The topic of children as witnesses, especially in regards to the Salem Witch Trials and similar cases like the Pendle Witch Trial! The idea that children were so pure and untainted by sin that they were closer to God and gifted with the ability to sense or see evil was a belief held by most religious members of the community back in the 17th century (and prior) and that resulted in children's testimonies being widely accepted as evidence by the courts without the legitimacy of their (the children's) claims hardly ever being brought into question. Of course, we know now that children's testimonies are not always truthful and that children are susceptible to suggestion, the implantation of false memories, and other such leading interviewing tactics. Due to the adults' beliefs regarding the innocence of children in this time period, child witnesses were free to testify to any event their imagination or false memory could create and adults would ultimately accept it as the truth, even though most of the claims in these cases contained very little if any tangible evidence of a crime other than the childrens' testimonies. The thing that stood out to me about the Pendle Witch Trials that I found a bit odd for the time was that Jennet was tested by the judge to see if she was falsifying her claim. The judge had asked Jennet about seeing a particular women (a name the judge had made up) at the party and Jennet truthfully stated that she had no idea who that person was. Whether or not Jennet knew she was being tested or had simply answered innocently, that answer solidified the prosecution's belief in her testimonies and led to the deaths of multiple people.
Living in these times as a woman must have been really scary. If someone didn't like you or wanted to make some money or needed to get rid of you for some other benefit, they could accuse you as a witch and it would be nearly impossible to defend yourself! These stories really show how scarily easy doing that really was.
The topic of children as witnesses, especially in regards to the Salem Witch Trials and similar cases like the Pendle Witch Trial! The idea that children were so pure and untainted by sin that they were closer to God and gifted with the ability to sense or see evil was a belief held by most religious members of the community back in the 17th century (and prior) and that resulted in children's testimonies being widely accepted as evidence by the courts without the legitimacy of their (the children's) claims hardly ever being brought into question. Of course, we know now that children's testimonies are not always truthful and that children are susceptible to suggestion, the implantation of false memories, and other such leading interviewing tactics. Due to the adults' beliefs regarding the innocence of children in this time period, child witnesses were free to testify to any event their imagination or false memory could create and adults would ultimately accept it as the truth, even though most of the claims in these cases contained very little if any tangible evidence of a crime other than the childrens' testimonies. The thing that stood out to me about the Pendle Witch Trials that I found a bit odd for the time was that Jennet was tested by the judge to see if she was falsifying her claim. The judge had asked Jennet about seeing a particular women (a name the judge had made up) at the party and Jennet truthfully stated that she had no idea who that person was. Whether or not Jennet knew she was being tested or had simply answered innocently, that answer solidified the prosecution's belief in her testimonies and led to the deaths of multiple people.
ReplyDeleteLiving in these times as a woman must have been really scary. If someone didn't like you or wanted to make some money or needed to get rid of you for some other benefit, they could accuse you as a witch and it would be nearly impossible to defend yourself! These stories really show how scarily easy doing that really was.
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