The Salem witch trials began in 1692.

On this day in 1692, nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams named three women, Tituba (the Parris' slave), Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, as witches. The following day, warrants were issued for their arrest, thus beginning the famous Salem witch trials, which resulted in the executions of 20 people and the deaths of 17 others in prison. By November of 1692, Massachusetts Governor William Phips had dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer, effectively ending the trials. 

EDSITEment 
In Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible (9-12), students examine some of Arthur Miller's sources as they consider how he interpreted the facts of the Salem witch trials and how he successfully dramatized them in his play, "The Crucible."

ARTSEDGE 
Arthur Miller and The Crucible (9-12) examines the consequences of personal conscience in conflict with rigid societal perceptions of what is "right" in human behavior as this conflict is articulated in Arthur Miller’sThe Crucible.

Xpeditions 
The National Geographic site Salem: Witchcraft Hysteria (8-12) places you in the role of an accused witch during the Salem trials.