical explanation, basically threw his hands up and blamed "The Evil Hand."
That’s the spark.
Once the diagnosis was out, the pressure to name names became unbearable. On February 29, 1692, the first three arrest warrants were issued. This is a massive date in the Salem witch trials dates timeline because it chose the first victims: Tituba (an enslaved woman), Sarah Good (a beggar), and Sarah Osborne (an elderly woman who rarely went to church). They were the easy targets. The "outsiders."
Spring Fever: When the Accusations Exploded
By March, the madness had legs. On March 1, the examinations began at Ingersoll’s Tavern.
Tituba did something nobody expected. She confessed. Whether it was to stop the beating she was receiving or a genuine survival tactic, she told the magistrates exactly what they wanted to hear: there was a book, she had signed it in red, and there were other witches in the colony.
Suddenly, it wasn't just three "outcasts." It could be anyone.
Throughout April 1692, the net widened. It hit the "unthinkables." On March 12, Martha Corey was accused. She was a full member of the church, a "good" woman. If Martha could be a witch, literally everyone was a suspect. Then came Rebecca Nurse—71 years old, pious, and beloved. When she was accused on March 23, the town realized no amount of "goodness" was a shield.
The Court of Oyer and Terminer
The legal system couldn't keep up. Massachusetts was in a weird spot because they didn't have an official governor or a settled charter at that exact moment. When Sir William Phips finally arrived in May, he saw a jail overflowing with "witches" and decided to set up a special court.
He called it the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
This court allowed "spectral evidence." Basically, if a girl said she saw your "ghost" or "specter" biting her, that was admissible in court. You can't cross-examine a ghost. You can't prove your ghost wasn't there. It was a legal death trap.
The Deadly Summer: June to September
This is the dark heart of the Salem witch trials dates.
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- June 10: Bridget Bishop becomes the first person hanged on Proctor’s Ledge (Gallows Hill). She was known for wearing a "showy" red bodice and owning a tavern.
- July 19: Five more women are hanged, including Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Good. Sarah’s last words were a curse on the minister, telling him that if he took her life, God would give him blood to drink. Legend says he died of a hemorrhage years later.
- August 19: This was perhaps the most gut-wrenching day. Five people were executed, including George Burroughs, a former minister. On the gallows, he recited the Lord's Prayer perfectly. Witches weren't supposed to be able to do that. The crowd wavered, but the accusers screamed louder, and the executions went forward.
Then came September 19. Giles Corey. He was 81 years old. He knew the game was rigged. If he pleaded guilty or not guilty, his property would be seized by the state, leaving nothing for his sons. So, he refused to speak. He stood "mute."
The legal punishment for refusing to plead was "peine forte et dure." They laid him on the ground and piled heavy stones on his chest to crush a confession out of him. For two days, he stayed silent. His only recorded words were "More weight." He died under the stones, but he saved his land for his family.
Three days later, on September 22, the final eight people were hanged. The "witches" were dying, but the "afflicted" girls were starting to accuse the wives of the powerful, including Lady Mary Phips, the Governor's wife.
The Fever Breaks: October 1692 to May 1693
The momentum finally hit a wall. In early October, prominent ministers like Increase Mather began to speak out. He famously said, "It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than that one innocent person should be condemned."
On October 29, Governor Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
He realized the "spectral evidence" was a disaster. Without the ability to use "ghost sightings" as proof, the cases fell apart. By January 1693, a new Superior Court of Judicature was formed. They heard dozens of cases, but most ended in acquittals.
The very last of the prisoners were pardoned in May 1693. The "witch" frenzy was over, leaving 20 people dead and a community absolutely shattered.
Why the Specific Dates Matter
If you look at the Salem witch trials dates as a graph, you see a massive spike in August. Why? Historians like Mary Beth Norton point to the ongoing "Indian Wars" on the Maine frontier. Many of the accusers were refugees from those wars. They had seen their families butchered. The trauma of the frontier was bleeding into the courtrooms of Salem.
The trials weren't just about religion or "mean girls." They were about a society under extreme stress—political, environmental, and physical.
It’s easy to look back and call them "crazy." But they weren't. They were scared. They were using the only framework they had—their faith—to explain why their lives were falling apart. When you see how quickly the timeline moves from a single doctor's visit in February to eight hangings in a single day in September, it reminds us how fast the rule of law can be dismantled when fear is the primary driver.
Actionable Steps for History Enthusiasts
If you're planning to dig deeper or visit the site, don't just go to the gift shops.
- Visit Proctor’s Ledge: For years, people thought the hangings happened at the top of Gallows Hill. In 2016, a team of researchers (The Gallows Hill Project) confirmed the actual site was a small outcropping called Proctor’s Ledge. It is a somber, quiet memorial that feels much more authentic than the downtown tourist spots.
- Read the Original Transcripts: You don't have to guess what they said. The University of Virginia has a massive digital archive of the "Salem Witchcraft Papers." Reading the actual testimony of people like Susannah Martin or John Proctor changes your perspective entirely.
- Check the Danvers (Salem Village) Sites: Most of the actual events happened in what is now Danvers, not modern-day Salem. The Parris parsonage foundations are still there. It’s a hauntingly small space when you realize it’s where the "fits" first began.
- Look into Ergotism vs. Social Contagion: Research the theories of Linda Caporael regarding ergot poisoning (a fungus on rye) versus the more widely accepted theories of social hysteria. It adds a layer of scientific mystery to the dates.
The Salem witch trials dates aren't just entries in a textbook. They are a warning. They show that once a society agrees to ignore evidence in favor of "feeling" or "fear," the path to the gallows is remarkably short. It took only seven months to go from a girl having a tantrum to a state-sanctioned execution. That’s a timeline we should probably never forget.