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Q: How many people were accused and what happened to them?

A: From late 1691 into 1693, at least one hundred ninety one people were suspected of witchcraft in Massachusetts, twenty seven only named, and one hundred sixty four faced some form of legal action.

The courts tried fifty two defendants, found thirty guilty of the charge of witchcraft, and hanged nineteen. One man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death (the only time that torture was carried out in New England) to force him to enter a plea—i.e.

to agree to be tried by the court.

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Corey remained stubbornly silent and so died. A few more individuals died in the unsanitary jails.

Q: How many people claimed to be “afflicted” by witches?

A: About seventy people were regarded as afflicted and six or seven of them actually died.

Not all testified in court.

Q: Didn’t ergot poisoning from moldy rye bread cause the “bewitched” girls’ behavior?

A: Ergot convulsions occur in people with a vitamin A deficiency—unlikely given the a