You probably think of 1692. That’s the short answer. If you're looking for what year Salem witch trials happened, the most intense, blood-soaked period was January 1692 through May 1693. But history isn't just a date on a calendar. It’s a mess.
It started with a few girls shivering and screaming in a cold kitchen. It ended with nineteen people hanging from a tree, one man crushed by rocks, and hundreds of lives utterly trashed. Honestly, the timeline is weirder than you’ve been told in high school history books. We like to pretend it was a one-off moment of temporary insanity, but the "year of the witch" was actually a slow-motion train wreck that had been building for decades.
The Long Shadow of 1692: More Than Just a Date
New England was a pressure cooker. To understand the what year Salem witch trials timeline, you have to look at the winter of 1691. It was brutal. Everyone was freezing. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was in the middle of a political identity crisis because their original charter had been revoked. Basically, they didn't even know if their land titles were legal anymore.
Imagine living in a tiny wooden house. The forest is literally feet from your door. You think the devil is a real guy who lives in those trees. Then, King William’s War breaks out. Refugees are flooding into Salem Village (which is now Danvers, not the touristy Salem you visit today) with horror stories about attacks.
People were on edge.
In February 1692, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams started having "fits." They crawled under furniture. They contorted their bodies in ways that made people’s skin crawl. Dr. William Griggs, the local physician, couldn't find a medical reason. He did what any "expert" in 1692 would do: he blamed the supernatural.
The Accusations Begin
It didn't take long for the finger-pointing to start. By March, three women were in the hot seat: Tituba, an enslaved woman; Sarah Good, a homeless beggar; and Sarah Osborne, a woman who rarely went to church. They were easy targets. Marginalized people usually are.
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Tituba is the one who really kicked things off. During her examination, she confessed. She told stories of black dogs, red cats, and a "tall man from Boston" who made her sign a book in blood. Whether she was coerced or just incredibly savvy enough to tell the judges exactly what they wanted to hear is still debated by historians like Stacy Schiff and Emerson Baker. But her confession was the gasoline. It proved, in the minds of the Puritans, that the devil was actively recruiting in Salem.
Why 1692 Was the Perfect Storm
Why that year? Why not 1680 or 1700?
The timing was a disaster. Cotton Mather, a prominent minister, had just published Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions in 1689. It was basically a "how-to" guide for identifying witches. People were reading it like it was the evening news.
Then you had the local drama. Salem Village and Salem Town were at each other's throats over taxes and church leadership. The Putnam family, who were major players in the accusations, used the trials as a weapon against their rivals, the Porters. If you look at the map of who accused whom, it’s basically a map of property disputes and old grudges.
1692 wasn't just about religion. It was about bad neighbors.
The Court of Oyer and Terminer
By May 1692, the jails were overflowing. Governor William Phips showed up and established a special court: the Court of Oyer and Terminer (to "hear and determine"). This is where things got legally murky. They allowed "spectral evidence."
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Spectral evidence meant that if I claimed your "specter" or spirit was pinching me in my sleep, that was enough to convict you. You didn't have to be there. Your ghost did it. It’s impossible to defend yourself against a ghost.
June 10, 1692. Bridget Bishop is the first to hang. She wasn't a "typical" witch—she wore a red bodice and ran a tavern. She was "different," and in Salem, different was dangerous.
The Body Count of 1693
The trials didn't stop with a few hangings. They accelerated. Throughout the summer of 1692, the hangings continued in batches.
- July 19: Five women, including Rebecca Nurse, a pious 71-year-old grandmother. Her execution was the turning point for many. If a saintly woman like Rebecca could be a witch, then nobody was safe.
- August 19: Five more people, including George Burroughs, a former minister who recited the Lord’s Prayer perfectly before he died—something a witch supposedly couldn't do.
- September 22: The final eight executions.
And then there’s Giles Corey. This story is just gut-wrenching. He was 81 years old. He refused to enter a plea because if he did, the state would seize his property and his sons-in-law would get nothing. So, they subjected him to "peine forte et dure"—pressing. They laid him on the ground and piled heavy stones on his chest to force a plea. He didn't give them one. He just said, "More weight." It took two days for him to die.
By the time May 1693 rolled around, the "fever" had finally broken. Governor Phips’ own wife was accused. Suddenly, the "spectral evidence" seemed a bit unreliable to him. He dissolved the court, pardoned the remaining prisoners, and the nightmare technically ended.
The Aftermath and Why We Still Care
The fallout from what year Salem witch trials took place didn't end in 1693. It lasted for generations. The families of the victims were broke. The community was fractured. In 1697, the colony held a day of fasting and repentance. One of the judges, Samuel Sewall, stood up in church and publicly confessed his "guilt and shame" for his role in the deaths.
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But the "witch" label stuck to Salem for centuries.
Today, we see these trials as a cautionary tale about mass hysteria and the failure of due process. We see it in the McCarthy era. We see it in modern social media "cancel culture" where the mob moves faster than the facts.
The most unsettling thing? The people of Salem weren't "evil" monsters. They were scared, exhausted people who thought they were doing the right thing. They thought they were protecting their children. That’s the real horror of 1692.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs and Travelers
If you're looking to dive deeper into the history or plan a visit, keep these facts in mind so you don't fall for the tourist traps.
- Go to Danvers, not just Salem. Most of the actual events, including the Parris parsonage where it all started, happened in what was then Salem Village—now the town of Danvers. The foundations of the parsonage are still there, tucked away in a quiet residential neighborhood. It’s way more haunting than the kitschy shops in Salem.
- Read the original transcripts. You can find the verbatim records of the trials online via the University of Virginia’s Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive. Reading the actual words of the "afflicted" girls is a wild experience. It's much more chaotic than the movies suggest.
- Visit the Memorials. The Salem Witch Trials Memorial in Salem (next to the Old Burying Point Cemetery) is a somber, beautiful place. Each victim has a stone bench. People often leave flowers or coins. It’s a good place to sit and realize these were real people with names and families, not just characters in a play.
- Question the "Specter." When you're looking at modern conflicts, ask yourself if "spectral evidence" is being used. Are people being judged on hearsay and "vibes" rather than concrete proof? History repeats because human psychology doesn't change much.
- Check the Salem Witch House. This is the only building still standing in Salem with direct ties to the trials. It was the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin. It gives you a real sense of the cramped, dark atmosphere of the late 17th century.
The year 1692 remains a scar on the American psyche. It wasn't just a "spooky" time of year; it was a total breakdown of a society. Knowing the dates is one thing, but understanding the fear that fueled those dates is how we prevent it from happening again.
To explore the primary documents yourself, you should look into the Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, edited by Bernard Rosenthal. It is widely considered the gold standard for factual accuracy regarding the legal proceedings. If you want a narrative that feels like a thriller but sticks to the facts, Stacy Schiff’s The Witches is the best modern deep-dive into the "why" of that specific, terrible year.