MovieChat Forums > The City of the Dead (1962) Discussion > Help needed!!

Help needed!!

posted 16 years ago by erikbeale
14 replies | jump to latest

Were Witches actually burned at the stake in america? I hope someone can help me
with this!!!
Thank You
[email protected]

[–] juliette-dorotte 16 years ago

Well YES. I hesitated a lot when I read your post and I found this page on the web:
http://www.pantheon.org/areas/featured/witchcraft/chapter-5.html
if they say 95% of all witches were burnt in New England (not a coincidence the movie is set in New England then), I guess witches were actually burnt :)

[–] nvasapper 15 years ago

I think you might have misread that passage. I just pulled it up and nowhere in that article does it say that 95% of all witches were burned in New England. What it DOES state is that 95% of all American witch executions took place in New England. It doesn't mention burning at the stake. Read it again :-)

[–] daryavaush 16 years ago

In 17th century New England, the punishment for witchcraft was hanging (the same law England used):

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM

Of course burning is more effective on the silver screen though.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] nvasapper 14 years ago

There were other outbreaks in colonial New England where witches were tried and executed. There were earlier incidents in many other small Massachusetts towns and villages as well as in Connecticut, most notably in the town of Stamford. Of course, these other occurrences never got the kind of play that the Salem cases received. But they did happen. The belief in witchcraft as well as its practice was quite prevalent in 17th century New England.

[–] devilman2465 16 years ago

In the US witches were hanged, crushed, drowned, tortured, rolled downhill on a wheel and jailed but they weren't burned. At least there is no documentation of burnings in the US though it could haved happened in smaller villages.

Bryan

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dlbroome01 15 years ago

Of course, that is a trick question. No witches were executed at all! The unfortunate people who were either hanged or 'pressed' to death (but not burned) were probably just eccentric individuals or disliked for being 'different' in some way ..but none of them were "witches" -there's no such thing. They were victims of religious hysteria; it may be preferable to refer to them in writing as "witches" (with quotation marks). This way, the false accusation of being a "witch" remains with those who made the accusation in the first place -and not the person discussing the matter centuries later.

Once a loyal fan, always a loyal fan

[–] MalachyMurray 15 years ago

Most of us don't watch horror movies for their historical accuracy!

[–] nateba 14 years ago

Most of us don't watch horror movies for their historical accuracy!

And a good thing too!

cinefreak

[–] Jasons_Argonaut 15 years ago

OP, did you REALLY need two threads about this? You could have answered your own question with a quick search on the internet about witches in America.

[–] nvasapper 15 years ago

I believe thou hast consorted with the witch Elizabeth Selwyn!

[–] NERigby 14 years ago

Yes.
They were everywhere.