How many witches were burned at the stake

Under pressure from the local magistrate, the girls blamed three women for afflicting them. Paranoia began to spread, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. Witch hunts in Europe began in the 13th century, and continued into the 18th century. The European witch hunts resulted in tens of thousands of executions, including women being burned at the stake.

Germany had the highest concentration of witch trials between the years to , and The Washington Post reported that the French burned a lot of accused witches.

But in Salem, not one of the accused that eventually faced execution was burned at the stake. Instead, 19 of them were hanged. In addition, a man named Giles Corey died from being crushed with stones. The widely cited History of Massachusetts blog, run by journalist Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, lists the number of executions and their respective trials. According to History. In accordance with English law, 19 of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials were instead taken to the infamous Gallows Hill to die by hanging.

Recent historical research has identified a site now called "Proctor's Ledge" as being the place where the convicted were hanged at Salem. In , Salem erected a memorial for the people who were executed at the site. The bodies of those hanged were dumped in a location near Proctor's Ledge. There are references to several bodies being removed at night by family members and buried at their homes," said Benjamin Ray, a professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of Virginia who wrote the book " Satan and Salem: The Witch-Hunt Crisis of " University of Virginia Press, Ray noted that attempts have been made to find the bodies of those hanged, but so far they have been unsuccessful.

Live Science. But social media users claim accused witches in colonial America never met that archetypal fate. The claim is missing context. Historians say that people found to be witches were hanged, not burned, in accordance with English and colonial law.

But, the post is wrong in claiming this is unlike what occurred in England. And one historian said it's possible burnings at the stake could have been conducted in parts of the future United States that were under Spanish rule. Fact check: Electric vehicles were used in early s but faded amid cheaper gas options. In 17th Century Salem, Massachusetts, American colonists accused more than people of practicing witchcraft.

Twenty were condemned to execution. At the time, witchcraft — defined by English law as using magical powers bestowed by the devil, according to the New England School of Law — was a felony offense.